Elaboration 01.05 - Total(ed) Car Experience
In January I totaled my car. It wasn't "totally" totaled, but totaled enough that it wasn't worth fixing. Ok, well, maybe that is the definition of "totaled"... Here's what happened:
I was on my way to my "new" job at Wachovia (through Randstad), and I was a bit early. So I stopped in to a BP to get some of their really good coffee and a breakfast sandwich - egg, cheese and ham. I had this bad habit of eating breakfast in the car while driving in order to "save time". Sometime between the BP and the traffic light at Aloma Ave (about a mile away) some cheese drips on to my shirt. I glance in the back to see if I have a spare shirt (I do) and turn back around to see that the SUV in front of me stopped. And, of course, there wasn't enough room for me to stop. So, admittedly, it was my fault. I thought to swerve, and had I not been in the middle lane, I might have avoided hitting the SUV. But, instead I hit at probably about 20-25 mph, crush my engine, split my head open on the steering wheel (although I don't really know how; the airbag deployed. And I am definite it was the steering wheel and not the windshield...) and somehow manage to pull my car over to the curb. I got out of the car a few seconds after blood started to stream down my face. My reason for getting out of the car: I don't want to get blood on my apholstry.
When I get out, I start to get a bit light headed, so I sit down on the curb. I'm trying to stop the bleeding with my bare hand because I didn't have anything (that I was willing to ruin) to hold against my head. A bystander, I don't know if it was a witness or the guy I hit, handed me a shirt. Nice guy. A few minutes later the ambulance comes and takes me to the Winter Park Memorial Hospital... I hope you're taking notes. There'll be a quiz.
So far I haven't cried. My head hurt in many ways, I had jammed my toe and knee when my engine pushed up my steering column, and I didn't have the number to work to tell then what was going on. I really was more panicked at how I was going to pay for the ticket and my 20% of the damages and medical bills, and potentially $500 for the deductible to fix my car. I call the only person whose phone number I have memorized, Tadashi. Neither she nor Richard were home. The RN was nice enough to offer to call 411 to find my dad. She lets me talk.
So I ask the 411 operator to look up Juluis Strickland. I'm not sure of his address or even the actual town he's officially in. I say he's in the Orlando area.
"I'm not finding anyone by that name in the Orlando area."
"Are you sure?"
"No. But I do see a Julius Strickland in Orlando."
...
...
Maybe she had hit her head and was a little out of it herself. Or maybe she was an airhead. I don't know.
So I call my Dad, and I keep it together until I have to open my mouth to tell him what happened. I can't hold it back anymore. OK, so I like anime, right? You know how in some of the kiddie anime tears sometimes fountain out of the character's eyes? That's pretty much what happened.
I had a difficult time trying to stop crying long enough to tell him what was going on. About an hour later he was at the hospital. Two doctors tried to numb me up. I told the second one I was already numb and waiting for stitches, and he went away for about 10 more minutes.
Somewhere in all this a cop comes in and asks me what happened, and is all prepared to try to convince me the accident is my fault. Says something along the lines of "It's pretty evident that it's a rear end to the other vehicle..." and I respond with "Yeah, I know I'm at fault..." He seemed both relieved and startled that I had so quickly "given up".
After getting about 5 stitches in my head, Dad drives me to my apartment. I find the number to call my boss, who was really worried because it's not in my character to just not show up, and all's well at work for the day. I change my shirt and Dad gives me a ride to the yard where my car was towed, and I take out a few "essential" things. Then we go to the Enterprise a block away from where I live.
1) I do not have a credit card. At least not at that point. Car rentals, no matter where you get them from, will, for some odd reason, only take credit cards; not even debit cards with a Visa logo (which I do have) are not readily welcomed, and the credit card must be in the name of the person who is renting the car, and the person renting the car must be the one who will be driving the car.
2) In order for my insurance to cover the rental, the appointment must be made through the insurance company.
The guy at Enterprise also let me know that I would need three utility bills in my name with my correct address on it in order to authorize me using my Visa debit card. So at least when I went the next day, I was prepared.
Seeing as that this was my 26th birthday, and my Driver's license had just expired, I planned on getting it renewed on the 25th, since Wachovia had decided to give us (the temps) Tuesdays off because it was our slowest day and we weren't really needed. I figured why not do it today since I'm not going to work? We made our way to the DMV and waited about an hour before the guy behind the counter said,...
You know that cliché of waiting for a concert so bad that you wait in line for hours for tickets, only to have them hang up the "Sold Out" sign on the window on your turn?
..."We're closed for the day. We can set up an appointment for tomorrow but we can't take anymore customers today."
My dad kindly said he would tote me around tomorrow, too. So, At 7am we head over to the DMV again and my licence gets renewed in about 10 minutes, but I have to pay the extra $1 because I was renewing late. Apparently, you can renew up to 6 months prior, so if you renew even one day late, you missed your chance and have to pay the extra $1. It was only a dollar, so I didn't care (this is the same person who, 10 months later, would chicken out of telling my mechanic off for making me pay for a $30 oil change after waiting a month and a half full of misinformation and avoidable delays for a transmission repair on a 3 and a half month old moped...) So I paid my $16, got my picture taken (I have band-aids on my forehead in the picture...) and got my new license, and headed down to Enterprise again.
