the weekend at the olympia ER was, dare i say, bittersweet (i am loath to use that term, hateful as it is). blair found out i was leaving. we both cried. dave and carrie, the owners, came by to talk to me; carrie cried too. i will never have another job like this. part of me hopes tacoma turns out horribly so i can crawl back.
i left work and drove home feeling abstractly happy about life. singing along. the horrid easter traffic did not perturb me. i was stopped behind a car on the interstate, almost directly across from the stadiums in seattle, when i noticed the car behind me not slowing down. i got fucking rear-ended. badly. we drove to the side of the freeway. the girl was no more than 18, crying; her passenger boyfriend still had braces. it was her mother's car- macerated, leaking radiator fluid on the pavement. li'l pink appeared utterly unscathed. my neck hurt, but otherwise i was smugly undaunted. i have been in countless accidents and THIS IS THE FIRST ONE THAT WASN'T MY FAULT! i got her insurance information and started to drive off. 50 feet down the road my car began whistling, then shuddered, then died. the cops came, she got cited, her parents showed up, i ended up paying $175 for a tow. the tow driver was a very chatty guy, fresh from a divorce, new to town from wenatchee. apparently hondas are the most frequently stolen cars and they impound DWI more than accidents. he gave me a ride home after i dropped my innocent car at an auto shop. today: turns out that the entire undercarriage was pushed forward. the exhaust pipe is kinked, the muffler's askew, they had to pull some debris out of the tailpipe. she is running but not exactly driveable. the other driver's insurance claims office had a fucking gas leak and the facility was shut down. and my neck still hurts. thus i am typing this rather dull solliloquy instead of being at OPE for my overnight shift.
i do not like being privy to crap that was not my fucking doing, but it is oddly easier to deal with at the same time. i wonder why.
good things about today:
-obnoxiously bright sun. it is impossible to stare into the sun and not appear constipated and enraged.
-$3 nektar lp at jive time as two guys discussed molly hatchet
-israeli cookbook at the fremont library
-the dog on the bus who slithered under the seats for everyone to pet. her immediately altered the mood from a bunch of surly strangers to people bending over and cooing.
-free sample of marc jacobs 'grass' perfume for the asking!
-'let's pretend we don't exist/let's pretend we're in antarctica'- this is a very appealing song! it sounds like it's accompanying a casio demo.
-sitting in my kitchen, feet on the table, reading goddamn people magazine and drinking berry creme dr pepper through a straw, knowing that no matter what horrors befall my car and any other aspect of my world, at that moment i am not having to work the overnight shift.
(berry creme dr pepper, on initial tasting, tastes rather nasty. but i am a whore for exciting new sugarless liquids!)