King of the World!

I'm so excited right now, I can barely make myself sit down and write. But let me start earlier in the day:

I got up early— that's right, before 8 AM! My father spent a few days this week negotiating to buy a car for me from a local dealer. Everything was set, and he overnighted the bank draft to me to be here by 10:30 AM. So, I needed to be up and about early so that the UPS man didn't catch me off guard. The plan worked perfectly. I showered, ate a little something, figured out how to get to the dealer via the county buses, and was just about to tackle my insurance agent when there was a knock at the door.

Money in hand, I contacted my insurance agent and started the process of getting my old car off the policy and a new car on. Then I waited a bit for some documents to arrive by email. I emerged from my apartment about 11 AM with a bag full of documents slung over my shoulder (as well as my Kindle and my DSi— it was, after all, going to be three buses to the dealership).

I've known since I announced that I would be leaving this neighborhood shortly that the neighborhood now has it in for me. Let me set this up right: I live immediately on an intersection, with one street running north-south and the other east-west.. My driveway empties on to the E-W street about 10 feet from the intersection. My route was to take me 10 feet east and then turn to the south and cross the road at the same time. As soon as I got onto the street, I saw a woman in a car being yelled at by a man on the sidewalk. She was idling there, about 75 feet ahead of me to the east. I kept my eyes down, not wanting to make eye contact with the yelling man as he was likely to divert his anger to me. I turned right and crossed the street in half a minute and didn't see what followed.

With my back to the scene, I heard her car suddenly rev up. She had floored the accelerator. My guess is that she had decided the argument was over. I kept hearing the car rev higher and higher. She was serious about getting away. So serious, in fact, that she didn't stop at the stop sign immediately in front of her. She shot into the intersection behind me and t-boned a car travelling south. That's when I turned around. I was in time to see metal scrunching and glass flying. The t-boned car was pushed up onto the corner of my lot. Still in motion, he angled 45 degrees to point straight at me. Fortunately, the impact had absorbed most of his momentum and he was able to straighten out his car and park 30 feet down the street without seriously threatening me. His driving on, whipped the woman's car around so that it was facing back in the direction it had come from.

At this time I noticed the man with whom she had been arguing running about her car. His forehead was bleeding, but he was trying doors on the car. He pulled out a baby in baby carrier and then assisted the woman in getting out. Trying to piece together everything that had happened behind me, I believe he had tried to get in the car with her. That's when she gunned the accelerator, probably causing the door to fly back and hit him in the head.

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to the t-boned driver. He was ahead of me, and I walked up to his car to see him sliding over to the passenger side and then exiting out that door. He was a bit rattled but otherwise fine. I saw no nicks or cuts on him at all— which was remarkable, really, given how caved in the driver side door was. He flipped out his phone, and I asked him if he was going to call the police. (After ascertaining that he was OK!) By this time, quite a crowd had gathered in the intersection. I saw several phones out but still thought this driver should call.

The fire truck arrived first, immediately attending to the guy with the bleeding forehead. I saw them put a brace around his neck and bandage his head. The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards and eventually took this guy away. We waited a long time for the police to arrive, and when they did it was in the form of three CHP officers, the first arriving by motorcycle. I hung around through all this because I was the only person other than the drivers and the bleeding guy who was out there at the time. I wanted to be useful if I could be. No one ever asked me anything, however, and 45 minutes later, after the cops left, I walked off as well. I wished the t-boned driver a better day on my way.

Standing out in the sun for nearly an hour made me hot and sweaty and uncomfortable. I was also very tired from having had little sleep. The three buses I was required to take to get in Ontario were hot and crowded as well. It was a miserable trip, and when I flopped into a chair in the sales person's office, I was beat.

My Dad had worked with Tracy Benjamin had Romero Motors, and I mention her specifically because she was such a delight. I had the best experience ever. I was probably there about an hour and never ran into any snags or difficulties. At 4 PM I was sitting in my new car, figuring out where everything was. You know that feeling that settles over you when you first sit in the driver's seat of your new car. I'm coining the new sniglet 'drivergasm' to cover that feeling of joy.

So now you know why I don't want to sit here. Just before sitting down, I went out to the car and programmed a bunch of radio stations. I get 3 free months of XM service so I had a blast programming 18 buttons worth of satellite radio. :-D

Tomorrow I'm off to spend the day with Pat and then enjoy a movie night with the guys. I can't wait to show off my new car!

