(no subject)
Well, this week's LJ Idol topic is: Crashing
So, I thought I'd tell you the story of the car crash that totally changed my life.
At the time, we were living in Stuttgart, Arkansas (it's not Hell, but you can see it from there). I was employed (part-time) at the local movie theater and we were barely covering our few bills. However, we were just getting by.
We were on the way home from work on Saturday night/early Sunday morning the day after my birthday and we had just opened the movie "Scream 2" that weekend. The film was doing very well because the studio sent us a "ghostface" costume and we would have someone go into the theater dressed up as that during the film and it scared the crap out of everyone but made the film a huge hit.
We decided to take the long way home up Main Street because our car was old and it had a habit of suddenly dying in the cold and this route didn't take us over any train tracks as the other way would.
As we were driving down the road, I noticed in the distance the blue lights of a police vehicle coming towards us. However, it was still a ways off and I really didn't think any more of it until we were stopped at the red light about three blocks from our apartment.
The car was heading past us to some crime scene at quite a clip and I had just turned around to find our Noble Blue SuperPig stuffie in the back seat and show him the other "blue superpig" going past when I heard a horrible noise and was suddenly wracked with pain and looking at the hood of our car in the windshield.
I never saw the accident coming or happen (this fact made it so much more traumatic for me). However, I have been informed what happened by others involved.
The police car was driving at a high speed towards the intersection and had his lights on but not his siren. He was running through the red light we were stopped at when an SUV entered the intersection in front of him. The SUV was in the right of way and didn't stop because that is a blind corner and he did not hear the siren or see the cop until he had already started into the intersection.
The police car clipped the SUV's front bumper and crashed head-on into our car full force. It then spun around and sideswiped the car three cars behind us at the light before finally stopping. The impact caused our car to back into the car behind us and that car to back into the car behind him.
Luckily, our car was an older model car and it was made of metal. The car behind us was a TransAm made out of fiberglass and if he had been in our position at the light, he likely would have been decapitated.
I remember wondering why the cop hit us and having to recline my seat back in order to get out of it because the windshield and hood had crumpled forward into me. My head was bleeding profusely (as head wounds are wont to do) from a ragged tear above my right eyebrow. My right knee hurt and I was wandering around trying to figure out what had happened.
I remember that when we finally found my glasses, they were in the back floorboard almost totally under beldar's seat (he was driving). I kept wiping blood and glass chunks out of my eyes and waited for some assistance.
I was the most seriously injured of everyone involved in the crash but since there was a cop involved (he had very minor powder burns due to the airbag detonation), we were forced to wait an extra 20 minutes for the second ambulance on the scene (almost an hour of waiting total) to take care of us. However, we were right in front of the Fire station so the Firemen did administer some first aid to me while we were waiting.
I ended up with 3 stitches in my eyebrow (right at the corner, above the nose), and my leg right below my knee was ripped open where I had shattered the glove compartment with it. I had numerous other cuts, scrapes and bruises all over my face. I looked horrible.
I wore dark glasses, bandannas and a hat at work to cover the worst of it and it helped quite a bit (it took me almost a month to fully recover to the point I didn't look battered). I do remember that one day at the checkout of the Wal-Mart the cashier looked at my face and then gave beldar this look of death until I explained that I wasn't battered but in the car wreck (it was a small town and everyone knew about the wreck).
It took us almost six months to get our car replaced and it was only that quick because beldar was working at the newspaper then and writing regular columns detailing our ordeals (since the cop was at fault, we had to go through all sorts of channels to get the state government to pay us the damages). Luckily, our damage total was low enough that we didn't need the legislature to approve it (they didn't meet until the next year).
About three weeks after the wreck, I applied for a job as a receptionist with the local H & R Block branch. I know that the sympathy due to my look and plight was a large portion of what allowed me to land the job. Since the office was only three blocks away from our apartment, I could easily walk to work no matter what the weather (the wrecked car was our only means of transportation).
Now why I say that the wreck changed my life is because that receptionist position at H & R Block, turned into a position as a Tax Preparer the next year and then Manager of an entire office the year after that. It was my first step to becoming an accountant and if I hadn't have gotten that job, I certainly would not be an accountant now.
I would have missed out on some of the greatest opportunities in my life and I am terrified as to what sort of shit job I would have right now. In fact, I seriously doubt I would be in Indiana and might not even still be with beldar.
While the wreck was a nightmare and it took me years to get over the horrors of that night (I'm still not totally over all of them), I am glad for the opportunities granted from it and the growth lessons gained by it.
