Party On

Should the mood strike me, I am not above a good one-man dance party while in my car. There are some days when a great song comes on unexpectedly and you simply can't fight the urge to roll down your windows, turn up the volume and bob your head to the music. (But if singing along is involved I would recommend keeping the windows rolled up.) They come on very slowly: first it starts out with bobbing your head and maybe tapping your hands on the wheel. Then the tapping turns into a drum solo and you start moving the foot that isn't on the gas pedal. Next thing you know there is a little shoulder movement and then, BAM - full-on dance party in your car. Occasionally, they just can't be helped.

However, even more fun than having your own car dance party is watching someone else have one of their own. This afternoon I was sitting at a traffic light when a woman pulled up next to me who was rocking out. She had the windows down and was shaking every bit of what her mama gave her. She was whipping her hair back and forth, doing that weird finger-pointing dance we all do and moving around enough in her seat that her car was literally rocking from side to side. Clearly she was very happy about dropping her little ones off at whatever day care she was coming from and was in the mood to celebrate her few hours of freedom.

Now, when you see someone rocking out to some music in their car which is loud enough for you to hear but not loud enough to tell exactly what song in on there is really only one thing to do - find the song on your own car radio and judge the other person's taste in music. I mean, if the other driver is on a station that usually plays terrible music then frankly you know all you need to know about them. I can't very well be expected to forge an imaginary friendship with someone who listens to crappy music, now can I? With the increase of satellite radios and mp3-compatible stereos in cars this doesn't always happen. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than scanning passed all the normal stations and not finding the song which is bringing so much happiness to the person one lane over. Fortunately, the woman in the car next to me was just on the normal Top-40 station and while Mary J. Blige isn't normally my cup of tea, I guess she can be catchy if the moment is right.

What I was really impressed with was the dancer's focus - she kept her eyes locked on the road in front of her and was not about to look left or right. You see, nothing kills a dance party faster than being caught by people who were not invited. Since this woman was driving with the windows down and the volume up fairly high she couldn't exactly expect people to not look in her direction and she didn't have the luxury of hiding behind very tinted windows. She had no expectations of privacy and therefore it was her responsibility to make sure the party kept rolling by not checking out any cars around her and welcoming eye contact from strangers. By only looking straight ahead she could just pretend there were no other cars around. Clearly, this woman had done this dance routine a few times. I'm sure her kids are normally thrilled about it, because I know all the cars around her appreciated the show.