Le Morte d'Car: Part 1

Once I was care-free, light-hearted person, frolicking from work to home to rock climbing in an old but reliable car. Now, as I write this, the cares of the world press in upon me and in the future dark clouds loom ominously. Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, my car lies slain upon the heights. This is the story of how it happened.

Davis (my boyfriend) and I had arranged for him to visit me on a particular Sunday. He was to meet me at church and afterwards we would spend the afternoon hanging out in my apartment. I had, unfortunately, lost my voice around that time so introducing him to my church friends was a something of a struggle. They were very friendly and introduced themselves despite the adversity. 

We decided not to attend the fellowship lunch afterwards, owing to the fact that I couldn't talk, and set out for my apartment. Davis following me in his car. Now, alas, comes the unfortunate part. I have supplied you will a helpful diagram of the crash. I am represented by the blue car and Davis by the Green. I drew it on this cool site if any of you feels a desire to spend your free time recreating accidents. 

 I was going faster than I should have been and I stopped faster than I should have and suddenly there was a CRASH  and Davis' car slammed into the back of mine. We pulled over to the side of the road and got out to assess the damage. His right headlight was all over the road and his tire was completely shredded. My back corner was crushed and the corresponding tire did not seem to be in the first bloom of health. 

Because of the glass all over the road and the fact that neither of our cars were drive-able we called the police and, as people throughout the decades have been wont to do, we both called our parents. Between the parental units, the police, and AAA we soon had both the cars on tow trucks, and were sitting in the cab of the one towing my car. I was even able to rescue my most prize possessions including my rock climbing gear, the sushi for lunch, and one of my favorite pairs of jeans. The tow truck driver engaged us in friendly conversation and assured us that, in his opinion, both cars would be totaled.

Davis' car, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of mine

Once we reached that haven of warmth, the apartment, we were left to sort out what to do. Davis had to get back to Connecticut somehow and I had to get to work. After much discussion, online research, and soul searching we decided that the best plan was for Davis to get rental car the next morning and drive it back to CT. It was similar in price to a bus ticket and he would be able to get to work for most of the day. Since the rental car places all closed early on Sunday and the only bus yet to leave would arrive at four am in an extremely sketchy area we decided that the only thing for him to do was to spend the night in my living room. (Note: normally Davis does not sleep in my living-room or any other part of my apt, but, alas, in this case we had little choice).

The next day we wakened at the unearthly hour of 6 in the morning to catch the 6:57 bus, which runs between my apt and a station several blocks from work. It was a cold and dark experience. Once at work we suborned Deb, a co-worker, to drive us to the rental car location. After a passionate farewell to Davis, Deb and I drove off again, reposing in the confidence that he would find his way home. We were suddenly sundered from  that confidence when we received a phone call from Davis. Apparently rental car locations will not trust you with the responsibly of a car unless you have a credit card in your own name, and alas, all Davis possessed was a lowly debit card. After several possibly illegal U-turns we got Davis back in the car and back to my work.  

The next bus out was at 3 pm so there was nothing left for Davis to do but plant himself in the extra chair in my office and wait for the clock to strike three. Almost as soon as we arrived another coworker, Greg, who is known for his mistrust Obama, young people, and especially "Libs", stopped by to greet us. I introduced Davis and gave a brief explanation of why he was awkwardly whiling away his day in my cubical. Greg found all this extremely amusing, and sauntered off. We soon heard him expounding the story to various coworkers down the hall. His version included a fair amount of speculation about the dangers of texting and driving, and the untrustworthiness of young people, such as ourselves. (Note: neither of us was texting when the unfortunate incident occurred).


I decided it was time I found out what had become of my car so I called up the collision center which had taken charge of it and asked what the status was. The mechanic replied with: "I don't know if there's really a status on the car besides the fact that I thought I should probably find out who it belongs to." Apparently they couldn't do anything until the insurance company sent a minion to assess the damage. There was nothing to do but wait and wonder about the fates of our cars.

Finally the time of parting came and Davis was safely ensconced in a greyhound heading south. My boss was kind enough to take me home from work and another coworker offered to pick me up where I to call him in the morning. Now all this happened two days before I was supposed to return to my parents so that the whole family could drive out to Kansas. I therefore bought a bus ticket so that after work the next day I could return the the comforting parental home. 

I began to gather together those belonging I would need for the foray into the west. This led to a conundrum. That fall I poured many hours into the creation of a stain-glass window as a Christmas present for the parents. As fortune would have it I did not possess a suitcase large enough to hold such a treasure. In the end I wrapped it in newspaper and carried the thing. 

