Just got back from visiting the girlfriend in Fullerton. Took a different route back into LA and I noticed an intriguing trend concerning the vantage through which I view my nighttime drives into the city.
You see, normally Los Angeles is so congested that ‘driving’ your car is really more of an exercise in restrained aggression. It’s like those speedwalkers on ESPN at four in the morning that aren’t allowed to lift their legs past a certain angle, but still try to move as fast as they can.
Anyway, when I come home from Melysa’s, it’s usually after midnight and the traffic has died down. There are still a few cars on the freeway, but there’s plenty of space and I’m finally able to rev the engine past 3000 rpms. With the nighttime lighting and the spectacular image of the downtown skyline looming in the distance and then seeming to swallow the freeway whole as I weave through the city, I’m starting to feel like I’m in a video game.
I mentally dodge and weave to avoid invisible obstacles, and often change lanes for no reason, just to to feel the tires hugging the curves of the road whilst I speed by exits and signposts touting food, gas and lodging accommodations.
Alas, I don’t have the ability to gun down the cars in front of me, or hinder those trailing behind with oil slicks yet, but I am hopeful.
