Objects embedded in mirror may be closer than they appear.

Ben and I went to visit a friend of ours from high school who is currently living in Pittsburgh. We had lots of fun there, got to visit the DuQuesne incline. We taught them Setback, but that didn't really catch on. We played a vicious game of Egyptian Rat Screw, and I attempted to remember the rules to Screwed. They were kind of hazy, because I was taught the game at the New Year's Eve party we went to, by the two people who apparently made it up, and they didn't really cover every situation until it came up in play. *shrug* :) Also played Fluxx and Chrononauts, much fun.

We also played Dungeon Crawl and Deus Ex, both fantastic examples of the cyberpunk genre (one word in that sentence is a lie). Heheh, I also brought Demon down, to share the joy. We got to visit the two storey Barnes and Noble within walking distance of their apartment (did I mention that I want to live in a city when I grow up?), and we saw countless interesting looking shops and restaurants, also within walking distance! Which is a good thing, because when we went across town (needing to use the Interstate to do so), it cost seven dollars to park so that we could go eat dinner. We took a trip to Ikea so that they could pick up a bookshelf. That is one of the scariest retail places I have ever been, ohmygoodness. There was a price tag on everything.

We had lots of fun while we were there. On the other hand, the return trip was not nearly so felicitous. First we busted a radiator house. This happened while the car was sitting in the parking lot of the rest area, though, nice and close to a phone. So I called my brother at home (he knowing more about cars than I do) and he said that we might be able to duct tape the hose so that we could get it to the next city, and thus, a shop. So, I tried that. I lay on my back, in a t-shirt in the slush underneath the hood of the van for about twenty or thirty minutes attempting to convince it not to leak so much. My attempts were in vain. I put water in the radiator, I watch water come out the radiator hose onto the ground. So, I called him back. He says, check this out, I can get you a triple a membership and you can use it right away. So he talked to AAA and called me back with my membership number. I called AAA and they sent over a tow truck, and off we went to the shop. We sat there for about four hours. Now, I'm no mechanical prodigy or expert or anything, but I probably could have changed the damn hose myself in about forty five minutes, given the proper tools and a new hose. Plus, since I didn't have my AAA card with me (of course I didn't), they couldn't give me AAA rates on the tow, so that was 70 dollars, plus the hose replacement was about 80 dollars. Now I'm worried about whether or not I will have enough money to buy us gas to get home with. So, off we hence.

We managed to stop for dinner at the exact same Subway that we had stopped for dinner at on the way to Pittsburgh. It was eerie. We managed to make it successfully off of the Hell-Road (aka the Penn-by God-sylvania Turnpike) and into New Jersey, headed for the Tappen Zee and into CT (I-95, my oldest friend!). Now, we had about a quarter of a tank left and I thought it would be a good idea to get gas in NJ, before we hit New York, because when we had stopped for gas in New York on the way down on Friday, it had cost us a fricking dollar seventy-four. So, we pulled off at an exit that said gas, and discovered that gas was 3 miles away from the exit ramp, as opposed to being right there. So, we took an adventure through the suburban New Jersey country-side ("Look! Houses!"), stopped at a gas station, which I realized after we pulled up was full service, but, at that, it was still a damn sight cheaper than New York gas. So, we filled up the tank and headed back for the Interstate. Then, came over the top of a little hill, fishtailed, and ended up in an ultimate argument with a tree. I use ultimate in the Latin sense of the word, which is to say, final. We weren't going very fast, neither of us was hurt. The tree smacked right into the driver's side door, shattered that window all over us, and broke the windshield, but not enough to break it into pieces.

A nice lady across the street let us use her phone so that I could call home. Mom said that someone would come get us. I called the local police, they had already sent a cruiser over, so we went outside to wait. One cruiser pulled up, then a police Blazer, then another cruiser, and I said to Ben, "How much backup do you need? We're just two skinny white boys." Then, the Officer got out of his car, and I'm standing behind the van grinning at my own joke when he comes over to us. We got to ride in the back of the cruiser. At one point, the cop was outside, talking to the tow truck guy and Ben looks at the little video monitor that records whats happening in front of the car and wonders out loud if we're being recorded on the inside, too. After that we had to spent a couple minutes stifling laughter.

So, we got to wait in the Police HQ break room until about two in the morning (fortunately, we both had books that we had bought at Barnes & Noble before we left Pittsburgh). We got home around five this morning, and my mom had to go to work, she got about an hour worth of sleep.

A whole bunch of my clothes are still in the back of the van, in Morristown, NJ. Mom called the insurance company, they're gonna take a look at the van, but I'm guessing its a write-off. It was a 94 and it had over a hundred thousand miles on it. Now I'm stuck begging rides off the rest of my family again. Plus, there was a whole bunch of junk food in there that I had gotten for the trip! Hey! I want my sun chips!

All in all, I'm glad that we were on a regular road and not on the highway when something bad happened. We were lucky.

Oh, BTW, Happy New Year!