Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

That Double Yellow Line

by: Richard Moylan Jr.

We all set out each day, ready to take care of our business and obligations not giving a second thought to the little things that are supposed to keep us alive. Every where we go, we are separated from death by a thread, a white or yellow line, a double yellow line. We take for granted that no one will cross that double yellow line with a bus and end our lives. This happens every day to some one and could happen at any time. We take for granted this will not and can not happen to us. In the mean time we travel around in the fast lane going seventy or eighty miles an hour, one length away from the person in front of us tail gating with disaster.
Every where we go that yellow line is there, when we are at work, at play, traveling or sleeping, we all hope that we will see another day but we still push the envelope, we all walk on the edge of that yellow line. Maybe we're all thrill seekers and don't even know it.
Life can be a frail and delicate garment that we use the wash and wear cycle on and we assume that we won't wear it out. We ingest poisons every day, alcohol, tobacco, cholesterol, drugs, even the air we breathe can be poisonous. Most of us are aware of what's bad for us but we just can't stay away or be cautious. We just have to live dangerously.
Personally, I don't appreciate this. I've spent the last several years living one day at a time in the slow lane watching everyone pass me on there way to certain destruction and there's nothing I can do about it; except learn. I've learned. Every day some one teaches me to slow down, put some space between me and obvious destruction. It's a shame that my lessons come with such a high price, a life.
It's the twenty-first century and people are living longer than ever and we're dying faster than ever, or should I say, being killed faster than ever. With today's medical advances a person should be able to live to a ripe old age. On the other hand technological advances has made the world a much more dangerous place to live in. Today, everything we have is bigger, faster, stronger, more volatile than ever. Can we handle these kinds of technological advances? Every time a plane crashes or I see one of those new fast cars disintegrate upon impact I wonder.
It seems to me with today's media, specifically news coverage, we should be very aware of the every day dangers that we live with. However, it seems to me that most of us are trying to find out first hand how dangerous life can be.
I can see that we want to get to the top of the ladder as quickly as possible and this motivates us into the fast lane, but do we have to go that route? Can't we slow down
a little, take a few extra minutes to notice and become more aware of the dangers that we may be heading for? I wish we could, because I have a hard time watching out for myself without having to watch out for everyone else. Eventually I may become more paranoid.

I am thinking about a short story called I Love My Dog

The L word gets tossed around carelessly. But I know what love is. And I love this piece.

Going to go crazy on it if you don't mind. Got a million miles rambling through my mind.


No time now. Later

I used to have a Book called Zen Driving I gave it away to a teen age driver who kept flipping his car over because he had the need for speed. I think that book should be used in every high school driving class in the country.

Beware of the BDMs They’re Everywhere
By
Richard Moylan Jr.
I can’t help but be amazed when a community or local government deems a stretch of road or intersection “DANGEROUS”. This puzzles me. Sure some areas require a bit more concentration when traveling through but is the road or intersection really dangerous? Lets be politically correct. An intersection or road such as Highway 17, which has a bad rap, is an inanimate object and is completely harmless until used by humans. When I think about it, highways are no more dangerous then our own driveways where injury and loss of life have also taken place. So what is really happening on our roads? Why is there so much injury destruction and death? The BDM that’s why.
The BDM (brain dead motorist) I believe is the cause of almost all vehicular mishaps on our roads. Years ago motorist had only one task to do when operating a motor vehicle and that was driving. Today with all the trains, bells, whistles, drive thru, cell phones, and elaborate sound systems that can be tinkered with while driving it’s a miracle more accidents don’t happen. Spending several hours a day on the road I see countless BDMs driving on auto pilot, talking on their cell phone and eating a Whooper while traveling at 65 miles an hour not noticing the lane ends sign.
There’s a stretch of road in Virginia Beach, (Shore Drive) which displays a sign that warns motorists that over eighty-nine deaths have occurred since 1977. They also claim that road as dangerous. They even went as far as to remove several old trees along the road that people kept running into. Shame on those trees! Fact is most of the deaths were alcohol and high speed related accidents and the trees weren’t at fault. Sadly BDMs were at fault. Motorists that just don’t concentrate on their driving. The BDM has no business behind the wheel of a four-thousand pound projectile and should stick to riding a bicycle.
My favorite BDM is of course is the tailgater. This is the worse form of BDM-ism. All tailgaters get it in the end. Then there is the BDM that makes a turn at the last minute and that is who the tailgater runs into. Two BDMs sharing a common bond.
It’s a shame that when I’m driving not only do I have to pay attention to what I’m doing but I have to pay attention to everyone else and that is a distraction in itself. However I have avoided many mishaps by being aware of the motorists around me. I don’t claim to be a perfect driver. I find that even I suffer from BDM from time to time and that scares me.
I guess what I am trying to say is lets not blame the our roads for the actions of motorists. Lets concentrate on driving a bit more safely, We all get stressed out and in a hurry and that’s when BDM takes over. And let’s remember, our automobiles are lethal weapons and should be treated as such.

