Stereotypes in the fog

Thursday, the pretender, came wrapped in swirls of grey fog this morning. In places my commute was clear, in others it was quite foggy. In the foggy bits the street and house lights were extra loud.

Today Thursday is pretending to be Tuesday. It feels early in the week, like there are miles to go before I sleep or see the weekend. Many deadlines have somehow crowded themselves impossibly into this one week.

Traffic was light, just a handful of the usual automotive stereotypes in action, as they faded in and out of the fog. The oversized truck that tailgated, the Corolla that slowed down for each incline in the road as if the driver were intentionally taking it easy on their dear-little-car-as-personal-friend, the working panel van being driven single handed so the driver could also manage their large plastic 7-11 mug of coffee, the get-out-of-my-way-I'm-going-to-Starbucks! single-occupant SUV. Oh, and the little silver Miata that no doubt typifies many other drivers' stereotype of one sort or another.

We're all in this together, see. So many different flavors of you're-not-like-me-and-that's-ok, making the world round and interesting. So long as we're not mean to one another. We could do, especially on the road, with a few more of the "bark less, wag more" and "mean people suck" bumper sticker reminders. Though that reminds me of the story of the guy who put a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker on his car, but then, forgetting about his sticker, got so mad at people honking at him he started flipping other drivers off when they did honk. Reminder to self: be careful what you ask for, you might get it.

Good music this morning. A couple of classics, a wonderfully redemptive Fountains Of Wayne cover of an abysmal Brittany Spears tune, and wrapping up with a little improvisation on Chopin. Smack dab in the middle was a rock-anthem style tune from the large voice of Big Head Todd and crew. The gravely shouting sort of electric rock made most popular by Bruce Springsteen.

For the life of me, I couldn't think of Springsteen's name on the way in this morning. I got the Bruce bit, that part I had. I went through all the Bruces I could think of: Bruce Cockburn (of course!), Bruce Hornsby, even Bruce Wayne. Springsteen finally popped into my head as I turned off the Miata's engine.

Today's full playlist:

- Crosby, Stills & Nash: You Are Alive
- Big Head Todd & The Monsters: Beautiful Rain
- Bob Dylan: Positively 4th Street
- Fountains Of Wayne: ...Baby One More Time
- Jacques Loussier: Nocturne No. 18 in E Major, Op. 62, No. 2