commute survival tactics
I drive what I consider to be a typical commute, for Los Angeles -- 45 minutes on a good day, 35 on an insanely good day like this morning, when everyone else, what?, forgot to go into work or something, over an hour if I miss that critical window (eg, leave the house 10 minutes late).
Perhaps surprisingly, my morning drive (which starts just after 6) has some truly lovely aspects to it. I drive through my dark and sleepy neighborhood, past the Home Depot, and take a left at the stoplight onto a rural highway that climbs a long lazy curve through scrub desert without buildings; at the top of the hill, the sun is usually just cresting the distant mountains -- some mornings it's blindingly direct; other mornings, there's a spectacular show going on with light and clouds. I get a little tingle of anticipation as I round the highway curve near the top, just before I get to greet the sun for the first time that day.
Then, it's down into the storm drain of automotive humanity. I then pass the time flitting between the several tolerable radio stations and books-on-tape, borrowed from the library.
This morning, I started a new book -- having only listened to a handful so far, I'm just learning the different types one encounters. This is the third one so far that falls into the category of "good book / what the hell is wrong with this reader??". The first one I met in this category, I actually had to give up on, the reader was that awful. She was utterly without a sense of tone or pacing or rythym, and it drove me to distraction (and I'm distracted enough while driving as it is. Heh).
I think I'll be able to stick with the new book, because the reader isn't truly horrible, he's just fascinatingly annoying. He pronounces every "a", for instance. No uh's for this guy. "She had A head of long, blonde hair" for instance. Listen to that for 45 minutes. I've been dealing with it by running along behind the recording in my mind, correcting the pronounciation, and sometimes having to correct the rhythm of the sentences, too.
Sigh. It's kind of exhausting, plus I'm creating an echo in my own head.
I sometimes wonder what other people are listening to in their cars.
Perhaps surprisingly, my morning drive (which starts just after 6) has some truly lovely aspects to it. I drive through my dark and sleepy neighborhood, past the Home Depot, and take a left at the stoplight onto a rural highway that climbs a long lazy curve through scrub desert without buildings; at the top of the hill, the sun is usually just cresting the distant mountains -- some mornings it's blindingly direct; other mornings, there's a spectacular show going on with light and clouds. I get a little tingle of anticipation as I round the highway curve near the top, just before I get to greet the sun for the first time that day.
Then, it's down into the storm drain of automotive humanity. I then pass the time flitting between the several tolerable radio stations and books-on-tape, borrowed from the library.
This morning, I started a new book -- having only listened to a handful so far, I'm just learning the different types one encounters. This is the third one so far that falls into the category of "good book / what the hell is wrong with this reader??". The first one I met in this category, I actually had to give up on, the reader was that awful. She was utterly without a sense of tone or pacing or rythym, and it drove me to distraction (and I'm distracted enough while driving as it is. Heh).
I think I'll be able to stick with the new book, because the reader isn't truly horrible, he's just fascinatingly annoying. He pronounces every "a", for instance. No uh's for this guy. "She had A head of long, blonde hair" for instance. Listen to that for 45 minutes. I've been dealing with it by running along behind the recording in my mind, correcting the pronounciation, and sometimes having to correct the rhythm of the sentences, too.
Sigh. It's kind of exhausting, plus I'm creating an echo in my own head.
I sometimes wonder what other people are listening to in their cars.
posted by riddlerhet | 8:14 PM
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