Weekend

Last night I went to the Roller Derby to see the Boston Derby Dames in action. I believe I have a new favorite player in the guise of Sugar Hits. She played both games of the double header, and was amazing in the opening match vs. the Wicked Pissahs. At times she would simply sneak through the pack of blockers, at other times she used more powerful methods to get to the front (I would say brute force, but there is nothing brutish about her). In the opener, I was also quite impressed with the rookie, Lil' Pain.

The second game, which pit the Boston Massacre aginst the Philly Liberty Bells, was quite an exciting match. Even though the Derby Dames lost the match against Philly, it was a lot of fun, and I found my throat a bit sore this morning from the cheering.

As I drove to and from the match, I was distracted (as I often am) by the behavior of people in traffic. First of all, very few people stay to the right when they are the slowest car in vicinity (not even the second to right lane, leaving the far right lane for oncoming/exiting traffic). People who try to travel faster, should also pass on the left. The net result would be a negative curl in the velocity field, resulting in smoother traffic flow.

Secondly, people tend to travel in packs rather than as individuals. I have noticed than many people who drive fast, actually tend to slow down once they get to the front of the pack of cars, and seem reluctant to detach from the pack. Also the slower drivers tend to speed up when the pack threatens to leave them behind. The result is a group of cars that all move at approximately the same speed, making progress through them very difficult.

The third observation is that people can't seem to maintain speeds when the slope changes. Going uphill people slow down dramatically, and heading downhill the speed increases. Traffic seemed to average about 70-75 going to the match, but would slow to 60 when going uphill and reach 85 on the back side of the hill. This meant that traffic would clump before the hill started as the wave propogates backward.

Anyway, enough traffic observation...

So this morning, before church started there was a bit of a distrubance. A man was making a bit of noise and one of the ushers was trying to keep him quiet. The man who was making the noise at first sounded mentally handicapped, but it became clear he was drunk (although mental handicap and/or mental disorder are not to be ruled out). He had a large scar vertically across his forehead. He was also in possession of a number of bottles and cans in plastic bags (which I heard spill when he left).

Before the man was convinced to leave, he said, "I wish I were dead" more than once. He also said that if he left he would never come back. During his sermon the pastor brought up this incident and said the man had worked for the Missouri Synod for a number of years, and that when he was once again sober he would be welcomed back with open arms. I hope the man does find sobriety and peace.

The whole situation left me with strong, and conflicting feelings. At first when the man was making noise, I felt indignent, "doesn't that man know how to behave in church." As the usher began getting mad at the fellow when he wouldn't leave, I felt indignent, this time at the usher for not remaining calm and showing scorn instead of kindness. As the man left, proclaiming his desire to die, I thought about following him out, since clearly the man needed help, but unclear what help I could offer. As I looked around the church, I saw the same mix of feelings on the faces of those who saw what had happened, as well as those who just tried to ignore it all.

It also put some of my own previous thoughts in perspective. I wondered why people would come to church in sneakers and running pants. But they did come to church, even though they had a very big race the next day and had come into town from hundreds of miles away.

Since the Boston marathon is tomorrow, a number of people were in church from out of town, some families from Pennsylvania and Florida. There was also an early baseball game, so the streets and T were more crowded than usual. Actually it was a bit difficult getting to church because of the crowds, having to wait for a second train to have room to get on. Although, tomorrow might very well be worse.

Last week, I was the "White Isaac Hayes" this week, I'm "The man who casts a shadow." The former is more flattering, the latter perhaps more accurate, literally and figuratively.