simple

Things that made February 25, 2010 a great day in the life of Taylor Cox:

+ morning snowfall

+ my favorite scarf & sweatshirt

+ encouraging text messages

+ morning coffee at Global Village

+ the Gene Wilder look-alike roaming around campus

+ History of Math test—conquered

+ believe it or not, people still ride Razor scooters

+ today's Technician contains an article on skinny ties

+ I got out of all four of my classes at least 15 minutes early

+ MTV's True Life: My Parents Are Broke in School & Society

+ immediately finding a parking spot on the street behind Hillsborough

+ doing a killer job parallel parking

+ clip from Mean Girls in Adolescent Psychology

+ fellowship group at mi casa

+ cookies & cream ice cream delivery

Sometimes the little joys in life overwhelm me. My heart is full.

roundabout

People have been complaining a lot about the road work that's going on near NC State's campus; it's inconvenient, ugly, and hurting a lot of businesses on Hillsborough St., but I would like to take a minute (just sit right there) and focus on what I think Hillsborough's real problem will be when this construction is all over and done with.

(Drum-roll please...)

Drivers are going to misuse the new roundabouts. Then people will freak out about how awful the roundabouts are. Result? General grumpiness over the new traffic pattern will run rampant.

No one likes grumpy drivers.*

My solution? To educate those who do not understand the purpose of the new roundabouts, thus reducing driver animosity.

First things first: There is a difference between a roundabout and a traffic circle. The roundabouts on Hillsborough and Pullen are not the same as the traffic circles you might encounter in DC or NYC. What's the difference, you ask? In a traffic circle, the cars inside the circle yield to those entering the circle. In a roundabout it's the opposite—cars entering the circle yield to those already inside. If you're thinking "Duh, Taylor, everyone knows that," then I'm glad you know how to use a roundabout, but far too many times have I come to the new roundabout on Hillsborough St. and witnessed some poor uninformed soul slow down to let me into the flow of cars. Thanks nice person, but you just made yourself look dumb, because that's not what you're supposed to do in a roundabout.

There are signs at the entrances to the roundabout.

They say YIELD.

That means wait to go until your route is clear.

So when you're outside the circle, yield.

When you're inside it, don't yield.

Really, it's quite simple.

Roundabouts are a great invention of modern motor vehicle transportation—they are a very effective means of alleviating traffic congestion and a great alternative to the traditional stoplight. Also, they make crossing the street much safer for pedestrians. Anyone who complains against roundabouts probably doesn't know how to use one correctly.

It's funny how quick some people are to complain about things that they don't understand. I interned with the NC Department of Transportation in the summer of 2008 and witnessed dozens of people attack the DOT for "ruining" their roads by constructing bypasses, updating interchanges, inserting traffic circles, or even just widening streets. I went to several public hearings that summer and there never failed to be a few lay-people who would offer their two-cents about what should be done to fix whatever problem the DOT was working on. Their ideas were easily shot down by the experts because, well, they weren't good. If the idea was any good, chances are that the DOT would have thought of it a long time ago.

Time and again, these people failed to see that the state employees who designed these new roads had put years and years of work into the project before presenting it to the public. Preliminary research had to be conducted, environmental analysis had to be done, surveys were sent out, and data was built up not just for the area where the construction would be done, but also for the area surrounding the project. Literally hundreds of experts were involved in the design process. (To all you haters: the DOT is not evil. It is made up of very nice people who get paid to make our roads safer and more efficient.) If the people who were complaining about the final plans understood this, I'm willing to bet that they would think twice before drawing up their own plans and presenting them at a public forum.

Now, I think I've just presented a pretty good illustration of why it is quite silly to question the ability experts have to do their job better than you could do it. I'm sure most of you are very bright people, but I hope you would never call your own design for a cloverleaf interchange better than a licensed engineer's plan.

But what about questioning the Great Engineer?

We do it all the time.

In Luke 12:22-34, Jesus commands us not to worry about anything. Why do you think Jesus commands that? At first it might seem like an odd thing to warn against. Why does it matter to God whether we worry or not? I mean, people worry all the time. If we didn't worry, we would never get anything done, right? Wrong.

When we worry, we take God's design into our own hands and reshape it into what we think works best for us. We abandon Christ; displacing our faith—putting it in ourselves. How foolish we are! We have as much control over our lives as we do over the weather. If you think otherwise, I'm sorry, but you are sorely mistaken. The only reason you're alive right now is because God wants you to be, and if He decides that you can best glorify Him by dying in your sleep, then He can end your life tonight. (Yes, it's a bit morbid, but it's also entirely true.)

How dare we assume that we know better than God? He has been forever. He can see everything. He has a plan. His will be done.

You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes... You ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

James 4:14-15

Lord, give me the faith not to question you; to follow you in whatever direction you lead me.