The coworker who had offered me a ride did not answer his phone the next morning so I returned to the shady world of mass transportation, this time carrying all the baggage I would need for my journey across the country. We arrived at the bus-stop closest to my work, but I still had a fair number a blocks to traverse. At this point I also discovered that the suitcase I had chosen had a tragic flaw: It's handle did not extend so it could not be gently wheeled to and fro. I would have to carry it the half mile to my office. Never having been one for exercising needlessly, I pulled a t-shirt out and tied it around the crippled handle.

Picture, if you will, me, walking down the busiest street in my city, rain pouring down, an oversize blue hat engulfing my head, clothed in a red pea-coat, in one hand holding a 3 foot stained glass window, dragging a suitcase by a brightly colored t-shirt wound around its handle. This was certainly not my finest moment, but I did make it to my place of work. And, after a day full of the joys and pains of the test engineer, I weighed anchor and boarded a bus towards New York, still not knowing the fate of my car. 

Infinity Dreams

I was nominated by Lydia at C'est La Vie to do Infinity dreams tag so here it is:


Here are the rules: 

 
Use the Infinity Dreams Award picture
Thank the blogger who tagged you
Tell us 11 facts about yourself
Answer the 11 questions
Tag 11 bloggers

Facts
1. I have 14 cousins :)
2. I grew up in the same house my Father and Grandmother grew up in
3. I am mostly Scottish but there is also some German and English in my ancestry
4. I have been to Japan, Taiwan, the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and Canada
5. I voted for the first time two days ago
6. I was born with a dislocated hip
7. My dad and grandfather were both hours late to their first dates with their future wives
8. I was home schooled until 8th grade then went to public high school
9. I have seven book shelves in my apartment and still have books that don't fit
10. I am the oldest of four
11. I worked as a tutor in college

Questions

1. What is your biggest hobby? Reading, I was about to say rock climbing since I do that about three hours every week then I realized that it would be totally in accurate since I spend much more time reading.


2. Who is your biggest inspiration? Jesus!


3. What is your favorite piece of music (can be either classical or modern)? This is a hard one I tend to bounce around in what music I like. The most enduring songs in my life are the psalms. I grew up in a church which sang only the psalms in worship and my family sang them in family worship everyday and I still love to sing the word of God. Here is one of my favorites, which I could find on YouTube:

I normally listen to softer rock music like Mae, Death Cab for Cute and Reliant K, and classical music but I never have any idea what the song names are I just turn on the radio.


4. What is something you wish you knew more about? I wish I was better at speaking Japanese and that I knew more about repairing and building things. I suppose those are more skills than things to "know about" but, while there are plenty of things I don't know much about, I can always read about them. Whereas the skills I mentioned require knowledge that you can't get out of a book.


5. What is your favorite quote?

“I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.”


6. What is something you look forward to doing each day? Reading! (perhaps there is a theme)



7. What is your favorite way to get exercise? Rock climbing! I go indoor rock climbing every week




8. Describe yourself in three sentences: ummm.... I am a female person, who does not like describing herself.


9. What has been your biggest life achievement so far? Well in terms of time and effort I would say graduating college but since I grew up without many friends I would say that I am actually more happy about the friends I have made and kept over the last few years despite the fact that I no long live near any of them.


10. What is something you learned recently? I learned that you can still vote in the primary even if you aren't registered for a party, which led to a lot of last minute googling of candidates and their views.


11. Where is the most interesting place you have ever gone? Japan, it is such a beautiful country with so much history and a completely different language.



Alas, I do not know many bloggers, I started this blog to share funny stories with my family. So instead of tagging I will add the 4 most influential books that I have read (Copying Lydia again).



Chronicles of Narnia



My mom first read me these at the age of three, expecting me to get bored and ask for an easier book. These books not only opened up the world of fantasy, which is still one of my favorite genres but introduced me to Lewis's other works which in turn made me realize that books about Christianity could be really interesting.


Confessions of st. Aug



I had to read this the summer after tenth grade for a three week church program I was part of. It was the longest of the books we had to read but definitely the best.I loved his story of how he found Christ and of his mother who never gave up on him. Even his thoughts on infinity and such near the end were encouraging since it meant I wasn't the only one who whiled away their days wondering what infinity meant.


The Four Loves



I still think of this book in the context of my relationships. Friendship was my favorite part.


Jane Eyre



I read this book the summer after 11th grade and loved it. In some ways it reminded me of Jane Austin. But I loved that it showed so much of the darkness of the world and so much of the light. I loved that Jane had to make moral choices which cost her everything, not just the man she wanted or wealth or status, she faces homelessness rather than sin. Rochester certainly is not my idea of the man I would want to marry but at the same time I loved reading about him. He clearly loves Jane, but that love is twisted by selfishness.