Mi vida

An Ode to my dear cavy named Wang

So after my last car mishap that I will explain more later, Lynette and I brainstormed all of the car problems I've had with my car and all of the car problems I've caused on other people's cars (either directly or indirectly because of bad "luck" :)). Here is what we came up with:

Other people's car issues when I was driving or after they had just seen me:

1. I was driving Lynette's car when a car slid into us on slippery leaves
2. I was driving Lynette's car when a mail truck backed into us
3. I was with Lynette when she got pulled over twice in the same night in North Carolina
4. I was with Lynette when we "ran out of gas" (but not really) on the same trip to N.C.
5. Nikki and Allen broke down immediately after spending the afternoon with me
6. I slid Marc's car into a guardrail during a snow storm on our way to Boston
7. I convinced Marc to make an illegal left turn out of a shopping center late at night. A few minutes later he was pulled over for speeding (he only got a warning!!)
8. I hit a bunny in Becca's car :(
9. I was borrowing Becca's car to drive to NY to visit my family because my car was in the shop. Her muffler had been bad for awhile but chose that trip to break and fall off.
10. Dave's car started to make noise around the time I borrowed it (because mine was in the shop) and had to be repaired.
11. Dave ran out of gas about a week after I did in almost the exact same spot (more on this later)
12. Cindy was driving Lynette and me to church in NY when her car broke down (with baby Alicia)
13. My dad's car caught on fire and Josh and Dad had to throw snow on it to put it out a few hours after they had seen me in Connecticut. It's weird because I had a bad feeling I was going to see them broken down on the side of the road because there was a bad snow storm (again baby Alicia was with them).
14. I had to borrow my mom's car for a few weeks(again, my car was in the shop) and her muffler had to be replaced afterwards

Ok so now for the Legendary Cavy problems:

