On Rudeness while Driving

I generally consider myself a good driver. I'm not overly cautious, nor am I dangerously reckless. I also consider myself a considerate driver. If someone has their signal on the change lanes, I'll generally make room for them. If someone's waiting for a parking spot, I won't swoop in and take it. And I never pass on the right. So I hate it when people mistake what I consider to be consideration for rudeness.
Yesterday I was driving to work. Sometimes I'll stop at McDonald's for a tasty sausage mcmuffin with no egg. The McDonald's that I usually patronize is at the corner of Alvernon and Speedway. Being situated at a corner means that the right turn lane into the McDonald's is also the turn lane for the intersection. As I was approaching the turn-in, I saw a cyclist ahead of me. I turned on my turn signal and slowed down so I wouldn't hit him. As I moved into the right lane, I checked my blind spot only to see a silver speeding jeep about to careen into me. I got back into my own lane, but as the jeep passed, the woman driving mouthed a very obvious "fuck you!" to me as she sped by. I was a little shaken by the whole experience, but as I started to think about it more, I was pissed off.
First off, I acknowledge that I should've checked my blind spot earlier. But she had come up so quick that I didn't see her before. I was doing something that I thought was right. Cyclists are traffic too, and there was no way for me to speed up and get around him and still get into the McDonald's. I had to slow down. Also, that's usually just a nice thing to do. Its much easier and less scary for everyone if I just put my foot on the brake pedal rather than cut off a cyclist (who's definitely more vulnerable in a crash) and then slow down to make a turn. So braking was really my only option. But this lady seemed to think that the only reason I was slowing down and getting over was to cut her off. She was so pissed that she had to brake that she didn't even think about why I was doing it. To make matters worse, she probably cut off the cyclist in her rage and that was the very thing I was trying to avoid.
I just wish people would think about why other people are acting the way they are. If I'm slowing down approaching a crosswalk, there's probably something in it, so don't be the asshole and pass me. If I speed up and pass you, maybe I need to make a turn at the next light. If I'm slowing down at a right turn lane, MAYBE THERE"S A FUCKING BIKE THERE! Its not like motorists do stuff to deliberately piss off other motorists, as least the great majority of the time. So just hold your horses and think about what someone else is doing and consider that maybe there's a good reason for it before you scream obscenities at them.

An Evening at the Opera

So I went to the Opera last night. As a great lover of theatre, and musical theatre at that, I was atwitter with anticipation. The opera was Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," first staged in the early 20th century. It tells the story of a callous American sailor who marries a young Japenese girl who is as faithful as she is beautiful, and then abandons her. I won't go into the details, but its a very tragic story and I'm usually a sucker for tragedy. Its one of the reasons I love studying classics so much. There's just such a poetry to it; as Fraser would say, its epic. So I fully expected a real gut-wrencher.
But opera, it seems, is not for me. As a musician, I can fully appreciate the work and technique and general difficulty of what those singers are doing. They're singing difficult music without amplification mostly at the top of their respective ranges and they're doing laying down...or sitting...or some other position that is not condusive to singing powerfully. So I can fully appreciate that. But damn, is it too much to ask to keep the facial contortions to a minimum?
I suppose so. Given what I just said about the difficulty of performing opera, I suppose I should've just shut up and enjoyed the musical marvel that was in front of me. But all I could think about were the stupid faces the musicians were making. So much so, that it actually distracted me from the story. I just couldn't get worked up about the suffering of someone who looked like a hungry goldfish.
It was definitely fun to get dressed up and go out though. There's so little opportunity to do that in Tucson, so it was fun. I loved wearing my pearls and my fancy new jacket. And the people watching was awesome. Let me just say, feathers and old ladies should not go together.
So, while the evening as a whole was enjoyable, I don't think I'll be attending the opera again any time soon.