May 14, 2007
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A Conversation About Driving
Alex: See how the car in front of you made the green light? If you would have been going faster you would have made it too.
Philip: Yeah, but we were accelerating from the last green light. I don’t want to just accelerate as fast as I can every time, it wastes gas.
Alex: But if you accelerate faster then you get to the place you are going faster.
Philip: Well, obviously, but that’s the entire point. My aim while driving is not to get to the place I am going as fast as I can. Driving is necessarily a form of transportation. So I’ll get to wherever I’m going. But my main aim other than that is to save gas. The principles of going places and saving gas are not mutually exclusive.
Alex: Yeah, but driving is just for transportation, so I think when I am in the car that I should get to wherever I am going as fast as possible so I can spend more time there.
Philip: Why? What is wrong with being there a few minutes later if it saves gas?
Alex: Because it’s better to be there than to drive. I’d rather drive as fast as I can, that way I’ll have a few more minutes there.
Philip: Why? I don’t see what’s so wrong with driving. It doesn’t put life on hold. We’re still living right now you know.
Alex: No, if you would drive faster we would have been able to spend a few more minutes at my house. Wouldn’t you like that? We could just hang and then get to the place real fast.
Philip: What’s wrong with you? Why do you hate driving so much? It’s worth it to leave a place a little bit early if it saves gas.
Alex: But we are trying to get someplace.
Philip: But we’re not late.
Alex: But we’re trying to get there.
Philip: So? We’ll get there eventually and we might as well save gas in the meantime.
Alex: But if we drive FASTER then we’ll have more TIME there. It’s better to be there than to be driving.
Philip: It’s a few MINUTES. What is the big deal? Do you hate driving that much? Is it that intolerable? … OH MY GOSH. WE’RE DRIVING. THIS SUCKS. THIS IS SUCH HELL. GET ME OUT OF HERE. GO PEOPLE, GO, WE’RE DRIVING AND EVERYONE KNOWS DRIVING SUCKS. AHHH!!!! WHY AREN’T YOU CARS GOING I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS CAR!!! GO, JUST GO, WE NEED TO GO GO GO!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comments (9)
This is sad because I think it really happened.
And what’s sadder is that I did not see you here at two o clock Saturday, nor at school today. I may not be there Friday. All you seniors are leaving so fast.
And since you’re all leaving that fast in your cars, I’m guessing some gas will be wasted. But I bet that’s better than staying in school a few more minutes, correct?
That was a very all-over-the-place comment.
I like driving.
Thank you for your comment…that is a wonderful quote! Is it from a book? Because if it is I would love to read it.
I love driving. Sometimes I take the extra-long route JUST for the sake of driving a bit longer (especially if I just burned a new CD that I like listening to). It feels like a short-lived suspension of reality.
i understand both positions here. One if the point of driving is to go somewhere, why would you not want to spend as much time there as possible? On the other hand gas is too expensive. I guess you could win if you just left earlier than normal…unless it’s a last minute call and there are no options. I guess you have to look at the oppertunity cost involved. Is fun worth the $ of gas or not?? That is the question. I need to sleep now. The End
I actually, contrary to this conversation, like driving, just not when I’m being forced to listen to bad music in heavy traffic. And o yea, I’m sitting in the passenger seat, waiting to go where I want, I’m not the one driving. No fun for me.
So there.
hmmm i can totally see this conversation taking place, and while hanging out seems like a really fun and important thing to spend every possible second doing, weren’t you just hanging out in the car too? difficult delima though: spend lots of money v. waste lots of time. and as we’ve all heard, “time is money!” so what are you really losing? i think you should just tell alex to walk: then he won’t have to worry about it and can just walk as fast as he can to get wherever he’s going.
<3.
I like driving.
it turned out completly different than the first one. different topic and everything. but its there