1. My car got stuck in a bank of snow one night in Valley Forge. The snow had drifted and they didn't close the road. I got stuck at 2 or 3 in the morning. Dave came to pick me up. I remember feeling like I was going to die from the cold because I had to walk a little so he could find me (and have a road to drive on too). The next day Lynette and I began shoveling the road....seriously. They weren't going to plow it. It was such an impossible task. It would've been about a mile we had to go. We met two guys who had the idea of shoveling to the bank and driving out on that. It actually worked!! Meanwhile, Mark Z came to rescue us with his big truck (but we were already out).
2. I hit a deer in Valley Forge
3. I was in Valley Forge and my windshield wipers went crazy. They wouldn't stop.
4. I ran out of gas at 4 a.m. after I had been at Marc's. I had just gotten a new cell phone that chose that moment to not work (the screen went blank). It was a cold night in December and I had to walk 1-2 miles to the nearest gas station. I asked the attendent if I could use the phone. He let me use his cell phone. Because everything is in my cell phone, the only number I knew by heart was my apartment. Becca answered and came to my rescue around 5 a.m.
5. My clutch went on my way home to NY (about half way there). Marc and I had just driven all night from CT. I got a call from Cindy saying Josh had called off the wedding so I headed up to NY. My clutch broke at a toll booth. I spent hours inside the toll plaza and then the nearby garage waiting for my parents to drive the two hours to pick me up. I broke down about 20 miles from our cottage. Ironically, they had been at the cottage earlier that day and had to drive all the way back.
6. Here's one of the doozies (6-9 go together): My brakes needed to be fixed, but I let it go too long because I did not have the money to fix it. In order to avoid hitting a car, I pulled into a clearing, hoping to stop naturally. I hit a tree instead. My car was in the shop for 6 weeks after they told me it would only be 10 days.
7. While my car was in the shop for the above incident, someone backed into my rental while I was in line for gas.
8. As soon as my car was free of the body shop after 6 weeks, I had to get the brakes fixed so it was in the shop AGAIN.
9. As soon as the brakes were fixed I had to drive it up to NY to have it inspected because I was a month overdue. My car failed inspection because the horn did not work. I was going to have to take Mom's car but they were able to fix the stupid horn at the last minute.
10. I was at the grocery store and came out and there was an ugly scratch on my bumper.
11. I was at the post office and I got stopped by a man who told me that he got the license plate number of someone who hit my car and drove off. The guy thought he caused the scratch from number 10, but I told him it was already there.
12. My clutch went again after only a year and a half. This is one of the only times I've broken down during the day.
13. My emergency brake is bad. I went into the store and came out to see that my car had rolled into another in the parking lot because the e-brake wasn't working well.
14. My car almost rolled over me. Becca was driving my car and didn't realize the emergency brake was bad. She put it in neutral and put the brake on and got out. I was behind the car and it was rolling into me. I yelled for her to pull the brake up farther. I stood behind the car holding it while she put the brake on.
15. My check engine light came on after it was in the shop for 6 weeks. Ironically, this caused me to fail inspecion in NY although nothing was wrong with my car. The light finally went out but is now back on.
16. I drove over a curb in the parking lot at BBB while someone was following me and blew out my tire. My store manager changed the tire for me.
17. Flat tire on my birthday when J-M and Aaron were visiting.
18. Someone hit my my trunk (I think) and caused the lock to be bent so I could not open my trunk except through the back seat. J-M's friend Aaron fixed it when he changed my flat tire (it broke again later).
19. Marc, Amy (Marc's sister), and I got a flat tire on the way to the cottage after getting lost and other random stuff. We were about 5 min away from the cottage at 2 a.m. We got the tire to the point where we needed to pull it off but it wouldn't budge. It had rusted onto the wheel. We called AAA. The guy came and kicked the tire with his big boot and it came off.
20. As the AAA guy from 19 was driving away I realized my battery had died. We flagged him down to come jump the car.
21. At the end of the above trip, I dropped Amy and Marc off at home. By this point the trunk was broken again so we had to take everything out through the back seat. Amy pulled the strap to put the seat down and it broke off. All of our stuff was trapped in the trunk, including the only set of keys to Marc's car.
22. I had a split tire that I kept filling up.
23. I had a flat tire on the way to class at West Chester soon after I got the car.
24. Becca got stopped by cops for making an illegal left turn while driving my car.
25. My brakes that had been fixed a few months earlier went on the way to Baltimore. My mom and I were scared because the noise was so awful.
26. I slid my car into a gate during a snow storm. The road was curvy and went one way and the car kept going straight.
27. While I was home visiting during college, I drove my sister to work after a hayride. We were in a hurry because she was late. The car slid on gravel and slammed into the side of a mountain. It was better than the alternative....a sheer cliff. This actually may have been my escort....I don't remember. We'll just blame it on the Cavy because of its history.
28. I was on my way home to NY and my door wouldn't shut while I was at a truck stop late at night. A truck driver helped me fix it and then he tried to pick me up.....
29. I was getting gas and walked into the gas cover door. It got bent back and doesn't shut right to this day. I have to push down a lever to get it to close.
30. I lost my muffler clasp twice (2 separate times) and my muffler was loose and clanked against the road when I went over bumps.
31. I got a flat tire during a pretty big snow storm the same day Becca, Dave, and Lynette were in an accident in the snow in Dave's car.
32. Dave and I were sitting and talking in my car at his place. He tried to jump the car, but it didn't work. He then tried to roll it down the hill to get it to work....still no luck. AAA came to jump it.
33. While waiting for AAA in the above situation (32), I locked my keys in the car.
34. I got a speeding ticket on Christmas Eve on my way to NY. He reduced it to a moving violation for having stuff dangling from my rearview mirror.
35. As soon as I got to NY in the above situation (34), I locked my keys in the car.
36. The day my supervisor from La Salle came to evaluate me at my first internship, I locked my keys in the car. My field supervisor got the door open with a ruler because the window was cracked.
37. The day my supervisor from La Salle came to evaluate me at my second internship, my lights were left on by the parking valet so my car had to be jumped. I don't think he realized I had turned them on.
38. In the above situation (37), I was late for work at BBB. I locked my keys in the car as soon as I got to work. Two of the guys I worked with tried to crack the window and open the lock in the pouring rain. AAA came and opened it in a matter of seconds. This man came with his whole crew and a dog and piled out and did an assembly line to open it. It was very amazing.
39. Speeding ticket late at night in Phoenixville
40. Speeding ticket on my way back from NY on Black Friday.
41. The Latest: My hit and run. This just happened on Thursday. Someone was making a left turn and did not yield the right of way to me (I was going straight). He kept driving. My cell phone was dead so I wasn't sure what to do. I went to the next light and turned around. Thankfully, there was a cop on the side of the road who sort of witnessed it but did not realize it was an accident. I pulled up behind him and knocked on the window. It barely felt like an accident. I was shocked at how much damage was done to my car. I can't believe he drove off.

posted by Ninita @ 6:28 AM