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11/17/2004: "Weekend update"
I had a lot to say about the weekend of Nov. 6-7 and the couple of days following, but I don't feel like typing much right now other than to put it down here for the record book.
The biggest event was that I got into another car accident. Yup. My third this year -- none of which I've received a ticket for -- and fifth bad car incident if you throw in the two flat (different) flat tires I had. This latest accident was with a rental. I'd flown to Atlanta that Friday and rented a car to drive to Gainesville, Ga., the location of my rowing club's biggest regatta of the year, the Hooch. Just north of downtown Atlanta on I-85, we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic, right before rush hour. About four or five carlengths ahead, a tractor-trailer braked suddenly, tires smoking. The cars behind it just stopped in time, including mine and the SUV behind me, but the Maxima behind him slammed into the SUV nearly at full speed, which lurched the SUV into my rental car. We all somehow managed to pull over, where I started to hyperventilate, then nearly burst into tears. It was a miracle the driver of the Maxima, a young college student, was not seriously hurt. The entire car was totaled, airbags deployed, hood crumpled and smoking, shattered glass. The driver was cut on the arm and had a sore wrist, but that's all. That incident obviously made a normally exciting weekend somber. After putting that day behind me, I managed to compete in two races, a fours race and an eights race. We came in fourth of 12 boats in the eight (the other ORC boat, our nemesis, won the race). This regatta's race is more than 3 miles, so including racing, warming up and rowing out to the starting line, I must have rowed a half-marathon that Saturday. Insane. But at least I left that weekend with a medal -- we came in third of 11 boats in the four. We couldn't believe it and couldn't have been happier -- we'd never practiced that lineup before and just entered the race hoping we wouldn't embarrass ourselves. We were proud of that race, and the finish seemed to cushion the blow of the events of the day before. I have an old new car. 1992 Toyota Camry, the whitest-bread car on the road. Seems as though every fifth car on the road is a Camry. Well, the important thing was that we paid cash so we wouldn't have a second car payment. And it's in great condition, except the CD player doesn't work -- which is fine, since it has a tape deck, too, and I can play CDs through it once they're loaded onto my iPod. Now, there are few things that irritate me more while driving than having someone jump in front of me (or force their way between me and the car in front of me) without signaling, then immediately slam on the brakes.That's about it for now.
Current mood: Sleepy
Current music: If It Wasn't For You | Handsome Boy Modeling School