I had set up the appointment and confirmed the rental and everything yesterday, and I had my cable bill, my electric bill, and I think my gas card bill because I couldn't find any more utilities. The guy at Enterprise (different guy then yesterday) said I wasn't in the computer for an insurance-covered rental... But then a few minutes later the guy that helped me yesterday came in and straightened everything out, even made an exception for the gas card thing after talking to his manager, and convinced me to take a Kia Sorrento - a small SUV. I have no need for an SUV. But it was only $2 more per day out of pocket (came to about $20 for the week +3 days) And my dad was able to let me on my way and do whatever it was he did during the day at that time.
I went to work on Tuesday in order to make up the time lost from Monday (when the accident happened). I was a bit out of it, and was having trouble concentrating. At about 11:30 I remembered something from an anime called Fooly Cooly (FuriKuri, FLCL, ﾌﾘｸﾘ) :
Drinking the bitter ones, huh? That makes you feel grown up? The brain needs glucose. If you wanna get your head back to normal, try something sweet. You're tired, aren't you? Every time something comes out of your head, it creates problems for everyone.
It's a good, weird anime, check it out sometime.
Anyway, I remembered Amarao's advice to Naota and so I ate something sweet (Mrs Freshley's Honey Bun) and, lo and behold, I felt a lot better after about half an hour. Whoever said you don't learn anything from TV?
On Tuesday, the claims adjuster told me Cassie is a total loss. (Cassie is the name Tadashi gave my Cavalier.) I called the tow yard to see if I could stop by that afternoon to empty out the rest of my stuff, and the chick said yeah it should still be there.
When I go there, Cassie wasn't. She had been taken to a junkyard on the opposite side of town. So I called and said I'd be by on Wednesday to get my stuff. There was no problem there, but I cried as I took Cassie's license plate off. It's now hanging on my wall with her spare key and my hospital bracelet.
I returned the Kia to Enterprise and researched the hell out of the Lynx bus schedule. And I spent the next 5 months riding the bus and walking about 3 and a half miles to and from work.
The bus will be a different post. So, there you have it. That's the reason I got the Metropolitan. Stay tuned for more elaborations.
Daydreams are nice, especially the ones about...food! Daydreams are cool, alright. But just don't forget about the here and now. The time you spend daydreaming, you could be out making your daydreams come true. See you next time! - Sailor Moon Says
I was on my way to my "new" job at Wachovia (through Randstad), and I was a bit early. So I stopped in to a BP to get some of their really good coffee and a breakfast sandwich - egg, cheese and ham. I had this bad habit of eating breakfast in the car while driving in order to "save time". Sometime between the BP and the traffic light at Aloma Ave (about a mile away) some cheese drips on to my shirt. I glance in the back to see if I have a spare shirt (I do) and turn back around to see that the SUV in front of me stopped. And, of course, there wasn't enough room for me to stop. So, admittedly, it was my fault. I thought to swerve, and had I not been in the middle lane, I might have avoided hitting the SUV. But, instead I hit at probably about 20-25 mph, crush my engine, split my head open on the steering wheel (although I don't really know how; the airbag deployed. And I am definite it was the steering wheel and not the windshield...) and somehow manage to pull my car over to the curb. I got out of the car a few seconds after blood started to stream down my face. My reason for getting out of the car: I don't want to get blood on my apholstry.
When I get out, I start to get a bit light headed, so I sit down on the curb. I'm trying to stop the bleeding with my bare hand because I didn't have anything (that I was willing to ruin) to hold against my head. A bystander, I don't know if it was a witness or the guy I hit, handed me a shirt. Nice guy. A few minutes later the ambulance comes and takes me to the Winter Park Memorial Hospital... I hope you're taking notes. There'll be a quiz.
So far I haven't cried. My head hurt in many ways, I had jammed my toe and knee when my engine pushed up my steering column, and I didn't have the number to work to tell then what was going on. I really was more panicked at how I was going to pay for the ticket and my 20% of the damages and medical bills, and potentially $500 for the deductible to fix my car. I call the only person whose phone number I have memorized, Tadashi. Neither she nor Richard were home. The RN was nice enough to offer to call 411 to find my dad. She lets me talk.
So I ask the 411 operator to look up Juluis Strickland. I'm not sure of his address or even the actual town he's officially in. I say he's in the Orlando area.
"I'm not finding anyone by that name in the Orlando area."
"Are you sure?"
"No. But I do see a Julius Strickland in Orlando."
...
...
Maybe she had hit her head and was a little out of it herself. Or maybe she was an airhead. I don't know.
So I call my Dad, and I keep it together until I have to open my mouth to tell him what happened. I can't hold it back anymore. OK, so I like anime, right? You know how in some of the kiddie anime tears sometimes fountain out of the character's eyes? That's pretty much what happened.
