Well, the biggest news in my life at the moment is that my car is in the shop and we're waiting for the insurance company to send out an appraiser to determine if they'll pay for the damage. It seems that I have particularly bad luck when it comes to automotive collision. The crash produced the equivalent of one of those bullet wounds that leaves a little hole on the outside, but turns vital organs to mush. That is to say, yes, the crash crumpled up a section of the hood, and displaced a headlight, but it also bent a cross member that holds the radiator in place, cracked the radiator, and bent the unibody of the car.
The assistant manager was decidedly non-committal about whether or not the insurance company would repair the car or declare it a total loss. Based on Kelley Blue Book, I think there is hope for the former, but it may be a close thing. Please keep those digits crossed and make appropriate offerings to the God/Goddess/Old One of your choice. I don't want to buy another car right now.
This automotive status update is not the subject of my entry today, however.
Rather, I want to write about an incident that occured on my way home on Saturday night. Since the car accident occurred on my way to visit friends and disabled my car, I took the train home. As I explained to my parents that I was in an auto accident by cell phone while in the train, I noticed a lovely young woman, in her mid-20's sitting about 5 seats away from me. The color of her hair, the shape of her face, and her general demeanor reminded me of a woman with whom I was briefly acquainted about 12 years ago.
I met her in the University weight room.
I used to go there on an almost daily basis in those days. It being one of the few places I was able mingle with students of the opposite sex (grad computer science classes and computer labs were not doing it for me), I used to try to make conversation with some of the pretty women I used to see there on a regular basis. I even asked a few of them out... with generally miserable results.
The woman on the train reminded me of one of the women I asked out. We were on our way across campus on a municipal bus and engaged in idle chit chat. Shortly before my stop, I asked her out for coffee. She got a shy little look on her face and said no because she had a fiancee, but said she was very flattered.
A few minutes after I recalled this long buried memory, I saw a man sit down in a seat near hers. The began to engage in idle chit-chat. I recall hearing a couple questions about where each of them was from, and their respective destinations. I then started a short phone call... because my previous call to my parents was cut short due to loss of signal. As that phone call ended, I heard the man finish a question to the woman. What it was, I don't exactly know because my attention was still partially elsewhere. All I really heard was "no... thank you... I'm really flattered... but I have a boyfriend... he is the one coming to visit."
All I could think was that the past still repeats, even though the players sometimes change.
said drgeek
on 2006-02-22 at 5:16 p.m.
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The Wayback Machine - To Infinity And Beyond
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