how would YOU react?

sometimes, people seem unfazed and simply continue on their way.
typically, people yield a little bit, but still stay on their own path.

occasionally, people freeze in their tracks, unsure of what to do, and wait for it to pass.

and rarely (but amusingly), people instantly dart onto the grass as though a truck was passing through.
personally, i'd probably go with the second approach listed above.
as my totally sane math teacher would say, "CLEARLY", i'm talking about me biking around campus.
now lemme tell you, i have always enjoyed biking, and anyone who has known me in middle school or high school can tell you that the bicycle was my preferred (and only) method of transportation to just about anywhere i wanted to go. that is the beauty of parsippany, in that it is such a bik-able town. things are spread out and spacy enough for comfort, but at the same time not too far for anyone to sanely traverse on a bike. middle school, high school, tennis courts, friends' houses, church, strip malls, restaurants, all within biking distance.
oh, and one random journey all the way to not-so-nearby livingston with my good friend johnny, on which he almost got run over at an intersection by burger king. oops.
since i am such an avid advocate for bicycling, i'd like to name just a few of the benefits: no need for gas money, little to no maintenance, great exercise (sick calves and thighs), and great for enjoying nice days. plus, as i mentioned two blog entries ago, biking in the snow is a unique and awe-inspiring experience that you simply must experience at least once in your life.
now even though i'm all into biking and whatnot, what's funny is that my bike is super ghetto. my parents got it for me a long time ago from a family friend, and it belonged to her son (who is now a retired Marine and whose biceps alone would probably break the handlebars of the bike if he tried to ride it again).- the handlebar grips slip off if you pull on them, and moreso when it's raining.- the rear brake is pretty bad, and the front brake is only decent, which averages the quality of the brakes to be on the poor-mediocre end.- there is no suspension whatsoever.
- adding insult to injury, the old bike seat broke so we had to replace it with one that is rock hard. it hurts.- the spokes thingies are really rusty (and have only gotten rustier from bringing it to college, where there's virtually nowhere to put it where it won't get rained on), and thus i can only use two or three different gear combinations of the possible 21.- the gear shifter is actually not ghetto! it's an expensive top-of-the-line shimano gear shifter thing that we had to buy to replace the original one when it broke.- the kickstand is a wobbly twig.
however, the bike itself was free, and it's functional enough for me (ooh, it's tricky to rock a rhyme to rock a rhyme that's right on time it's tricky, it's tricky tricky tr-r-r-r-r-r-ricky).
there was a period when i didn't bike, though. (that is, when i got a car. duh.) instead, driving was the cool thing. driving to tennis, church, people's houses, giving rides, etc. (and also infinitely cooler when i would leave the car in the driveway and the gas would "accidentally" be low, only to have it magically filled up within a few days. parents are so nice.)

but alas, upon coming to college, and spending the first week or two without my trusty set of wheels, i realized my life just isn't meant to be like this. we were meant to be together. i brought my bike from home as soon as possible, and it's simply been like a dream ever since.
seriously, i can get from metzger to arc in four minutes. FOUR minutes. do the math. (i was considering doing the math of how much time i save weekly and yearly by biking instead of walking, but i'll do it some other time. i have enough math to do today.)
that was a brief (!) desription to bring all of you up to par regarding my bicycle affairs. NOW, back to my original topic.

i was inspired to blog today (even though i have to study for calc and chem exams on monday and tuesday respectively) because just a while ago, i was biking back from the dining hall, and i was cruising along and listening to music on my dandy bike ride, and just as i enter the crosswalk, i nearly get hit by a car coming from my left. my fault? in a word, no. i always wonder what would happen if i got hit by a car. sure, maybe i can avoid getting hit by looking both ways every time when i cross the street (which i do 90% of the time), but the point is that cars must yield to pedestrians, including pedestrians on bikes! (just kidding, that would make me like, a cyclestrian. or cyclist?) yes, wow, amazingly, that is actually what they are supposed to do! it's as if since i'm on something with wheels, drivers automatically no longer have to yield to me even as i'm crossing on the crosswalk. here, let me draw a picture of the inverse hierarchy that is what i deem the pyramid of yieldality*:

*not pictured: wheelchairs, rollerblades, skateboards, my car

now, if you recall the statements from the beginning of my post (yes, way back there), people react in a variety of ways when they see me on their sidewalk approaching ahead of them or alongside them. first of all, i believe i am a good cyclist, because, where applicable, i treat biking the same way i do driving. i always have complete control over where my bike is going and how close it is to others. granted, of course other people may not know that i'm so careful and considerate when i bike, so i don't blame them for how they react. however, there ARE signs directed towards cyclists that say "yield to pedestrians" posted every now and then, and i follow them dutifully regardless of where they are or aren't posted. i'm willing to take alternate paths, weave between people, bike on the [dry] grass, bike on the street, bike along with a crowd at a walking pace, and pretty much any other method that i can think to employ in order to make those traveling on foot around me as unhindered, uninconvenienced, and unscared as possible.
so please, if you read this and you see me biking, know that i'm not going to run you over if you don't dive out of the way or something ridiculous like that. i've only once accidentally nudged someone with my handlebar because someone else in front of me cut me off. i said sorry and i felt dumb.

now you may be wondering, if two people on bikes are approaching, how do you know who has priority? well, you know what chicken is right?
and thus, that concludes the history so-far of my biking adventures to the present day, though the journey is far from over.
don't you wish you had a bike now?