I have some pics to upload from the street fair Thursday night -- not the best, and turns out that some peeps at the voters booth and passers-by are about as camera-paranoid as yours truly. Some volunteers didn't want their pics snapped and neither did many people walking by. I don't think it was because they thought Homeland Security would be out to get 'em. It's just that special desert blend of vanity, cam-angle-anxiety, and YES, a dash of men-in-black-out-to-get-us paranoia :O
I've fast-read some new posts from my dear faves on the reader when I could snatch a peek, but want to go back when I can give them the read they deserve and put some thought into them. A couple are stand-outs: both deeply touching and courageous.
Last night I went out to dinner with one of my best friends who was visiting from Santa Rosa, and this happened about an hour after she drove "the split" this man drove straight into. The photo from The Desert Sun is haunting:
I don't know what else to say that hasn't been said at the office, around town, and even the comments thread on the story link, but although life is dear to me, I also understand how someone can do this. I don't want to ignore the heinous disregard for family or friends he may have who would suffer his absence, and especially the disregard for other people he could have taken with him. But I know, have known, enough people in love with both cars and speed, and alcohol, and the thrill of all three involves flirting with death. And I can see where a particularly horrible day or news, depression, could take them there.
Other news reports say he was driving a silver Audi; that's a speed machine, know someone who owns an Audi convertible who relishes open stretches of road where he can play Autobahn for a spell. And I also feel the first poster on the Sun story may be correct: suicide by car. Accelerating at that point regardless of the alertness it requires to turn left -- by the way, I've never found it so difficult -- Palm Canyon is pretty curvy-windy at that point and it's mid-town there, not an area where you'll likely find yourself screaming down it and suddenly go "whoops, what a surprise: turns, splits in the road, and intersections every other block." Yes, there's always drivers with a lead foot itching to get past everyone, but never hitting that speed there. And even my friend, who's driven only once before at night in PS, had no trouble maneuvering there or other points; never said anything about it being a tricky place or one that needed a sign.
I don't want to keep going on and on about this crash, so I'll stop here. Maybe I'll have to re-phrase and elaborate on some points later about this, because some points I don't think I've quite got across even with so much wordage.
And oh yes, it's about 74 degrees F tonight, low 90s today; expected to be in the mid-80s tomorrow. It was 110 just yesterday. It's as if the sun turned up the furnace from Friday through Monday as a preview of the months to come, then notched it down chuckling "ha, just playin' with ya, baby!"
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