Roadwork On The 818.

Okay, humorous story time, more for you and less for me.

So here’s the deal. Despite claiming to be a very easily annoyed guy, I am pretty patient when it comes to most things. I mean, your parents always told you to pick your battles, and so did mine. But I have the added disability of never knowing when the battles should start because you never know how bad it could escalate.

But I have to tell you that playing ‘disc jockey’ on a car stereo while I’m trying to drive is pretty annoying. Add to that mix a healthy dollop of ROAD CONSTRUCTION.

As you may know from reading previous journal entries, you have discerned that I have previously taken a beach trip. Well, to be a nice guy, I rented a car to take on this trip and asked a couple of friends to ride with me and all they had to do was pay for gas. Nothing too complicated.

One of my friends happens to be an amateur DJ, and I only use the word amateur here because he’s just not on the front lines with his name in lights. He’s rather good at making the sounds come out of the speakers in his own little way. But during this trip I don’t think he realized that there is a difference between his fancy pants mixer and a car stereo. He kept adjusting the treble and the bass for EACH. AND. EVERY. SONG. during the trip as if he were sitting on his computer in his audio program trying to craft the perfect track. But the meddling doesn’t stop there.

Oh no.

We’d left rather late from everybody getting off of work and having to pick another person up on the way and eating dinner, which put us at the halfway point after dark. What we didn’t know is that there would be a fair bit of road construction there.

So I’m not good with LOUD NOISES!!! when I need to concentrate. That means I turn the stereo down to a decent decibel level so that I can pay attention to what I’m doing. But what does ‘disc jockey’ friend do? He turns it up to ELEVEN!!!, that’s what. And were we cruising down the highway this wouldn’t be a problem. But I’m trying to drive and am being assaulted by LOUD NOISES!!! and not lose my cool.

Suffice it to say that this wasn’t the only time he did this, it happened multiple times while driving. And there wasn’t much construction at that point. We made it through the travel all right, but next time I’m going to PULL THE CAR OVER AND TURN IT RIGHT BACK AROUND.

Moral of the story is: Keep the dogs in the backseat. You’ll have a better trip.