jets and sharks

Mar 13, 2008 - 22:52 PM PST

So, you've heard the terminology that someone's a little bit country and someone's a little bit rock and roll? Well, I'm a little bit of everything. That's not the point of this entry, but the little bit musical (ok, more than a little bit) side of me is the point.

For the last few days, I've been wanting to type up this entry because I think of something every time that I go to school and have to cross Route 9 from the parking lot to my assistantship or class, but it first came to me on the way to my assistantship and has developed since then. Alright... the thing you need to know is that at my school, Route 9 is 2 lanes in either direction with a turn lane for both direction in the middle and for one direction on the outside... AKA going North, is 2 lanes and 2 turn lanes, going south is 2 lanes and 1 turn lane. Then you have the traffic from the school which is a lane in either direction and across from it, the traffic from a side road (leading to the parking lot, some dorms, a sort-of strip mall) which is 3 lanes total. So the intersection is a pretty large intersection to walk across. When I was undergraduate and had just transferred, I would never park in that lot because there were no walking signals or breaks for pedestrians and I was scared shitless that I would be run over or something. I went to school extra early and parked in the lot the was farther from the building I needed, but on the same side of 9. Well, they added a cross-walk to it probably a year later, but it still took forever. Another year later, they added a diagonal to the crosswalk since kids were walking that way anyway from the dorms or parking lot to some of the class-buildings (I'm a good girl and didn't which is why it took so long waiting for the light twice). The crosswalk light gives us 26 seconds to cross and after 3 seconds it flashes to say not to start walking.

MY POINT (finally... I know)
I have started to think in a weird way when I cross the street. Like, if it's 2 or 3 people? No big deal, I sometimes comment on the weather or something and strike up a conversation. If it's a large group? Doesn't phase me, I people watch and try to avoid the smokers. But when it's like 6 to 8 people walking across 9, it feels as if we're part of a gang or something based on how everyone spreads out to cover more ground (ok - really it's because of a personal space issue, but I can imagine). And then when a mid-sized group walks toward us, it's like the Jets versus the Sharks in West Side Story and I'm expecting a knife fighting dance to break out. then we all pass through each other safely and it's done. If it's just me, I expect to fall on my face or my bag to drop open and spill all of its contents all over the street and I won't finish cleaning up within those precious few 26 seconds. But when is a mid-size group, I can imagine being on the top of the world and start to think about the lyrics to the show and the dancing, and who could ever forget Officer Krupke? Especially when the cops have been out in force over the past week...


So although I know it's not reality, I guess there is only one thing left to say: Gee Officer Krupke, Krup you!