[OT] "If you're not passing traffic...then you ARE traffic"

[Marc Getty <marc@getty.net>]

  -----Original Message-----
> From: Shawn C Meze [mailto:skerocdriver@juno.com]
> Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 7:05 PM
> To: marc@getty.net
> Cc: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: Re: [OT] "If you're not passing traffic...then you 
> ARE traffic"
> 
*snip*
> There is driving and there is abusing. From the sound of it, 
> your beyond driving? 

I don't think that I am not "beyond driving" in any way. If you make an ass out
of yourself, do not take subtle hints, and later obvious hints, that you are not
welcome or your driving is not acceptable, back off, move on, or prepare to face
the consequences.

Many, many a car has been an ass to me, unlike most people, I often choose to
try and teach them the error of their ways. If this involves e-braking in front
of them, or smoking them to get them to change their way of driving (around me
or in general), so be it. Once they move on, or off, or just plain away, I
continue on with my life and my driving. Road rage this is not, my actions are
calculated and are 100% under my control. If I am not able to control my actions
I back off immediately.

Unfortunately I am never in the control of others actions, and am not always
able to predict the actions and reactions of others perfectly. A classic example
of this is when Jan noted "I'll cause the people that I'm caravaning with to run
into the woods at 90MPH". This is one example of an unfortunate downside to one
of my actions. If the Honda being an ass in Ohio drove off the road and into an
embankment I would not even bat an eye, but my actions caused two VWs to swerve
and this is the unfortunate result of one of my actions.

Rules, laws, sins, and morals are all subjective and I don't believe in any of
them. In this world there are just two things: actions and consequences. This is
the way I live my life and the way that I drive my car.

> > I look with pride at each dent and ding in my Scirocco, and cherish 
> > the story that goes behind each blemish. 
>
> Hmm. So your saying that your not driving your car if your not running
> into people/animals/unmovable objects? 

No, I did not say that, nor did I infer that in any way. It was a comparison
between two ends of the spectrum, me and a hypothetical trailer queen. I have
run into "people/animals/unmovable objects" & other vehicles both on purpose a
number of times, and by accident a number of times. Each of these incidents have
a story, all of these stories build on the character of the driver and of the
car.

> Ive got 230,000 miles on my 82 Roc. Raced alot of those miles, road
> tripped the rest. The only dent I have was from some fuck who couldn't
> back out from a parking spot. Where is the pride in that? Im  till pissed
> about it 3 years after the fact. All the paint chips in the  front of the
> car, noting pretty about that. 6 year paint job is tired and the prep job
> done for the paint sucked. 

Getting all bent out of shape or "pissed" over a dent is completely wrong in my
opinion. A dent is a dent, a dent is not the end of the world. It's not even
enough to call someone a "fuck" or get "pissed" at. Take a look at the big dent
on the drivers side front of my Jetta <http://getty.net/jetta/>. I hit a tree
and it made that dent. Am I a "fuck" for doing this?

If you don't know *ALL* of the facts surrounding the situation, you should not
judge. Kidding around is one thing (which I was doing with Jan, note ;-)'s),
judging is another (which I was *NOT* doing in any way with Jan). If you knew a
few more facts about the situation, you would know that I hit that tree at about
2 MPH while incredibly sick driving myself to the hospital. Now has your option
changed knowing some more facts about the situation? I bet it has. That dent is
appreciated by me for the waking me up a little bit that day, and I am not
pissed in any way at it, the tree, or myself for my actions.

I don't know, and just for a hypothetical I'm going to go out on a limb and
assume you don't know, *ALL* of the facts as to why that guy/gal "couldn't back
out from a parking spot". Would he still be a "fuck" if he was rushing to the
hospital for him/herself or their spouse, or their children? I would not call
him a fuck even if you told me that he/she eats children, because I don't know
anything about this person other then they hit your car and that they eat
children.

> I dunno man, you keep driving like a nut and you'll be lucky 
> to last to the end of the year. 

That's your opinion, feel free to keep it. I don't know how long my car or even
I will last, but it will definitely be the based on the consequences of my
actions or inactions. I've had my current Scirocco for a mere 1.96 years to
date, and I have put 45K to 50K miles on it myself in that time. Just about
every one of these miles was earned and completely enjoyed by both my car and I.

> WHO on this list has a trailer queen? I mean, *I* trailer my Roc (probably
> more than anyone on this list actually) to events that are more than 4
> hours away ( if I break anything, I will still have a ride home. Its way
> better than AAA+++.) but for the most part, its  riven everyday. Just
> because someone takes good care of their car doesn't mean its not driven.
> Look at Bretts car. Its a clean, well done car that gets driven hard. So?

Just west of the intersection of I-71 and U.S. 68 near Wilmington, Ohio Peter
(thescirocco@juno.com) said to me as we were coming out of a gas station "That's
no trailer queen!". He was referring to a battle hardened Mk1 Scirocco that was
obviously rally driven, on the back of a trailer. Was this car a trailer queen?
Definitely not! The car was likely on a trailer because it was not street legal.

I do not know anyone by name on the list who is a trailer queen. At no point did
I call anyone a trailer queen, especially not Jan!

> Hey, not taking sides, just looking for some clarification on your
> comments.

Very well put Shawn, this shows that you are clearly not interested in starting
a flame war (neither am I). Hope my comments clarify what I have noted
previously.

> Shawn Meze
> 86' Jetta GLi 8V       84' Scirocco 8V           88' Corvette -SS 30-
> 82' Scirocco GTi -FSP 54-     79' "Project FSP Scirocco"
> The Fastest, Quickest, Leakiest and best looking Scirocco in 
> all of San               ;-)
> Diego!
> http://www.Geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1308/index.htm

-Marc

'74 VW Thing Finally Sold in 5/01 - '81 VW Jetta Diesel Scraped 12/97
'84 VW Jetta GLi Sold to NJ 10/99 - '84 VW GTI 8v Sold to Peter in 4/01
'87 VW Smoking Scirocco Tornado Red 16V 200,000+ miles in Philly PA
    since 7/2/99 - Before and after pics: http://getty.net/scirocco/
'88 VW Scirocco Tornado Red 16V with 177,000 miles, leather, no sun roof

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