Weather, Car Accident

At least it's going to start cooling down as the week goes on. I've been taking the motorcycle to work and it's killing me. The wind as I drive doesn't even cool me down. It just makes it worse because it's a hot, dry heat.

Why am I taking the motorcycle? I got into a car accident.


We'll call the pink car Mr. Pink. The light turned green for my lane to turn left. I finished the turn and was continuing straight down the street. Mr. Pink was pulling out of a Walgreen's parking lot to make an illegal left hand turn against oncoming traffic. There was a big blue van in front of me that swerved to avoid him, but I couldn't get out of the way myself without hitting either Mr. Pink or the van so I slammed my brakes and hit Mr. Pink's car head on.


My front bumper cracked, the headlight imploded, turn signal was gone, driver's side front tire went flat, fog lamp was gone, and driver's side front fender had a huge dent. It was bent in so far that the car couldn't be driven because I wasn't able to turn the tire at all. It had to be towed to a shop.


His rear bumper fell off (just due to the impact, there was no actual damage to it) and his driver's side rear fender had a big dent.

Mr. Pink has Allstate and I have Geico. I have to take a moment to really vouch for my insurance company. Geico did a fantastic freaking job handling this entire thing. I'll start from the beginning.

When the accident had just happened (Wednesday) the first thing I did was call Geico and report it. They sent out a tow truck and took my car to a nearby friend's house where it could sit in the driveway until things were sorted out. After I was done they told me to call Mr. Pink's insurance company (Allstate) and give them a statement. I had to call Allstate for two days before I was able to get a claim number and leave a statement. For the first day (Wednesday) they kept telling me that the claim was so fresh the computer wouldn't let them edit it. They promised they would call me back the next day (Thursday) but they never did. I had to call them on Thursday night because they forgot to call me. I left my statement and they said they would be closed over the weekend so I should expect a phone call on Monday.

Monday comes and goes with no contact. I call Allstate on Tuesday and get directed to a confused agent who keeps insisting that my car is already at a body shop and that an adjuster has already looked at it. Somewhere along the lines they realize that I am not Mr. Pink (they had been giving me information about him and his car all along,) so they apologize and start asking me questions: when was the accident? What happened? I tell them that I already gave my statement and I'm just following up because they said they'd contact me on Monday but never did. The guy says something like, "Well if WE said WE would contact you - then WE will do it when WE need to. You don't need to call US." and hangs up.

I'm ticked for a million reasons at this point.

1. I've had no car for an entire week.
2. That means I've missed a few days of work and school when I can't get a ride.
3. My friends are annoyed because I'm begging them for rides to and from my graveyard shifts.
4. My friend has had my car in his driveway for a week. He's not happy about parking on the street.
5. Allstate won't tell me where they are in the process, how long it will take, what they're doing, etc. They dodge my calls by promising to return them but they never do. What little information I do get from them is because I go out of my way to find someone who will talk to me.

Then, as if Geico was a guardian angel, I get a call from a claims representative. She says that they've been trying to get in contact with Allstate but that Allstate doesn't have the same hours they do. (Geico is 24/7, Allstate is 9am - 5pm and closes on weekends.) She apologizes that the process is taking so long and asks me if I've heard anything or had a chance to give them a statement yet.

I vent at this poor woman. I tell her I've been without a car for a week, I'm missing work, I'm missing school, I'm stressed out, woe to all the inhabitants of the Earth I'm the first person ever to be inconvenienced by a car accident~. She asks if I have a preference for a body shop. I tell her no. She says they'll take care of it and that's the end of that.

When they said they would take care of it they really meant it. I had a rental car driven to my house within a half hour. I had my car towed off to a body shop. I had estimates and answers to my questions and reimbursements for time lost at work and school. Allstate was paying for all of this. Apparently Geico just had to kick their ass into gear to make it happen.

I saw this license plate as I drove home from the body shop. It made me smile.


I'm also only about 10lbs away from my goal weight so that's fantastic. [: If I don't kill myself over my girlfriend / P.L. before I get there it'll be even better.

(I'm kidding. But I don't think I'd fight back if anyone felt like murdering me.)

While I'm on the topic of depressing-shit-that-makes-me-want-to-die: I've been asking for it lately. Wandering around bad parts of town, trying to start shit with people that I know I shouldn't start shit with, using a motorcycle as my main mode of transportation. Maybe I want to scare myself into feeling alive again.

This picture is about a week old. I'm getting where I want to be.