Hi folks!
I know, I am still lagging on promise to round up the trip to Baton Rouge, but, hey, I did start writing it! Otherwise, I might entertain you with tidbits from yesterday night.
It was one of those leisury Saturdays, I didn’t have anything to do, didn’t have to be anywhere… So I decided to go to Philly and treat me to some movies and coffee. The choices for the evening were “Keeping up with the Steins”, the story of a soon to be 13 year old and his approaching Bar Mitzvah, and “The Promise”, some over the top Chinese fantasy story.
The first one is a coming of age story, not only for our hero Benjamin, but also for his father and even his grandpa. It has the warmth of a comedy that takes his characters and their silly woes seriously, but never fails to serve it with a wink. Recommended.
The second is an opulent fantasy/love story that is closer to “House of Flying Daggers” than “Tiger & Dragon”. However, even though some scenes are pretty cheesy, it does tell us a story about fate, promises and lies, friend and enemy. The actors are all not too bad and over and all I say that it deserves 8 points out of 10 or so…
The evening was rounded up by a good coffee and “Becoming Jefferson’s People”, a small little book that turned out to be quite interesting and thought provoking. Using citations from Jefferson’s letters, the author Clay Jenkinson is trying to model what it would be like living up to Jefferson’s ideas of citizenship. I first wasn’t convinced at all by this approach, sounding too much of an idolization of the far less than perfect Jefferson himself, but I realized that taken with a pinch of salt the book has a few good points.
Having fared thus well, I was walking back to the parking garage, unaware that the evening was about to take a few weird twists and turns. Suddenly, there was this man when I was about to enter the elevator in the garage, who out of the blue started telling me his story about a flat tire, strange and suspicious cops and a repair shop charging him 300plus for essentially a minor repair, and him not having his wallet with him. I didn’t understand every detail of the story, to be honest, but ended up helping him out with some 30 bucks or so in exchange for his phone number. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, naive Levent was conned. Maybe. But I had a good feeling about it, so…..
20 minutes later I was driving down I95 south, good jazz in the radio and still thinking of that odd episode. The next three or four things happened more or less at once, so my recollection is a bit fuzzy. First, there is this deer on the road. Next, I am braking and trying to avoid it. Then there is a bang and a lot of smoke in the car. I remember yelling something but I don’t know exactly what. My guess is that gutter language was involved. For at least a few seconds I was complete panicked out, steering wildly in the middle of a three lane expressway! Then I did get myself to think straight, pulled the car over, and jumped out of it. In short: I am fine, got only a few burns on my arms from the airbag which was completely useless in this case and actually caused half of my panic and disorientation! The deer most likely did not survive this incident, I could see it laying on the shoulder but I did not dare to walk up there.
After making sure the car wasn’t any danger to me I called the cops. First, they send me a Delaware State Tropper who told me that I am still in PA, so he couldn’t do anything. Next came the real guys who said that there isn’t much they can do either. So I called AAA who send me a tow truck (breakdown lorry?), and three hours after leaving Philly I was finally at home, safe and sound.
This morning I did inspect the damage and took some pictures. Looks pretty bad, doesn’t it?
I guess this ends my short affair with my first car. I might have it checked out to see how much a repair will cost, but I have a hunch it’ll be way too much… Anyway, everything’s cool. I am alive and unharmed yet still a bit shaken, I suppose.
I hope you guys back home are rockin’ and having a good Mother’s Day! Sending you all my best wishes!