Happy Spring!

To celebrate, the Puget Sound area is having a weather advisory.
"Wind Advisory

in effect from Wednesday, March 20, 9:00 AM until Wednesday, March 20, 8:00 PM

...WIND ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING...

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS...EVERETT...SEATTLE...BREMERTON...
TACOMA...OLYMPIA...SHELTON...CHEHALIS.

* TIMING...GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY THIS
EVENING...THEN DECREASE.

* WIND...SOUTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 50
MPH...DECREASING LATER THIS EVENING.

* IMPACTS...WINDS THIS STRONG CAN BREAK SMALL TREE BRANCHES AND
CAUSE LOCAL POWER OUTAGES.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WIND ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS OF 30 TO 39 MPH OR
GUSTS OF 45 TO 57 MPH ARE LIKELY.

in effect from Wednesday, March 20, 9:00 AM until Wednesday, March 20, 8:00 PM"

It means that as I look out my window today I've seen serious dark, black clouds, pouring rain, drizzle, no rain but gray clouds, blue sky with puffy white clouds racing across the sky, partial sun, full sun and almost every combination there of. There was talk at the gym of possible snow tonight and mention that the mountains got a foot last night.

I realize The Punxatawny Phil said early spring. I think he's a liar. Easter is coming. While I gave up my celebration of the day when it was ok to eat more than one Cadbury Creme Egg years ago, I don't like the idea of dozens of little toddlers getting rained on while they try to find some "hidden" plastic eggs. March 20th is the Spring Equinox.  It's the official start of spring, but anyone in the Puget Sound area knows better than to actually believe it's spring. It will still be a couple months before nice weather is a regular visitor here. Good thing I haven't put away my long underwear for the year. I have however, transitioned from wool pea coats that signal Winter to layering polar fleece with a waterproof shell. Ahh Spring!

Zen Driving

I am generally a mellow driver.  I wasn't always. When I was younger (and arguably dumber) I drove aggressively.  I tailgated slow drivers, I swerved around people, I took off from every stop like I was in a race.  As I've aged, I've mellowed.  I leave enough space while driving on the freeway that I usually get people jumping in front of me, even when I'm in the fast lane.  I only jam on my horn when someone is being exceptionally stupid or dangerous. I don't race everywhere. There are worse things in the world than being five or ten minutes late due to traffic.

All that being said, I hate stupid drivers.  There are two major classes, excluding the Seattle specific issue of being unable to drive in rain, snow or any other form of precipitation that falls from the sky. 

ONE: The dangerous, ridiculous ones.  Like the guy who made a U-turn in the mouth of the freeway on ramp. Like the one who made a three point turn in the middle of a two lane road.  Like anyone who is oblivious to the fact that there are other people on the road and after making a wrong turn/missing a turn/oopsing, they don't follow through the mistake and get off the road to get turned around. Instead, they insist on bringing everyone else to a halt so they didn't have to go another five minutes out of their way to correct their mistake.

TWO: Speed and speedless demons.  Like most people, when someone goes flying by on the freeway at 95, I shake my head and hope I'm far away when they crash, which they inevitably will. I get angry when someone decided to legislate speed.  If the sign says 35 MPH on a road in town, that is what everyone expects you to be doing.  Not 20, not 25.  Driving too slow is just as dangerous as too fast.  The speed limits give us all expectations.  No one assumes someone to be dragging ass when they time their turns into and out of the road. Additionally, the folks doing 60 on I-5 in the left hand/fast lane.  I realize the speed limit is 60MPH but it's a big highway and speed is, for the most part, dictated by the congestion at any given time.  If the freeway is packed, the speed limit is about 15MPH.  If it's empty, the fast lanes moves about 70 or 75MPH.  Don't be an idjit and go 55 in the fast lane.  If you want to go 55, FINE! DO IT IN ANY OTHER LANE!!!

Recently, I've had my patience tested by other drivers.  In one drive home last week I saw six stalled or broken down cars (both in the lanes of traffic and on the side), plus two accidents.  This was a reminder of why I practice zen driving, keep up on my car maintenance and honk at people who are stupid.

