I've been reluctant to tell this story, but here's what I was thankful for this year...
Last wednesday, the day before thanksgiving, I drove home from work at
around 11am to pick up some eggrolls I had heated up for a company
potluck. On my way back, I found myself behind two slow cars on a
highway junction when I decided to make a pass. I was on a turn
that began as one lane, then split into two during the turn, and then
remerged back into one as the turn finished.
As the road split during the turn, I passed one car, which decided to
stay on the right...but as I was passing the second car, he decides to
go into the left lane. To avoid contact, I swing onto the
shoulder, but as I'm doing it, both of my left tires get caught
off-road on some dirt and gravel. Immediately, I brake, and try
to steer myself back on to the road...but instead of going back on...my
car makes a sharp 90 degree right turn...sliding perpendicular to the
road.
My brand new tires completely smoke up...and I lose control...drifting
onto the curb on the opposite side of the road, where my car proceeds
to flip onto the hill on the side of the highway. My car does two
more complete flips, and lands upside down.
I should have panicked, I should have died, but safely belted,
upside-down in my subaru, I'm conscious, and I turn off the ignition,
release my seat belt, crawl to my back seat and open the door to
escape...meanwhile, the smell of gas fumes is all over because my gas
tank was punctured and leaking.
As soon as I got out, I thanked god I was alive and only had a small bruise on my head, and a cut/bruise on my shin.
Today, I went to the towing facility to see the remains of my
car. I spent a good half an hour taking my belongings, which
included a gasoline-soaked jacket, some paperwork, and my Momo shift
nob. I heard somewhere that a guy like me had his WRX crushed
under a big rig, and he too survived with minor injuries. As a
memento, he kept his shift knob for good luck. I figured I'd do
the same.
As I was taking my last few pictures and was ready to leave the
facility, it started raining. I couldn't have scripted a better
melancholic moment. Some of my friends know how much I took care
of my car...and when it mattered, she took care of me.
Being involved in something like this really gave me new energy over
the holiday. Fortunately, I was in good enough shape to spend
time with a lot of my friends old and new. When I came back to
work on Sunday to shut down my computer which had been on since Friday,
I noticed so many ppl left me IMs wishing me a Happy
Thanksgiving. I'm sorry if I didn't reply, but I was really at
home resting and I just wanted to thank anyone who left me a msg or
just said "hey."
Other than that, I had an awesome weekend. Opened up xbox 360 and
played it with Tony and the Toga gang. Go Karting for Vince's
bday
was awesome; Steve and I gave him one of the two xbox 360's we camped
10 hours overnight for (I got the other one =P). Then going to sf
with Jess, and the rest of the OGTAG crew was a lotta fun. My
brother and sister both came back so it also was good to see the whole
family together for the holiday. Finally, had breakfast and
played xbox 360 with Karoon and Nate and
watched some football to round up an very thankful thanksgiving weekend.
Lastly, here are the
pics of my WRX....and a few
tribute pics when she was still alive and running.
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