Bleeding Fiction

I got into a car accident on Saturday. Don't worry, I'm alright. I was the rear car in a minor fender-bender. There wasn't much I could have done to prevent the accident. Two cars stopped at a light, which turned green. We both thought we could go, but the lady coming down the cross street proved us wrong. We both stopped short. The other guy stopped a bit shorter than I did.

The accident was a cosmic event, the result of a fickle twist of fate. I drive a Saturn, I hit a Volvo. Any other pair of cars and there would probably be no damage at all. But I went and threw a clay pot against a titanium block. My car is set to crumple like tin foil if someone breathes on it wrong. It's a testament to how slow the accident was that the only damage is my hood being a little bent up and my front plate falling off.

No big deal; insurance'll take care of the damage and my rates'll go up for a little while. But I'm frustrated that the situation was minor but out of my control. I mean, if someone had barrelled into my car, really smashed it up, while I was waiting at a light, I'd be pissed at the ass that hit me. If I was driving down the street and smacked into someone, I'd be mad at myself. But this was pretty close to no fault. There's no blame to assign. And that pisses me off. Stupid, no?

Paul Bettany would be perfect for the role of Elric.

Almost as perfect as Patrick Fugit would be for the role of Scott Pilgrim.

Though I didn't mention it before-hand, Jon came to visit for a few days; he touched down Saturday evening and took off again this morning. The last time I'd actually seen Jon in the flesh was close to four years ago, and that was only for maybe an hour as he breezed through town on his way back to Illinois from some gathering or other on Long Island. That made it doubly cool to see him.

But I'm still not used to the idea of having friends I never see. Even though it's ten months since I've seen any of you Right Coasters, and there are other folk that it's been even longer, it feels to me like it was just the other day I saw you all. Being reminded of how it works, that it actually has been a long time, makes me a bit said.

Anyway, I took Jon sight-seeing around Seattle. We hit Pike Place (twice, actually), the Fremont Troll, UW and the Arboretum. I always feel a bit bad about doing that; I'm not so good at guided tours. And lets be honest: most folk aren't much into taking them. But it feels sort of like an obligation; espescially since it's a bit boring for a vacationeer to walk with a person through their daily life for a week - work, classes, sitting on the couch watching tv... Not exactly what a tourist showed up for, is it? Still, I think jon enjoyed himself.

Bit more to talk about, unrelated stuff that happened this week, but I'm a little tired, so I hope no one minds if I don't get to it until the weekend. Cheers.

On Thursday, I was the victim of an attempted mugging. Or maybe I was almost the victim of a successful mugging? Not sure; I just know that me and my worldly goods came close to being separate.

Here's what happened: I was walking home from campus, down the same city street I walk down every day, with my iPod in my hand, fiddling with the volume. A guy came walking along in the opposite direction; nothing out of the ordinary, there. Until he lunged over and slapped the iPod out of my hand. He bent down to pick up the iPod, his legs set to bolt as soon as he had it. I guess he was hoping that he'd take me by surprise and outrun me before I could react.

My reaction was a little quicker than he expected, I guess. I kicked him. Hard. I didn't even think about it; just automatically dropped my left leg back and then snapped it up into his bent-over chest. I hit him somewhere sensitive and soft, and he dropped like a stone. I grabbed my iPod and left him on the ground wheezing for breath as I jogged away.

Normally you get a shot of adrenaline when shit like this happens; a jolt of energy that kicks you into high gear, keeps you moving, plays hell with your sense of timing. Not so much here; I was calm as hell, heartbeat steady. I was more concerned for my iPod than anything else. The whole time, I was just worried that it'd been hurt in the fall.

(It hadn't, by the way.)

Truth is, I feel a little bad about kicking the guy. Sure, he was trying to thief me, and I'm glad I kept him from doing that, but I prefer to think of myself as a pacifist. Oh, I talk a big game, threaten violence all the time, but folks know I'm not serious about that. I don't actually like hurting people. But it's apparently my response to an attempted theft, and I think I'd rather not have known that.

Someone on the boat cruise I mentioned a little while ago took some photos to share. There's shots of several of my friends from FIUTS. I'm lurking around the background of a few of them, and in the foreground of one.

Looks like Marc might get his wish, after all.

The administraty people here at The Wash have approved me for in-state tuition. Finally.

This is awesome, in that it represents a substantial savings over regular tuition.

That is all.

I'm up a little late tonight, waiting for my laundry to dry. I'm too tired to concentrate on anything serious, so I'm playing a level or two in Tenchu, a game where you are play a ninja and do a ninja's work. To wit: kill people.

Tonight, I discovered a move that makes this job so much easier: it convinces them to kill themselves for you. The feather-lightest touch, and they're turning their blades inwards and running themselves through.

Madness.