Random Rant
Tinted windows on the driver’s side of cars and SUVs: I hate that.
Some latte-swilling cellphone user is threatening to roar through the intersection ahead of me; I’m trying to see if I can catch their eye—not that doing so necessarily guarantees me safety—but I can’t even tell where they’re looking, or if they’re paying attention at all.
Why does anyone need tinted windows in Seattle, anyway? Why are they even legal? Do these people think they’re some kind of celebrities or something—that their lives are so interesting and important that they’ve got to be hidden behind smoked glass from the prying eyes of the paparazzi? All I’m trying to do is establish a tiny bit of human connection and, with any luck, prevent myself from becoming a statistic; meanwhile, some wannabe something-or-other in a 3000 pound death trap has to be all pretending to be Stevie Nicks or whomever.
I could see the point of tinted windows if this were Arizona or wherever; having them in Seattle is pure pretension, plain and simple.
There’s a storefront on Lake City Way that I pass when I take the bus out to school; it’s a shop called “the Darkside” and apparently, they specialize in after-market window tinting. The funny thing, to me, is that the tinting in their own windows is totally thrashed; it looks like the film, or whatever is that they use, has started peeling away from the glass to which it’s affixed, so some parts of the window are really dark, but through others, you can see the crummy furnishings inside the shop.
Maybe they do this so that customers who come in can see how the process works, but I think it’s more a matter of neglect that just goes to show what happens when you make it your business to block the outside out.
Pretty soon, it’s not just that other people can’t see in; pretty soon, you become blind to the world.
Some latte-swilling cellphone user is threatening to roar through the intersection ahead of me; I’m trying to see if I can catch their eye—not that doing so necessarily guarantees me safety—but I can’t even tell where they’re looking, or if they’re paying attention at all.
Why does anyone need tinted windows in Seattle, anyway? Why are they even legal? Do these people think they’re some kind of celebrities or something—that their lives are so interesting and important that they’ve got to be hidden behind smoked glass from the prying eyes of the paparazzi? All I’m trying to do is establish a tiny bit of human connection and, with any luck, prevent myself from becoming a statistic; meanwhile, some wannabe something-or-other in a 3000 pound death trap has to be all pretending to be Stevie Nicks or whomever.
I could see the point of tinted windows if this were Arizona or wherever; having them in Seattle is pure pretension, plain and simple.
There’s a storefront on Lake City Way that I pass when I take the bus out to school; it’s a shop called “the Darkside” and apparently, they specialize in after-market window tinting. The funny thing, to me, is that the tinting in their own windows is totally thrashed; it looks like the film, or whatever is that they use, has started peeling away from the glass to which it’s affixed, so some parts of the window are really dark, but through others, you can see the crummy furnishings inside the shop.
Maybe they do this so that customers who come in can see how the process works, but I think it’s more a matter of neglect that just goes to show what happens when you make it your business to block the outside out.
Pretty soon, it’s not just that other people can’t see in; pretty soon, you become blind to the world.
posted by Professor Dave at 1:52 PM
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