ok, i promised that i'd write that thought i had on prayer actually working, because God granted a request to me once... here's what i wrote down later about it after it occured on a sheet of paper(it's not that amazing, BUT it is proof nevertheless that prayer does work, at least according to this circumstance):

"Prayer does work; at 8:39, 7/14/02, after exiting 85 at Evelyn Ave, I prayed that all the traffic lights I encountered until I reached Farley St. would be green(if not for my sake, then at least for the ones on the worship team) because I was 10 minutes late and I knew if I encountered any red lights that would delay my arriving by 5 min.
Not only did God honor my request, he even turned the traffic light turning into Farley St. green, something I hadn't expected. So you see, God does answer prayer, but he looks at your heart, your intentions, and most importantly, your faith before deciding. In addition, he also looks to see if he knows you or sees if you're trying to get to know him."
at the bottom, i also noted that there were 8 traffic lights; one following a stop sign and right before a RxR, and one right afterward. with 8 traffic lights, that was a HUGE oppurtunity to get a red light, but... i zipped through all of them. it still sounds minor to a bunch of you, but to me at the moment(because i had travelled this path MANY times, and NEVER gotten all of them green), this was big. praise God, and I hope I can expect even greater things from him as i take off.