So much great stuff here I don't know where to begin. I am trying not to twist your eyeballs with a bunch a spontaneous gibberish.

I got a thing about drunk drivers. My neighbor is a nice guy. He has eight DUI's.

There is an exit ramp in San Antonio with a 15 mph speed limit. We had a guy turn a truck over on it. They say he was going fast when he flipped the truck. The safetyman asked him for his side of the story. He said, "I don't know what happened, I was just driving down the road and the truck turned over."

This was spelled checked but a lot of other errors. Nice clean copy you have here. Working on something longer. Thanks for the inspiration.

Yeah those trees have a way of jumping right out in front of you, don't they?

Two-lane road in Nebraska, I am following a couple trucks. There are bitching about a drunk driver in front of them. The guy is weaving all over the road. One truck manages to get by him. But now the guy starts weaving from shoulder to shoulder, he is not even staying in the road. Every time the truck tries to pass he starts going back from one side of the road to the other to keep the truck from passing. Some how the truck manages to get by. Now is my turn. The guy slows down and speeds up when I try to pass. He is having a good time tormenting me. My stomach is in knots cause I got five drops on and grocery warehouses are not tolerant of late delivers. If I miss my first drop I will never make the next four. Finally the son of bitch stays in his lane and I got about a half mile of broken yellow line in front of me and nothing coming. But way off in the distance there is a curve in the road. When I get about half way pass him he speeds up he won’t let me pass. I try to slow down he slows down. He has me trapped and the curve is getting closer. I am thinking that I will either kill somebody coming around the curve or run this son of bitch off the road. I slowly ease over and catch him about half way down the side of the trailer. I just barely touch him but it is enough to run him off onto the shoulder. I call for a cop on the radio and stop and run back to see if he is ok. There was a kid laying down on the back seat. Everybody was fine but when I saw that kid I almost threw up. Nausea, I was sick. I wish I had just stayed behind him and been late for my warehouse appointment. The car was full of beer cans. The cops arrested him and gave me a ticket for an improper pass. I thought that was fair. I was just grateful the kid was ok.

ST your story of Nebraska road war had me on the edge of my seat...thankfull for the happy ending...........

Thanks Artguy. I owe it all to SoberDuck

I-84 Cabbage Hill
Deadman's Pass

I never do anything smart when I am in a hurry. I should have waited for the sun to come up and burn the milk frost off the road. Fortunately I was east bound. I could have never made those curves on the westbound side. I am puckered up, and got grip on the seat cushion with both cheeks. Doing about thirty because it was so slick. An old pick up truck comes by me going way too fast. He gets a quarter mile or so in front of me and spins out a couple times and winds up sideways blocking both lanes. Not much I could do, I knew if I made any radical move I was going to jack knife or worse. So I every so gently turn the wheel to the right a little bit. I manage to get over on the shoulder and ease on by him. So everything is wonderful I start breathing again. Then I look in the mirror and see the son of bitch coming on again. When he gets beside me I see he has a CB antenna. So I say to him, you better get behind me and stay there until we get off this mountain. Cause if you go sideways in front of me again I am going to have to run over you. Because I can’t afford to turn this truck over. My boss will fire me if I do. But if I just run over you I will bring back both ears and the tail (I think I said both doors and the hood) back to San Antonio and tell him I had no choice. He backed off and got behind me. We started talking and I find out he is 18 years old, he has two girl friends on either side of the mountain, He is drunk on his ass. He's been up partying with the one on the west side now he is going back to see the one on the east side. We stop at the bottom and I buy him a cup of coffee. I sort of felt like Big Joe and Phantom 309. I love that Tom Waits song.

Followin his dick up and down the mountain...go figure...