be a smart pedestrian

i'm a pedestrian, and i never want to own a car. that said, stupid non-car-drivers really piss me off. well, it's more like i'm annoyed at their stupidity which is extremely dangerous to them. please, don't do these things unless you want to die:

1. run in the street with headphones on.
um, you can't hear the cars and you're in the street. first off, why do you need to be in the street. yes, i run in the street when crossing or if the sidewalk is closed off (but i run to the other side generally), but there's no reason to run in the potholed streets of nyc. but to do this with headphones--you're in car territory, and if you can't hear them, you may get hit. and you may die.

2. ride a bike on the sidewalk.
in nyc, the rule is: you ride in the road. if there isn't a bike lane, you get to take an entire lane. (okay, car drivers in nyc, you hear this? stop honking, i know you're there, and i ride towards the side but i'm not gonna pull over and stop. honking makes me nervous, and i could fall and get smushed and then you'll have to go to jail for involuntary humanslaughter, or whatever they call it.) so don't ride on the sidewalk when people are running, walking, etc. generally, there's not enough room!

3. ride without a helmet.
rachelle covered this in her blog a while ago, but if you get hit, and you fly off your bike, and smash your head, a helmet could save your life. if you want to die, though, by all means, ride helmetless. show off your hairdo in that case.

4. walk with your ipod blasting, completely oblivious to others around you.
(or whatever music device you use)
i admit, when that song comes on my ipod, i'll turn up the volume, start rocking it up, maybe dancing, mouthing the words, even singing. i rationalize that i'm entertaining and shocking all of the bored people in the financial district. BUT i try not to turn the volume up so much that i can't hear what's going on. (like in the bank, when they say, "next! NEXT! NEXT!" and that woman in front of you still doesn't move. you have to remember: i am out in public, and yes my music is making this tedious walk a bit more pleasant and even bearable, but you need to keep the volume low enough so you can hear things. (if you want to keep it at max, you'll prob destroy your ears and perhaps get smushed by a car.)
saturday i was running fairly fast on the sidewalk outside central park, at mile 14 or 15 of an 18 or 19 miler, feeling like i wanted to hurt someone and wanting some waffles, no more power gels or energy jelly beans, when this guy in front of me was walking down the sidewalk, hogging it. "excuse me!" i shouted. he did not turn around or move. "EXCUSE ME! PARDON!" and still he did not move. and i'm pretty loud. finally, "EXCUSE ME!" as i'm running past him--which is the point at which he decides, "i think i'll randomly move over." so i ran into him. he was a pissed off tourist and i shouted at him (could he hear me over his ipod?) and he started yelling at me in a foreign language (i was shouting so i didn't get a real sense of it--something eastern european, but not polish because i know that so easily, living in greenpoint) and i yelled back, including, "i hate tourists!" he was a tourist (you can tell, especially with this damaged-hearing person) and i was so frustrated.

and i'm not saying i'm perfect. this is my blog and my space to offer a bitchfest to the world, and i'm merely voicing my opinions. i listen to music too loud and sing too loud and i cut across the street (jaywalk) when i probably shouldn't, but i try to keep as smart as possible and generally don't allow anything stupid to become a habit.