I figured that all y’all were entitled to a fair warning.
I understand you helped several people with test prep, so you’ve got that going for you.
But this is Water Cooler, where it only matters how long you can go without fapping and/or how often you blow out your colon.
People exaggerate my usefulness.
So riding 9 hours almost nonstop in an equestrian world championship on a torn ACL doesn’t count?
Are you a russian woman?
I wouldn’t categorize equestrian champions as maniacs. Crackpot, fanatic, fiend, loon, loony, nut, nutcase, screwball, but never maniac.
I checked: no.
My mania doesn’t stem from my horseback riding; at least, not directly.
A gentleman (a euphemism) I encountered on Sunday told me that I am a maniac and encouraged me to seek psychiatric assistance. Although I was walking/running with my horse at the time, I believe that he was involved, at most, peripherally.
Hey! Don’t give us extra credit!
We are only responsible for stopping the full force running horse and walking into a burning izba for now:)
Respect. My new signature.
What prompted the maniac comment? Did the “gentleman” take exception to you running beside the horse instead of riding it? Or did he think you + the horse would mow him down?
Khaleel (he’s the Arabian in my avatar) and I were on the last leg of our run, on a trail alongside a street. (Last November I had my right ACL replaced (see above), so I run 7 – 8 miles with him 2 or 3 times a week, as well as 4 – 5 miles with our dog.) As we approached an intersection a gentleman (a euphemism, it turns out) pulled up in a white van on the cross street, slowed a bit at the stop sign, then made a left turn in front of us. As politely as can be, I asked, “Next time, why don’t you stop, moron?” (In retrospect, I should have said, “idiot” instead of “moron”; there are technical differences in the terms.) So . . . we continued walking across the intersection (I don’t let Khaleel run on the pavement) behind the van, and continued on our way. The driver stopped mid-turn, backed up hastily, made a right turn to pull along side us, and started yelling that he did stop at the stop sign (along with various embellishments). I tried to point out that even if he had stopped at the sign (which he didn’t do; he merely slowed a bit), he still violated the law, because he is required to stop behind the white line about ten feet before the sign. He reiterated that he had stopped at the stop sign.
He struck me as a middle-management type; you know: takes orders from the boss, no real decision making authority (or power) of his own, and so on.
I told him that if he didn’t understand the rules of the road, he should stop driving. It was at this point that he said, “You should see a psychiatrist, you maniac!” I was about to point out to him that, even if I were a maniac, there is medicine available to me to overcome mania; there is no medicine available to him to overcome stupidity. Alas, he drove off too soon. The gentleman (not a euphemism, this time) who was working on his lawn at the house on the corner just looked at the driver and shook his head in disbelief. I am heartily sick of drivers who don’t stop at stop signs or red lights. I’ve nearly been hit more than once, my horse has nearly been hit, and my dog has nearly been hit. I don’t take this lightly.
s2000 - you have def earned a favor. Want me to take care of him for you?
^^So you weren’t riding the horse, then? You were running beside it?
Kinda beats the purpose of having the horse, you think?
I don’t stop at stop signs. I hate conforming to laws meant for puny humans.
Welcome to the club!
I’d be careful in Orange County, CA if I were you: there’s some maniac there whose horse sometimes kicks rocks at drivers who don’t stop.
Or so I’ve heard.
^ you mean, the famous “California rolling stop” is illegal?
That is news to at least 50% of the drivers I see.
Rolling stops are common everywhere. Really nothing wrong with them (besides being illegal) when conditions allow. When a horse and his loud mouth owner are in the process of crossing the street though, conditions don’t really allow.
The problem is that most drivers (in my experience) _ don’t bother to determine whether conditions allow _.
On one street where I run with my dog, drivers making a right turn in front of us are looking to the left to check for oncoming cars, and roll through the stop sign should they see none. The never look to the right, where pedestrians will be.
At another intersection where I ride or run with my horse, I have to push a button to get a walk sign, and when that appears the right turn lane gets a red arrow; there’s a prominent sign that reads, “No right turn on red arrow”. Not only do drivers still turn right on the red arrow, they do so without stopping (or even slowing much) for the red light. A few weeks ago a woman in an SUV did so; if I had started to walk about half-a-second earlier she’d have flattened me and probably busted my horse’s leg.
We’ve also almost been hit by bicyclists who seem to believe that neither stop signs nor traffic lights apply to them.
My view is pretty simple: if you always stop and look both ways before proceeding, you ensure that you do it when conditions require it. Getting in the habit of rolling through stop signs or red lights makes it likely that you will do so when it is unsafe.