Personally, I think we should institute a stupid driver marking program.  If you have gone three or more years without a violation you get a paintball gun with two colors of paint.  One color for speed/lack of speed issues, one for stupidity/unsafe practices.  If a perpetrator is driving too slow, light them up.  If they are texting while driving, light em up! and even if it doesn't equate to tickets, at least it lets other drivers know that person is a moron and to be avoided. Of course there will have to be some recourse for those with paintball guns who get lit up themselves.  While there is a part of my that understands paintballing moving vehicles isn't a safe practice either, I want there to be a public shaming!

She chuckles and shakes her head slowly

I've learned two big tips to keeping (what's left of) your sanity here in Jakarta: Never ask why (the only possible answer is 'because it's Indonesia') and laugh at the regular ridiculousness of it all.  Here's a list of things that have made me shake my head in amazement but not surprise.  Maybe it was surprise and not amazement.  Hmmm.  Maybe it was something else entirely but it was all definitely Jakartaesque. I've made a list on my blackberry over a couple weeks as most of these epiphanies come while I'm on the back of the motorbike between school and home. In that vein, lets start with:

People wearing stretchy gloves when driving a motorbike.  It's never less than 75 degrees here, so it's not that their fingers get cold.  As far as I can figure it's either that they want to keep their hands out of the sun (darker complexion here is that last thing any Indonesian wants, though that's not true for the white folk) or they think they need gloves for protection and these are cheaper/more readily available than other types.

These make total sense in 84 degree weather with 78 percent humidity, if your Indonesian.

If protecting their hands is the logic, then I can't sort out why they wear sandals on motorbikes.  I've become a bit paranoid lately that I'm going to be in a crash and, while other injuries are potential and obvious I can't stop thinking that, no matter what, I'll lose several toes. If they are protecting their hands with flimsy cotton gloves, why not put on proper shoes?

Finally for motorbike issues, I'm certain that the Indonesians all know I'm white, even on the motorbike.  I am in jeans, a jacket, my face mask, helmet and sunglasses, but they still know.  Maybe it's because of my sandals.

Now mentally change the jacket to blue and put sunglasses on me.  How do they know?!?!

The more people try to stay dry in the pouring rain, the wetter and more pathetic they seem. It generally rains on the trip home and I am not bothered since I can change when I get there.  There have been days I've been down right soaked, as have others on their motorbikes.  I laugh in spite of myself at the ones trying really hard to stay dry, but without any appropriate gear.  They hold newspapers or a plastic bag over their head, goosestep it through the puddles flinging water about their rolled up pant legs.

Courtesy of columbiamissourian.com  Like this but even less successful.

Jakarta has no shortage of inappropriately dressed people,.  I swear the hotter it gets, the more clothes people wear.  I understand they don't want a tan or darken their skin, but when it's 92 degrees in the sun, seeing someone in a sweater and a jacket makes me uncomfortably hot!

I lied, here's another motorbike related one. On three different occasions I have seen motorbikes paired up.  The one in front and off to the right is having some sort of mechanical difficulty and isn't running, but will roll.  The second bike is behind about half the diameter of a wheel and a legs length off to the left.  Can you see where this is going?  The guy on the 2nd bike puts his foot somewhere on the casing near the first bike's back axel, fires up his bike and pushes the first bike along.  I can hardly imagine doing this as the traffic is so bad, but I haven't see a big fiery death ball crash . . .yet.  I'm trying for a photo  but this one below is the same idea, ish.

Courtesy of pakwheels.  He's pushing the car with the motorbike.

I can't decide whether to make this a multi-parter or just a regular feature, like the weekend recap, as I group a few of these unique incidents together.  I have a few more in the bank now, but as my desire is not to bore you into oblivion, I'll resist adding them here.  If you're in Jakarta, or in any other city where bizarre/different/interesting things strike your funny bone, I'd love to hear about them.