Shut up about the gas prices already!

My low gas indicator light came on today as I was stuck in traffic. I thought, should I get off the highway and find a gas station now so I can stick enough gas in my car so I can make it to a station that actually has affordable gas? Or do I just assume that when the light comes on, I still have a good amount left and I can just wait to fill up until the next time I'm near that cheaper station that's 5 miles away? Or do I just say, screw it, and fill up my tank for $3.39 a gallon?

To be totally honest, I haven't really given too much thought to the rising gas prices. I'm not so poor that I am struggling to afford gas, which is why I haven't really cared. I hear people at work complaining all the time about how they had to stop filling their tank at 50 bucks because it was just getting ridiculous, or how completely egregious this whole situation is and that someone needs to do something about it or else everyone will just end up working from home all the time (which really wouldn't be too bad). Every time I hear people complain about the gas, I sigh and move on to the next thing. I really don't care about the gas prices. People in other states and other countries have been paying up the wazoo for a while, and now that's it's reaching more and more places in the US, everyone is just starting to think about it...it's all over the news, people are blogging about it left and right, even Chris Rock on that stupid Maher guy's show...all he could contribute was, "Damn, gas prices are way too high!"

As I got off the highway and neared the $3.39/gallon place, I still didn't know what I was going to do. If I filled my tank, I would be hurting millions of Americans everywhere, because they're struggling to keep prices low by controlling which pumps they gas up at and if there are idiots like me who are paying 3.39 a gallon (for regular), then those 3.39 stations will never lower their prices. But on the other hand, this is America, I can do whatever I want! Why should I be afraid to buy gas at a place that will cost me 2 dollars more than the other place just because other people who drive SUVs and luxurymobiles can't afford to fill their tanks? I ended up just driving home. So maybe tomorrow morning my car won't be able to start because I got no gas. Oh well. I guess it's better than being yelled at and having rocks thrown at me by my fellow Americans.

If this whole expensive gas thing is really going to be a problem, why don't car manufacturers just make more hybrid and electric and other fuel powered vehicles? Why are we all still stuck driving old school fossil fuel mobiles when we've known for a really long time that the supply of fuel is not going to last forever? Sometimes it seems that solutions to problems are so easy, but there's always some stupid reason why things aren't as easy as they seem, and most of the time it has to do with politics and personality conflicts. Sigh...

Leggo my ego

Everyone hates egotistical people, but who isn't egotistical? Everyone is. You just have to look for what fuels your ego. Here are some examples in case you're still looking...

• Blogging. You wouldn't write publicly about stuff unless you wanted people to read it. And you wouldn't want people to read your stuff unless you thought that you were an entertaining writer. And let's face it, you hate it when people comment to argue against your thoughts, and you only enjoy comments that say how funny and wonderful you are. It's your ego that makes you think that you are worth blogging about. You might not really be worth it, but the ego can be pretty convincing.
• Being the only woman somewhere. How many times have you heard a woman say, "It's so difficult being a woman in such a male-dominated field"? Why does it matter that you're the only woman? And why is it "difficult"? I think an ideal situation for most women is to be the only woman in a group of all men, whether you're at a strip club or around the watercooler at work. A single woman in a sea of men becomes the object of total attention...even adding one other woman will cause major competition between the two that it will just turn ugly. Women probably say things like that to make people think that they've overcome such odds to be where they are, and that other women haven't been as successful (otherwise it wouldn't be a male-dominated field), so people can say, "Wow, you are truly awesome to overcome such odds to make it in a line of work that is typically for males." At least I think that's what that welder chick on Flashdance wanted people to say. Although she was a dancer too, hmm...
• Having flashy hobbies or second jobs. So you have a day job, but secretly at night you do crazy things like rollerblade derbies or community orchestra. You typically would keep your hobbies to yourself, but if there's a big rollerblade competition or an orchestra concert, of course you're going to tell your friends and coworkers (so they can go see how great you are, duh). If your ego didn't make you tell everyone, why would you even let other people know what you secretly do for fun in your spare time?
• Working in open source. I don't know what it is about the computer industry, but computer nerds are so much more egotistical than normal people. And for some reason, contributing to an open source project throws you into god-status (especially if you do something that's popular to the other nerds). Face it, you love the heavy panting of computer nerds in heat when you've fixed some bug they've been living with forever...you love it when they email you or respond to your newsgroup post about your computer programming exploits...and you actually believe that they're not really stalkers, they're "fans".
• Criticizing everything. One of the ultimate ego trips is to cut down people or things...everywhere, even stuff on tv. Why else would you say things like "She's not America's next top model material, augh!" unless you thought you were better somehow? Criticizing feeds the ego.

I guess it's ok to be egotistical. Just don't overdo it. Ooo, I just thought of something else egotistical. Being preachy in your blog and telling people what's acceptable behavior and what isn't. Ok ok, you can do whatever you want.