happy 55th anniversary to Rosa Parks (thanks Google)

the things i learn by opening Google. and i love the little animations.

speaking of vehicles, i have had an uncanny experience with driving lately. a week ago, while driving home from work, i was mesmerized and annoyed by the car in front of me. i kept staring at it and got that frustrating feeling when something is on the tip of your brain but JUST out of grasp. and then it dawned on me: this car had reverse brake lights. meaning, when the car was moving, the red light at the bottom center of the rear windshield (you know, that small rectangular red light) and the rear brake lights would be on and when the car was at a stop, all the lights would be off.

unique? i guess. annoying? hell yes. particularly if you're the vehicle behind it.

1st, it's unsettling. my brain's been programmed to associate brake lights with braking. how simplistic of it. hence, seeing the lights would trigger my mental reflex to be slow and cautious (that IS what red's associated with). no lights=ok to proceed. 2nd, have red lights constantly glowing in front of you as you drive is very headache inducing. it made me understand why our vehicle lights system is the way it is. constant red lights shining in front of you has the equivalent eye pain of the asshole who keeps his brights on while driving behind you. which brings me to another point: are all headlights just standard brights now?

it being winter and all, by the time i drive home from work it's already pretty dark, so headlights while driving are a necessity. i've recently realized though that a lot of cars have EXTREMELY bright headlights. which is not fun when you peer into your rearview mirror while driving. it's completely blinding (exactly akin to those scenes in scary movies like Joy Ride and The Hitcher). it's hard for me to believe so many ppl are just driving around with their brights/high beams on, which makes me wonder: are brights just the standard headlights now?

finally, in the past week, every day except for one, i've been surrounded by a police car whenever i'm driving. if it's not driving in front of me, it's behind me. if it's not behind me, it's driving right next to me. it's really weird. and annoying.

wow. i've clearly been in the car, driving, for a good length of time. i guess the good part about being in the car so long is i've managed to listen to most of the songs on my iPod including new albums that i'd downloaded but hadn't fully listened to yet. in particular, i've been enjoying the recent albums of Nicky Lee, Kenji Wu, and Danson Tang.







yes, i DO listen to songs other than k-pop. i am an equal opportunity teeny bopper.

however, i have to admit, i'm also REALLY enjoying this song: