Rush to Relax

One of my biggest vices is punctuality.  It is a natural extension of being terminally impatient.  I'm always conscious of time slipping away, which makes me paranoid that I will force someone else to have to waste precious minutes waiting for me.  Living in BA has been a good way for me to ratchet down my worrying about what is happening next, and learn to relax and be in the moment.  I mean, I'm unemployed and basically have nowhere I need to be, so it's not like this is a profound personality shift.  Still, I have a great respect for the ability of the locals to slow things down.  Close up shop for the afternoon to have a siesta.  Stretch dinner out for 3 hours.  Pretend you don't see me when I'm next in line.  Nice and easy.

This contrasts sharply with local driving behavior, which is a sort of bumper car - go kart hybrid.  Traffic lights are merely a suggestion, and painted lane divisions are an insult.  There is a 7 lane avenue in front of my apartment, but I've seen 10 cars lined up across those lanes at a red light.  The point isn't to get to where you're going faster, it's to get ahead of the car in front of you.  The proper strategy when approaching a blind, uncontrolled intersection is to speed up and flash your lights.  Last week, Shannon, Miko, and I took a taxi to Palermo to check out a band, and the driver squeezed through a seemingly impassable gap between two cars just before a red light.  It didn't get us to the venue any faster, but we were ONE CAR AHEAD.  We started clapping, mostly out of relief that we didn't crash.  The driver was beaming; proud of his skills, and grateful for the recognition.