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I almost died the other day, or, in the very least, got seriously injured. That might account something for my pissy mood and the feeling that I am just moments away from yet another calamity.
I was driving to work. Taking my usual route, driving the appropriate 5 miles over the speed limit (more like 2 and a half but I'll round.) I was about to pass through a green light when a grey pickup truck blew through a solid red and cut right in front of me. Evidently, I still have those fast reflexes from my wrestling days. I slammed on the breaks, swerved, drove onto the sidewalk and came to a screeching halt. The moron looked at me while I was swerving, because I remember that, but he never stopped. He just kept right on driving. I yelled at him "Are you fucking stupid?" but I don't think he understood any English. Here is an interesting thing though. A week before the f2m that I had previously mentioned showed me a different route to work, one that required me to be in the far right lane so I wouldn't have to take a left at the very next light. If I had gone my old way, I would've been in the left lane and probably would've crashed head on and with my look, moron boy wouldn't have had any insurance.
Anyway. That night I had adrenaline jitters, as could be expected. But I am wondering if this is a sign that something horrible is about to happen. Add on top of that that I had a dream of being interrogated by the cops again. They were trying to poke this giant needle with a red tip in me to get my DNA and warned me that the Feds are always watching. add to that that I can't meet my monthly budget. (I have 200 in the bank and I don't know what other bills I can do away with. If my roommate doesn't pay rent, i think either my phone or the internet is going to go away and its most likely going to be the internet.) I've been asking for a raise but keep getting put off. Now the probation officer wants to contact my employer and won't accept the fact that I am an independent contractor that basically works for myself. If I lose the job I won't have to worry about bills, I'll have to worry about parking my van in the back yard and living out of it. So, as you can see, I am stressed.
BTW, I do not suffer from depression. I suffer from a shitty life, there is a difference. Tell me one thing to be happy about and maybe my mood will change.
Comments
YIKS ! But then drivers are a menace even if they dont intend to
All but the smallest cars are over one ton. Get that going say 40 MPH and you have a lot of kinetic engery stored, ready to do serious damage.
And your parole officer has this much time on his or her hands?
Shudder!
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
to be happy about ?
a long walk in the park with the smell of freshly cut grass, the warmth of the sun on your face as you wake up looking out the window. all the people here hugging you when your down even if its an electronic one. i am sure you would giggle if a puppy licked your toes as you played with her. the smell of breakfast in the morning. waiting till night and shutting all the shit off and looking up to see the stars and knowing the light your seeing is billions of years old and finally me telling you with this reply that your not alone. That all here care.
hugs and more hugs rues
not allowed
Due to my status as a sex offender I am not allowed to walk in the park, or stand in the park, or park in the parking lot of a park. I do have kittens, well they are bigger kittens almost real cats, they like to jump and me and dig their claws in me. Its affection, but it hurts.
I mean there are things I do look forward to, but just a lot of stress right now. I have my book and have sold 12 copies and all the reviews have been 5 stars. I at least have a job. I need a new van, maybe that will come my way. I even had extra work thrown my way last night and that was a bonus. In the end, I will somehow make it. I own my house. I own my vehicles, even though one don't work (head gasket and needs a piston ring) and the other one does some freaky stuff and I should replace it (last night the headlights decided to wait a few minutes to come on). I think the main thing is finding a way to rest and recenter myself. That is what I am really missing. I don't get days off and I can't afford to take a day trip or even go to a salon and get my hair done. I think the main thing is that I am alone and though I don't trust humanity, its a bad place to be.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
I almost died
If you are harassed, you can fils a lawsuit and get recompense.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Maybe, Katie
You are taking the wrong "message" away from this. Rather than dwelling on the negative aspect (I should have been killed!), you need to look at the flipside: (I wasn't killed even though I would have been had I not changed my routine!)
I'm not big on God or Gods or what have you, seems to me if there are any Gods running things they have a lot to answer for. But sometimes it seems as if the Hand of Fate or something steps in and diverts a disaster, as if to say, "No, not this one." Maybe down the road you are going to be the right person at the right place at the right time. To do what, I haven't got a clue.
But you are alive and kicking, and that has to be one for the plus side of the ledger.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
i hated driving jobs
When you're in a marked vehicle because people have this stupid mentality about it and they think that If a company vehicle hits them they get a free car, even if it is their fault. Actually got in an argument with a person once about it and finally a cop came over and told him that if he were found to be in the wrong then the company could sue him instead plus all the fees and fines he would get.
Out this way winter is bad with the people who run reds. You know it will change colors so don't treat all lights like you can't stop in time. Now I can see sometimes, but when you blow through a light that has been red for more then twenty seconds its a bit much.
Also we have paper delivery drivers who dive bomb to oppsite side of the road. I did it when I drove a paper route, but I made sure traffic was clear. I also stopped when I was told by a cop I could get several tickets including wreckless driving and failure to stay in your lane. But some of the fools around here will do it with on coming traffic like they are an emergency vehicle.
Now I shall end my rambling
around here...
Our paper carriers actually DO get to be classified as emergency vehicles... I know, cuz my mom is a paper carrier and threw up a fit when the paper literally TOLD HER TO. They gave her a thingy that she can show to anyone who stops her that while she's delivering papers, she's an emergency vehicle. That means that the paper can force her to deliver in any weather conditions... and do the dive-bomb thing.
Abigail Drew.
