Every Day Provides a New Allegory

[cbertsch]

Someone unexpectedly opened a car door into my left shin while I was riding through the parking lot at the "Bagel Place" -- the Starbucks/Einstein Brothers at Oracle and Ina -- this morning. It has swollen to double its normal size, though I don't think anything major is wrong with it. I was in shock for a while, then started to feel the pain mount. But what really has me frazzled is the aftermath of the incident, in the course of which I somehow managed to end up feeling A) guilty for having this minor accident at this particularly stressful juncture; B) foolhardy for not stopping when the car slowed down in front of me; C) embarrassed for providing an example to the father of two young children at Starbucks, who said, "See, that's what happens when you don't watch where you're going. Just look at that man's bruise;" and D) stupid for not manifesting the extent of my injuries fast enough to mobilize myself or other patrons to take down the license plate of the white Mazda Miata convertible, driven by someone I later, in a burst of compensatory irony at the Wild Oats check-out, described as "a sorority girl from Pima Community College." In other words, the pain in my leg is nothing compared to the pain in my head.

Comments

[flw.livejournal.com]

I saw a dipshit from Nevada hit a shopping cart (being pushed) at the Trader Joe's parking lot yesterday. They almost hit me. I looked in as they drove past at... I'd guess 15 mph, and saw that it was a mother daughter team. They were arguing about how to work the navigation system, and paying NO attention to anything else. They ran smack into a little old lady's shopping cart and then HAMMERED the gas. I really should have done something, but for some reason I didn't care at all.

I got hitted and runned within a month of buying my bike. It is infuriating.

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

Nice seeing you today! I've noticed the same thing with those systems. Until they get automatic override in cars, the technology isn't going to make things safer.

[flw.livejournal.com]

How's your leg doin' now? It must have turned a glorious green and purple...

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's a pain, literally and figuratively. I'm on antibiotics, since it apparently got infected, despite my best efforts to prevent that turn of affairs. And my ankle and foot swell each day to the point where I can't wear shoes. Sigh.

[flw.livejournal.com]

Here's some centuries old medical advice that has passed down through my family for generations: "Walk it off, you pussy."

Feel better? No? That's how you know it's working, you pansy. WALK IT OFF!

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

If only I could get my shoe on, coach, that would be a lot easier. . .

:-)

[flw.livejournal.com]

quit yer bellyachin'.

(is it working yet?)