Born under a bad sign

I haven't had anything to write about in recent days, but this isn't the way I wanted to get blog fodder.

I went downtown tonight to attend a concert only to arrive and find word spreading that the show was cancelled. Sure enough, a quick check of the artist's tweets found that issues with the sound system had forced her to call it off.

I set off for home and was on the highway when I came around a curve and (the next part isn't 100% clear) saw a car stopped in the middle of the three lanes. (I believe there may have been a car between us that swerved around the stopped vehicle and went on, but honestly I'm not sure.) I stopped my car in time and with plenty of room.

Just as I came to a stop I found myself being thrown back. The radio popped out. The GPS flew off the dash and into my lap. My hat came off. I had been slammed into from behind. It took me a few moments to realize what had just happened. I was dazed, mentally rather than physically.

I could go into more detail, but I'm starting to feel tired now and ought to wrap it as quickly as possible. The stopped car that set it all in motion had apparently flipped over due to driver error. Two witnesses who saw this happened and stopped to attest to it--I didn't see this part--suspected the driver of that car was intoxicated or high. I think that was pretty clear as he kept asking what happened. (Uh, dude, you just flipped your car completely and, amazingly, landed on all four tires.) I stopped to avoid hitting him. The kid behind me plowed into me, likely at 60-65 mph, because he was coming around the turn only to find me sitting there.

I don't think he could have stopped in time if he tried. Considering where it occurred, I think it's probably very fortunate that this didn't turn into a massive pileup. No one was injured, although we'll see if I'm sore at all in the morning. I didn't necessarily feel all that lucky right away, but the more time I've had from it, the more I'm thinking this could have been a whole lot worse.

The tow truck driver suspects my car will be written off as totaled by the insurance adjuster. I expect that he's right. I am not thrilled at the prospect of going through the car buying process again, just seven months after I did it, nor am I thrilled at the money I sunk into this car in the short time I've owned it. I replaced the instrument cluster, the trunk latch, and the front passenger door lock. I put four new tires on it about a month ago. I had a window smashed and the radio stolen. Not that I believe what I'm about to say, but clearly this car has some bad vibes.

Nevertheless, one thing I noted about this car over other versions of it was that it felt heavier. I don't doubt that the stoutness of it helped in sustaining the rear impact. For as hard as I was hit--I don't recall hearing any brakes or the collision itself--the rear bumper and trunk ably absorbed it all.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, I wasn't angry when this happened. I told the teenager who hit me not to worry about it, that I doubted there was much he could do to avoid it despite being at fault and that the insurance companies would take care of it. I imagine I seemed remarkably calm. Yes, I'm fatigued by the thought of having to deal with no car on Sunday and the insurance adjusters and the car search and potentially losing money in all this. In the end, though, for a night that left me with two minuses in the form of a cancelled concert and a wrecked car, I'm glad that the most important number is zero injuries.