*Speaking of grumpy drivers, I was flicked off while driving the other day. I thought for sure I was too cute to ever get flicked off by anyone, but I guess he couldn't see me because I was in my car. Oh well, I guess there's a first time for everything. Apparently merging into another lane before you run off the road is code for "Hey, I'm a jerk and deserve a look at your middle finger."

same

We are all the same.

It hurts to hear it, but the human experience is rarely varied.

You don't understand.

I might not, but someone does.

We are all the same.

It's wonderful, because the human experience is rarely varied.

You don't understand.

I might not, but someone does.

moving

My dad loves this song.

I like it too.

In a funny way it reminds me—

Everything is going to work out

just

the way

it's supposed to.

I'm not moving.

winter

I should know who I am by now.

awkward

"Taylor, are you going to blog about this trip?"

Why yes, Jen, I am.

And the subject of my incredibly insightful post?

The nature of true friendship.

It is awkward.

Think about it—maintaining a healthy friendship with someone forces you to do things with them that we would otherwise think are very inappro-pro (yes, I just used the word "inappro-pro; deal with it). We share personal information with friends, we depend on them for important things, we let them set us up on dates (or at least talk about setting them up with people who are "perfect for you"), we trust them to have our back even when we do ridiculous things. Really, friends are the only people that have the power to talk us into doing those ridiculous things in the first place.

Of course, some friendships are more awkward than others. Some people enjoy having friendships that, in their simplest form, are essentially a series of uncomfortable interactions.

"I've wanted to touch you all night."

Yes Jen, you're one of those people. But I love you for it.

Okay Taylor, what made you think about these awkward friendships?

Well, this past weekend was one full of wonderful, hilarious, sleepy, and awkward interactions with people I don't see nearly often enough. Interestingly, I would consider each one of these people to be wonderful friends of mine, but I haven't known any of them for more than 3 years—several I've only known since last May. I don't have a ton of history with any one of these people, but I can always count on having a great time with them.

In truth, Facebook has helped me maintain these friendships more than I'd like to give it credit for.

"I like facebook because it lets you see how people are doing without actually talking to them."

No, I didn't say that. I'm not that shallow. However, Stephen Lee is.

(I know this quote doesn't fit perfectly into this post, but I really wanted to include it.)

In conclusion:

Friends are people who can handle my awkward just as well as I can handle theirs.

Sometimes I can't explain why, but I feel comfortable with them.

leak

Yesterday I had a surprise waiting for me when I hopped into my car.

One inch of standing water on the floor of the passenger side.

I bailed water out of D.W. with a Bojangle's cup.

ice

I'd like to think that I'm a pretty good driver, but I hate driving in the snow. Especially freshly fallen snow. This past weekend was the first time I've had to drive in a "big" snow and I'm not gonna lie—I was terrified.

For starters, before I even got out on the road I was hearing things like, "People are swerving all over the place," and "He almost ran into a pole." Of course, hearing how badly other people are failing at driving didn't give me much confidence. I think I'm a good driver, but how am I supposed to protect myself from all the really terrible drivers out there? (Also, my car, D.W., isn't the best-suited car for driving in icy conditions.)

Well, after I heard that people were having trouble staying in control of their cars I figured, "Okay, no problem; I'll just drive slow and be cautious. How bad could it possibly be?" Leaving rehearsal, I pull out of the shelter of Reynolds parking deck onto the untouched powder.

Press my brake.

Didn't really stop.

So I pressed it more.

Which really didn't make sense, because I was already pressing it all the way down.

Okay, I really stopped.

Whew.

I'm okay, I'll be fine. Everything's cool. No problem.

Driving on campus was really eerie. There weren't very many cars out at all and I didn't see anyone walking either, which was surprising considering the fact that it was dumping snow in Raleigh, and that just doesn't happen very often. I would have expected more snow-frolickers. Anyways, I made it to the next stop sign without hitting anything and stepped on the break again.

I pressed it, right?

Why am I still moving forward?

Oh my. Why am I not stopping?

Stop, D.W., stop.

STOP, PLEASE.

SERIOUSLY.

Thanks.

And now I'm three feet past the stop-sign.

At this point in my 20-some mile journey home, I started to wonder if I could even make it off campus without running into anything.

I then attempted to make a left turn, which resulted in me feeling quite dumb again because D.W. just kept drifting towards the ditch and the trees even though her wheels were pointing her towards safer things to drive on. Like the road. It was an unnecessarily wide left turn, but I made it to the stoplight at Pullen and Cates, turned right, and ventured out onto Western Boulevard. I couldn't see any road markings, it was snowing pretty hard, and my ability to control the direction D.W. went was definitely in question. Needless to say, I drove with extreme caution the whole way home.

35 miles per hour on US 1? I was that girl.

It's funny; sometimes it takes a scary situation to remind me of the little things I should be doing every day. I've never driven more cautiously or been more aware of my surroundings than I was Friday night, but shouldn't I be driving like that all the time? (Aha! Here's the segue.) Sure, there are times when I'm going to be more aware of temptation and sin, but that doesn't mean that when I don't see it it's not there.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

1 Peter 5:8-9