BOOM!!! goes Troy's tire, pop goes the weekend
I had a great Friday night with some friends eating German food and drinking Weißbier at a great German restaraunt. We talked about everything and nothing, and then hours later we hung out at a friend's house eating junk food talking about everything and nothing and watching odd Japanses movies which were very funny.
So I drive home and it's late, three-ish or later. Suddenly, just before I was about to exit Freeway 494, onto Highway 7 when BOOM! the diver's side tire blows out.
I lost control of the car for a few seconds and scraped up against the Jersey barriers just to the left of me. I got the car under control and pulled over to the exit and got on some gravel.
Then I had a ridiculous experience trying to change a tire on uneven gravel, finally cranked the dead tire off and then proceded to wreck the jack. Finally some cops show up and after two breathalizers (two? and I was sober thank you), they called a tow-truck, for which I was thankful.
The tow-truck guy got the spare on and I mumble-bumbled the car to a nearby Firestone where I waited about two hours for them to open. After a bit, I got some sleep in the car, and then was at Goodyear for a few hours where I learned that the front suspension got bent up as well as some other crap. So it will be a little expensive, about 700-800 dollars.
But, oddly, I was pretty happy about things.
I didn't die for one.
And my injuries added up to a mild headache and a little cut on my head from hitting the door frame. Nothing really. Today I am fine.
And I have an appreciation of being alive, of breathing, of seeing rosey-fingered dawn emerge, of feeling sadness, of breathing deeply and tasting M&Ms and bad coffee at Goodyear.
I think after Steve's suicide I am very aware of being a being that dies and also of being alive right here and now. So why not live?
So I drive home and it's late, three-ish or later. Suddenly, just before I was about to exit Freeway 494, onto Highway 7 when BOOM! the diver's side tire blows out.
I lost control of the car for a few seconds and scraped up against the Jersey barriers just to the left of me. I got the car under control and pulled over to the exit and got on some gravel.
Then I had a ridiculous experience trying to change a tire on uneven gravel, finally cranked the dead tire off and then proceded to wreck the jack. Finally some cops show up and after two breathalizers (two? and I was sober thank you), they called a tow-truck, for which I was thankful.
The tow-truck guy got the spare on and I mumble-bumbled the car to a nearby Firestone where I waited about two hours for them to open. After a bit, I got some sleep in the car, and then was at Goodyear for a few hours where I learned that the front suspension got bent up as well as some other crap. So it will be a little expensive, about 700-800 dollars.
But, oddly, I was pretty happy about things.
I didn't die for one.
And my injuries added up to a mild headache and a little cut on my head from hitting the door frame. Nothing really. Today I am fine.
And I have an appreciation of being alive, of breathing, of seeing rosey-fingered dawn emerge, of feeling sadness, of breathing deeply and tasting M&Ms and bad coffee at Goodyear.
I think after Steve's suicide I am very aware of being a being that dies and also of being alive right here and now. So why not live?
posted by Chicken Pax at 5/07/2005
1 Comments:
Now you realize if you were a driver as deft and skilled as, say, I AM, this wouldn't have happened.
(Mwa ha ha ha ha ha)
Seriously...how freakin' scary that must have been! When I was a little kid, my mom's car blew a tire while we were driving somewhere in North Carolina. It was some kind of scary! I am really glad you are okay and not seriously injured, and that you did such a good job getting the car under control. Wow.
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