Ok, how in heck is a paper
Ok, how in heck is a paper carrier considered an emergency vehicle? I mean it's a newspaper, not an ambulance, cop car or other emergency vehicle that could be instrumental to saving a life. So how are they considered one? Not being mean here, just really want to know now.
woo woo woo Raff1
It means that we get certain exemptions from rules of the roads. Sort of like the mailman does. We don't have to wear our seatbelt (because we are constantly retrieving papers from the back seat) and we can drive on the wrong side of the road (which I do frequently). I also don't do the speed limit (10 mph neighborhoods: fuck you). Stop signs are mere suggestions and I go through most of them with just a pause. The reason being, if we followed all the damn rules, we couldn't get our jobs done. You ever try to throw a sunday paper out the window... its heavy and can only go so far before I break my arm.
You have to realize though, I am doing this at 3-5 am and mostly the roads are empty. I've never gotten into an accident (except for the occasional possum)
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
You know, the whole 10 mph
You know, the whole 10 mph and no stop for a stop sign sounds like the people that live in the trailer park I live in.
I did deliver papers years back, back from 89-95 and I know the weight of the somewhat bigger city papers. I delivered the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee and the Chico Enterprise record, plus the small Oroville Mercury Register. Sunday was nothing to throw, The day after thanksgiving, that's a whole other story. I tossed one and it cleared maybe half a foot out of the window before hitting the ground and my now ex-wife burst into laughter at me. When I was doing it, I knew several of the drivers who got tickets for going even slightly over the speed limit, so you must be in a better area. Heck, my mom got pulled over for being on the wrong side of the road while delivering and the cops told her no. the only reason she didn't get a ticket was he knew her from when he went to church as a child. Also a lot of my old route was twisty mountain roads and a small ford aspire would not hold up well to a crash with a logging truck or other fast moving vehicle. I also had the great luck to deliver to the D.A.'s house, so I couldn't break the law much around there, because he almost always had a cop by his home.
Most of the mail person I see tend to drive on the wrong side of the car, but they drive with the flow of traffic. My main complaint is those who wait till the last second, with on coming traffic, and dive bomb the paper box, like they are immune to the laws of the road, and physics, well that and the people who run the red with the excuse that they could not stop in time.
Times change, as well...
These days, people who still want a paper paper, want it NOW. And at least here, the newspaper got tired of the complaints, complained to the man, and got permission to give their carriers the classification of being emergency vehicles.
So now the only way our paper carriers can get out of going out to deliver newspapers is if they literally can't. And even then it ends up costing them money, cuz they paper still won't excuse it. Not only do they not get payed, they get charged for having to have someone else do it for them.
They also are absolutely required to have all the papers delivered by a certain time. Even if papers get to the depot late.
The only way they could ever accomplish what they are required to accomplish is if they break nearly every single traffic law in existence. Including even being out there at all when there's a blizzard or hurricane or tornado or...
Abigail Drew.
Time travel is your only hope
Customers can be really bad. This is why I can't work with the public, because I tend to point out when they are wrong. I don't believe that saying that the customer is always right, having met too many that try to get something for nothing while using that saying. And it's bad when people can't understand that traffic does happen, that blizzards happen. And these would be the same people who scream like a stuck pig if you yelled at them for the same thing.
PaperGirl Blues
My route requires me to drive 80 miles a night. 20 just to get to the route. Right now I am living off of 360 dollars a week and it cost 120 to fill up twice a week to do my job. (Right now I am haggling to get a better rate, which I am told I will, but they keep putting off the deadline). I do a pretty good job. I am rarely late with the paper, even with a late truck. I follow up with customers (even the asshole who called in 8 fucking times yesterday, who I still have to call.) I did deliver the paper last month in a tropical storm, but some of the roads were not drivable and I just called them in. Luckily, you can do that. My route sucks, I miss my old route with the Tampa Trib. The Tampa trib route I was done by 4:30. The route I have now is a lot of dirt roads and I get scared when I hear the banjos.
Katie Leone (Katie-Leone.com)
Writing is what you do when you put pen to paper, being an author is what you do when you bring words to life
banjos dont scare me. It was
banjos dont scare me. It was the signs on the stores way up in the hills that I had to get out at and leave like tweny papers. The ones with big bold letters that proclaimed
the sign came complete with a picture of said mountain lion, with a good shot of their store.
I saw that and heard a twig snapped and I almost flew back into the drivers seat. Scared the hell out of my wife who rode with me. I raced for the main road and my wife sees a dag come out of the brush. I never lived that one down.
Saw a few weirdos out, mostly old pot heads who were totally harmless. Although at the same store I did see a person hanging out at the side of the store one morning at 2 am. He thought he was hiding, but he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Had one time a wild fire went through there and the CDF shut down the highway and all access roads to the area. One customer called to complain because I did not deliver the paper, to the hotel they were staying at almost sixty miles in the other direction. I had no freaking clue where the hell they were, neither did anyone else. The person who manned the phones asked them if they had told anyone the new address and when the customer said no, he had to ask, how we could find them, if they never told anyone. The man said he left a note in his mailbox. A mailbox on a road that was shut off for almost two days by the department of forestry.
I do feel you about the fuel costs. That is one of the reasons the last job got rid of all of us. We had one run that was 11 hours, 500 miles and we did it in a diesel van that took almost $130. to fill on that run, daily. I started driving that paper route of mine in 1989 and the gas was $0.89 a gallon. six or so months later and the first gulf war hit and there went those wonderful prices. Because of the sudden spike in fuel, till the drivers could get their costs under control, they gave the drivers a voucher to help with it, I mean it went from $.89 to almost 2.89 in a week, if I recall correctly.