I had a difficult time trying to stop crying long enough to tell him what was going on. About an hour later he was at the hospital. Two doctors tried to numb me up. I told the second one I was already numb and waiting for stitches, and he went away for about 10 more minutes.
Somewhere in all this a cop comes in and asks me what happened, and is all prepared to try to convince me the accident is my fault. Says something along the lines of "It's pretty evident that it's a rear end to the other vehicle..." and I respond with "Yeah, I know I'm at fault..." He seemed both relieved and startled that I had so quickly "given up".
After getting about 5 stitches in my head, Dad drives me to my apartment. I find the number to call my boss, who was really worried because it's not in my character to just not show up, and all's well at work for the day. I change my shirt and Dad gives me a ride to the yard where my car was towed, and I take out a few "essential" things. Then we go to the Enterprise a block away from where I live.
1) I do not have a credit card. At least not at that point. Car rentals, no matter where you get them from, will, for some odd reason, only take credit cards; not even debit cards with a Visa logo (which I do have) are not readily welcomed, and the credit card must be in the name of the person who is renting the car, and the person renting the car must be the one who will be driving the car.
2) In order for my insurance to cover the rental, the appointment must be made through the insurance company.
The guy at Enterprise also let me know that I would need three utility bills in my name with my correct address on it in order to authorize me using my Visa debit card. So at least when I went the next day, I was prepared.
Seeing as that this was my 26th birthday, and my Driver's license had just expired, I planned on getting it renewed on the 25th, since Wachovia had decided to give us (the temps) Tuesdays off because it was our slowest day and we weren't really needed. I figured why not do it today since I'm not going to work? We made our way to the DMV and waited about an hour before the guy behind the counter said,...
You know that cliché of waiting for a concert so bad that you wait in line for hours for tickets, only to have them hang up the "Sold Out" sign on the window on your turn?
..."We're closed for the day. We can set up an appointment for tomorrow but we can't take anymore customers today."
My dad kindly said he would tote me around tomorrow, too. So, At 7am we head over to the DMV again and my licence gets renewed in about 10 minutes, but I have to pay the extra $1 because I was renewing late. Apparently, you can renew up to 6 months prior, so if you renew even one day late, you missed your chance and have to pay the extra $1. It was only a dollar, so I didn't care (this is the same person who, 10 months later, would chicken out of telling my mechanic off for making me pay for a $30 oil change after waiting a month and a half full of misinformation and avoidable delays for a transmission repair on a 3 and a half month old moped...) So I paid my $16, got my picture taken (I have band-aids on my forehead in the picture...) and got my new license, and headed down to Enterprise again.
I had set up the appointment and confirmed the rental and everything yesterday, and I had my cable bill, my electric bill, and I think my gas card bill because I couldn't find any more utilities. The guy at Enterprise (different guy then yesterday) said I wasn't in the computer for an insurance-covered rental... But then a few minutes later the guy that helped me yesterday came in and straightened everything out, even made an exception for the gas card thing after talking to his manager, and convinced me to take a Kia Sorrento - a small SUV. I have no need for an SUV. But it was only $2 more per day out of pocket (came to about $20 for the week +3 days) And my dad was able to let me on my way and do whatever it was he did during the day at that time.
I went to work on Tuesday in order to make up the time lost from Monday (when the accident happened). I was a bit out of it, and was having trouble concentrating. At about 11:30 I remembered something from an anime called Fooly Cooly (FuriKuri, FLCL, ﾌﾘｸﾘ) :
Drinking the bitter ones, huh? That makes you feel grown up? The brain needs glucose. If you wanna get your head back to normal, try something sweet. You're tired, aren't you? Every time something comes out of your head, it creates problems for everyone.
It's a good, weird anime, check it out sometime.
Anyway, I remembered Amarao's advice to Naota and so I ate something sweet (Mrs Freshley's Honey Bun) and, lo and behold, I felt a lot better after about half an hour. Whoever said you don't learn anything from TV?
On Tuesday, the claims adjuster told me Cassie is a total loss. (Cassie is the name Tadashi gave my Cavalier.) I called the tow yard to see if I could stop by that afternoon to empty out the rest of my stuff, and the chick said yeah it should still be there.
When I go there, Cassie wasn't. She had been taken to a junkyard on the opposite side of town. So I called and said I'd be by on Wednesday to get my stuff. There was no problem there, but I cried as I took Cassie's license plate off. It's now hanging on my wall with her spare key and my hospital bracelet.
I returned the Kia to Enterprise and researched the hell out of the Lynx bus schedule. And I spent the next 5 months riding the bus and walking about 3 and a half miles to and from work.
The bus will be a different post. So, there you have it. That's the reason I got the Metropolitan. Stay tuned for more elaborations.
Daydreams are nice, especially the ones about...food! Daydreams are cool, alright. But just don't forget about the here and now. The time you spend daydreaming, you could be out making your daydreams come true. See you next time! - Sailor Moon Says