So, I thought I'd tell you the story of the car crash that totally changed my life.
At the time, we were living in Stuttgart, Arkansas (it's not Hell, but you can see it from there). I was employed (part-time) at the local movie theater and we were barely covering our few bills. However, we were just getting by.
We were on the way home from work on Saturday night/early Sunday morning the day after my birthday and we had just opened the movie "Scream 2" that weekend. The film was doing very well because the studio sent us a "ghostface" costume and we would have someone go into the theater dressed up as that during the film and it scared the crap out of everyone but made the film a huge hit.
We decided to take the long way home up Main Street because our car was old and it had a habit of suddenly dying in the cold and this route didn't take us over any train tracks as the other way would.
As we were driving down the road, I noticed in the distance the blue lights of a police vehicle coming towards us. However, it was still a ways off and I really didn't think any more of it until we were stopped at the red light about three blocks from our apartment.
The car was heading past us to some crime scene at quite a clip and I had just turned around to find our Noble Blue SuperPig stuffie in the back seat and show him the other "blue superpig" going past when I heard a horrible noise and was suddenly wracked with pain and looking at the hood of our car in the windshield.
I never saw the accident coming or happen (this fact made it so much more traumatic for me). However, I have been informed what happened by others involved.
The police car was driving at a high speed towards the intersection and had his lights on but not his siren. He was running through the red light we were stopped at when an SUV entered the intersection in front of him. The SUV was in the right of way and didn't stop because that is a blind corner and he did not hear the siren or see the cop until he had already started into the intersection.
The police car clipped the SUV's front bumper and crashed head-on into our car full force. It then spun around and sideswiped the car three cars behind us at the light before finally stopping. The impact caused our car to back into the car behind us and that car to back into the car behind him.
Luckily, our car was an older model car and it was made of metal. The car behind us was a TransAm made out of fiberglass and if he had been in our position at the light, he likely would have been decapitated.
I remember wondering why the cop hit us and having to recline my seat back in order to get out of it because the windshield and hood had crumpled forward into me. My head was bleeding profusely (as head wounds are wont to do) from a ragged tear above my right eyebrow. My right knee hurt and I was wandering around trying to figure out what had happened.
I remember that when we finally found my glasses, they were in the back floorboard almost totally under beldar's seat (he was driving). I kept wiping blood and glass chunks out of my eyes and waited for some assistance.
I was the most seriously injured of everyone involved in the crash but since there was a cop involved (he had very minor powder burns due to the airbag detonation), we were forced to wait an extra 20 minutes for the second ambulance on the scene (almost an hour of waiting total) to take care of us. However, we were right in front of the Fire station so the Firemen did administer some first aid to me while we were waiting.
I ended up with 3 stitches in my eyebrow (right at the corner, above the nose), and my leg right below my knee was ripped open where I had shattered the glove compartment with it. I had numerous other cuts, scrapes and bruises all over my face. I looked horrible.
I wore dark glasses, bandannas and a hat at work to cover the worst of it and it helped quite a bit (it took me almost a month to fully recover to the point I didn't look battered). I do remember that one day at the checkout of the Wal-Mart the cashier looked at my face and then gave beldar this look of death until I explained that I wasn't battered but in the car wreck (it was a small town and everyone knew about the wreck).
It took us almost six months to get our car replaced and it was only that quick because beldar was working at the newspaper then and writing regular columns detailing our ordeals (since the cop was at fault, we had to go through all sorts of channels to get the state government to pay us the damages). Luckily, our damage total was low enough that we didn't need the legislature to approve it (they didn't meet until the next year).
About three weeks after the wreck, I applied for a job as a receptionist with the local H & R Block branch. I know that the sympathy due to my look and plight was a large portion of what allowed me to land the job. Since the office was only three blocks away from our apartment, I could easily walk to work no matter what the weather (the wrecked car was our only means of transportation).
Now why I say that the wreck changed my life is because that receptionist position at H & R Block, turned into a position as a Tax Preparer the next year and then Manager of an entire office the year after that. It was my first step to becoming an accountant and if I hadn't have gotten that job, I certainly would not be an accountant now.
I would have missed out on some of the greatest opportunities in my life and I am terrified as to what sort of shit job I would have right now. In fact, I seriously doubt I would be in Indiana and might not even still be with beldar.
While the wreck was a nightmare and it took me years to get over the horrors of that night (I'm still not totally over all of them), I am glad for the opportunities granted from it and the growth lessons gained by it.