I'm not one to believe in fate or mystical forces controlling our destinies (except the universal forces that alternately conspire against me to make my life miserable and then rally to launch me to new heights of bliss), but sometimes you just have to wonder. Last summer, a friend named Data and I went to visit my friend Rick who then lived in Erie. I got rear-ended, and my car was severely damaged. That winter we went to visit him again, and on the way up we saw a guy ahead of us hit a deer, and on the way back we saw ANOTHER guy hit a deer just a few hundred feet ahead of us. Too close for comfort.
Then THIS time we went to visit him in his new home in Boston. We made it to Connecticut when a truck blew it's tire, and when I swerved to miss the tangled rubber, I got rear-ended AGAIN. DAMMIT! At least I only got clipped this time.
Once is an accident, twice is coincidence, and thrice is enemy action. Data and I agree that Rick is simply too dangerous to visit. Thank God we didn't fly.
The highlight of the trip was seeing the USS Rammage, an Aegis cruiser that happened to be docked. The bummer was that we missed the time it was open to the public.
I also called up my schizo ex-girlfriend. That was weird. I looked her up in the phonebook and called her. First I got an answering machine that identified her with some "Tornado Marketing". That was enough for then. A little later I called her again, intending to leave a message, something like, "We have your stuffed elephant. Give us two pounds of green jelly beans or it goes in the sewer." Instead, though, the inconsiderate bitch picked up and I just said it was the wrong number.
Typical. She always was a self-centered 'ho.
So I saw Rick's new girlfreind and she was pretty cool. I'm a little bitter that the nerdy bastard is getting more chicks than me, but I guess that's how the cookie crumbles. Let the chicks fall where they may.
Overall, I don't think it was worth it. We drove 11 hours to get there on Friday, spent Saturday there, and then left Sunday morning and drove 12 hours back.
I think I'd have rather just stayed home.