Back soon!

"I once had a car / That was more like a home

I lived in it, loved in it / Polished its chrome

If some of my homes / Had been more like my car

I probably wouldn't have / Travelled this far" — Paul Simon, "Cars Are Cars"

The Beginning of the End

I haven't posted for a few days because my stress level has been really high. I can't concentrate on anything at all. I'm only here tonight because I don't want to let anymore days pass without a post. More on why I am stressed after a few anecdotes.

I forgot to relate this story of about a week ago. File this as another update about my neighborhood. I was reading in the car at night, probably about 11 PM, when two guys (early 20s?) stopped at the end of my driveway after noticing me in my car. They had been walking along the street. After several seconds one of them walked a few feet towards me in my car, then stopped. He spent about half a minute then making motions like he was going to come closer but then holding himself back. As the window was down, I finally asked him what he wanted. This was the 'permission' he needed to come up to my window. Right away I could tell he was a bit toasted. He said that he and his friend needed a ride to Redlands, at which point I stopped him and said that my car didn't work. He offered me money then, and I explained again that my car wouldn't make the trip and that I was reading in it because it wasn't good for much else. At this point he called to his friend and asked him if he had any more money. I said that it didn't matter how much money they came up with, the car wouldn't make the trip. He still didn't believe me, but he figured I wasn't going to give him a ride regardless so he walked off. As the two of them continued up the street I heard him go on about the car not working and me reading. The 'F' word was dropped in there a few times as well. That's the only time I've been approached at night while reading in the car.

Yesterday I spent the day with Pat, getting home late. For some reason I had been secure in the knowledge for several days that I'd recently purchased a multipack of toilet paper for the bathroom. That night, well after the local market closed, I discovered that I had none in the house. So, I had to make a trip to 7-Eleven about 1:30 AM, hoping that toilet paper was something they stocked. (They did. *phew*!) Upon entering the store a few young white men were arguing with a few young black men. The argument was loud and almost immediately in front of the store doors. I spent a couple minutes inside making my purchase, and even inside I could hear the argument growing in volume. When I emerged, the voices were on the cusp of shouting. I stared at the ground and walked quickly to my car. My next goal was to get out of the parking lot as quickly as possible before the cops arrived. When I was making my purchase, one of the store attendants was closely watching the argument. I had little doubt that he was going to be on the phone soon. Fortunately, I made it home without incident.

This is one of the things that bothers me. I am a night person by biology. I recognize that, in a world biased towards daylight, it is easier to live one's life during daylight hours, but as I have been without a schedule for so long, I am hopelessly nocturnal now. Yet night is still a time of less control, and in my neighborhood— my extended neighborhood if you measure all the way out to the 7-Eleven— it is decidedly less safe to be about at night. I really resent this. I want completely freedom at night to do as I like. It's bad enough being limited by not living in a 24-hour society. being further limited by a less than ideal neighborhood is just adding insult as well.

Now, as to the tease at the beginning of this post (and, in fact, a tease I dropped last week as well), certain events have been placed in motion with the ultimate outcome being that I will soon discontinue writing in this blog. If you'll recall, on the day that I went to the Getty museum with my friend Laura, I had about 40 minutes to kill between the train leaving me in Orange and Laura picking me up. During that time I called back to Raleigh, NC, and spoke with my cousin, Ted, at Greenwich Bay. My brother had previously asked Ted if he would be at all open to the idea of me filling the graphic designer opening at the plant, and Ted was more than just open to the idea. When I spoke on the phone with him, he detailed a lot of what he thought the job was about, and he basically asked me when I wanted to start. At the time a lot of details were up in the air so I promised to call him back soon. I did so last Wednesday, accepting his offer. We pencilled a starting date of October 5th in our calendars.

So, I say that I'll be dropping this blog because soon I will no longer be Jobless John. Have no fear, however, I fully intend to continue on in a new blog. I anticipate that blog to be about me adapting to life in Raleigh.

There is so much to do now. I haven't the vaguest notion where to begin. No doubt the upcoming six weeks will be full of stress and sadness, conditions which will be reflected here.

Back soon!

"The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving."— Oliver Wendell Holmes