One or two interesting developments have arisen in the past few days that I feel must be addressed before I continue with the main topic of today�s entry. To begin with, you�ll remember how they just hired that new guy? He was actually supposed to be a replacement for the girl I had been working with, but then she asked for another chance, and they gave it to her. Well, for about two days. When I got to work this evening, there was a new new guy sitting in her chair. This new guy is quieter, but�the jury�s still out. It�s just odd not having her around, and not least of all because she used to bring me fudge.
Anyway, when I was on my way home from work on Friday, I took a different route, intending to stop by a friend�s apartment. I never made it, however, because as I was going through a yellow light, someone whipped past me at about sixty miles an hour, lost control of their car, and swerved into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, it was extremely late at night, so there wasn�t much oncoming, but�that�s still like saying, �Gee, thank goodness only that one family�s house burned down.�
It was horrific, of course, and as I was pulling over, I was trying to brace myself for what I was about to see. It seemed impossible to me that anyone could have survived that impact, because both cars were pretty much demolished. The weird thing is that�well, the weird thing is that the accident happened between a church and a strip joint. I was only just getting out of my car when a bunch of strippers (and other passers-by) flocked to the crash site, pried open one of the car�s doors, and started dragging people out and carrying them off. I really had no idea what to say at that point. It�s like, just put that spinal injury anywhere.
I came over to where some girl in go-go boots was kneeling next to one of the victims. I wanted to help, but�what the hell could I do? I�m not trained to do anything medical, the police had already been called, and the victims that were conscious already had people hovering over them (too many, one might say). When some guy came over to warn us not to look in the other car, since someone had lost their nose, I decided the best thing to do would be to get the hell out of the way until the ambulance arrived.
So I sort of lurked in the shadows and avoided looking at the crash site because it felt intrusive and disrespectful (and I�m kind of squeamish), all the while waiting for the police to be ready for me to give my statement. I felt really ghoulish, though, to tell the truth. It�s sort of embarrassing the way people flock to these scenes, or slow down as they drive by, craning their necks out of their windows and trying to get a better view at the carnage. Someone from the evening news showed up and some guy standing near me went on a tirade about how despicable that was, and how �this isn�t good TV,� and I wanted to turn around and say, �you�re watching, aren�t you?�
I think most of the spectators thought I was just one of them until the police beckoned me past the yellow tape and started asking me questions about the crash. All of a sudden, I had people staring at me, and whenever the cop would become distracted, they would call out questions to me regarding the accident. Suddenly, I was very popular, and for all the wrong reasons.
Needless to say, I never did end up visiting my friend that night. I tried to do the right thing by staying out of the way and giving my statement to the best of my recollection, but it�s the sort of situation where I think there�s just no way to ever feel like you did everything you could. No matter what you were able to accomplish, no matter how smart your choices were, if you can�t fix everything and make it better, you feel as though you�ve failed in some way.
So anyway, I guess I just felt the need to talk about it and get it off my chest. Next time, I promise we�ll be back to the regularly scheduled frivolity.
Someone Got Here By Searching For: Trishelle Beating Disorder [Now, does that mean she had a �beating disorder�, or that this person wanted to find out how she went about beating whatever disorder she had?] I�m Watching: Arrested Development. That�s one Emmy, richly deserved. I�m Reading: I�m still working on Rebecca, but doing much better than I�d anticipated!