The Hype of St. Patrick's

Today I had a "quick" errand to run. I thought it would take me a round trip 15 minutes to drive up to Guitar Center and buy a new guitar tuner. But I had to drive past the area where the St. Patrick's Day Parade had just ended. And all the drunk people were moving from the parade, to one of the many restaurants on or near Greenville Ave.

Even though there were cops directing traffic, the pedestrians were playing there own versions of Frogger. I got stuck behind a float that's title said something about DISCO, but yet had Sweet Home Alabama blasting from the speakers. But most of the people on the float were wearing afro wigs, and so I guess THAT made it the disco float. One of the ladies in the float jumped off of it into the street (and by street, I'm now talking the Central Expressway service road) to stop traffic so that the Disco Float could cut into traffic. She and her friends thought they were hilarious.

It was all getting even less funny to me when I pulled into the Guitar Center parking lot and found that there were no parking spaces. Finally a group of people with Mardi Gras beads and a couple of beer coolers loaded in the car and pulled out of a space. There were about 3 cars vying for their spot, and I aggressively took it. Being sober at 11:30 a.m. may have given me the advantage.

My drive home was more of the same type of madness. More floats, lots of motocycles, lots of green plastic cups tossed on the side of the road, and way more traffic than there should ever be on a Saturday morning.

I had forgotten all about that dumb parade when I set off for my guitar tuner, and my little errand took me well over an hour. It all made me realize, when you're a part of something like that parade, you think it's really fun, you're funny, you're friends are funny, etc. But when you're not a participant, everyone is just ridiculous and so not fun OR funny.

Note to self for next year: STEER CLEAR of the St. Patty's if you're not participating. (And I won't be. So I will!)