April 9, 2008
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Quickies
1) I saw a guy get hit by a taxi yesterday. I babysit for a family on the Upper West Side, and I was walking to their place and talking to my mom on the phone when I watched a taxi go through an intersection, heard screeching and a WHAM, and watched as a bike rider went flying through the air and hit the ground hard. I was only about halfway across the block from the whole thing, but a guy in front of me ran to the scene and started smacking the driver’s side window. “YOU WAIT FOR THEM!” he yelled, hitting the window with the palm of his hand. “YOU WAIT!”
The taxi’s windshield had a head-sized crack in it; the biker was pretty torn up and had a nasty cut on the back of his head, but he seemed to be okay. By the time I got there, three people were on the phone with 911 dispatchers, one person was off to get towels to clean the guy up and people were pulling bottles of water out of their bags and helping get the victim to the curb to sit down.
Seeing ten people stop what they’re doing and run to help a person in need . . . it’s pretty humbling.
I am already more careful when I cross the street.
2) I got my tax returns filed today . . . I’d tried to do them myself on TurboTax, but I had to file in Ohio, New York and New Jersey for four different jobs in all. That’s hot. Anyway, when I got to H&R Block today for my appointment, the first thing my tax guy said was, “NOT GOOD THINGS!” This was not promising.
All in all, he saved me $1000 from what I came up with when I put them together myself, and the whole thing only took an hour. A+ for him. Also, thanks to the state of Ohio for giving me $5 back. I plan to spend it in pennies to make it last as long as possible.
3) I’ve been getting a ton of Facebook group invites to save Lake Erie from becoming the site of a giant tire incinerator. Here are my questions:
- Do tire incinerator companies routinely check Facebook to see if anyone is opposed to the building of such establishments?
- Does anyone really want to go into Lake Erie?
- Last time I swam in it, I was covered in mud, algae and I brought back a souvenir beer bottle from inside the lake as a prize.
- The reason you don’t see wildlife around the lake is because it’s infested with chemicals already
- Where do you think tires go when they’re blown out – tire heaven?
1645 people seem to think that the answer is “yes” to all of the above.
4) My mom watched Larry King on Monday night and drew the conclusion that this would be American Idol’s last season based on a teaser . . . so she told me, I almost cried and was mopey the rest of the night. Upon reading the transcript of the episode online, that was a giant joke and I can have my fill of “after the break” for at least another two years. And it is good.
5) Excited to see who shows up for the Xanga Meetup! I have my camera with me . . . so if you’re a time zone or two away, you can still see what goes on when Xangans collide. And by collide, I mean eat dinner.
Comments (40)
I’m sure tire incinerator companies just friend the scene kids on MySpace. Fewer petitions.
and eat ridiculously hot curry! O_O I think Bharat’s gonna win this battle though.
Have fun at the Xanga meet… YEah for 5$
Yeah getting hit by a car… no fun. Glad it wasn’t you.
Tires… why do they need to incinerate them anyway? They make such cool things when their chipped up… like really soft playground covering.
xanga meet up, good idea. sucks for the bike dude. id be pretty pissed off if i seen something like that happen too.
Seeing that kind of an accident would freak me out. I try to be really careful crossing the street and often look over my shoulder in case someone is turning. It is heartwarming to know how many people were helping out.
@fullmetalbunny - roooooooooooooofl. nice one.
and @natalia – that would be a really freaky thing to see. so glad people actually HELPED and he wasn’t dead! god. pedestrians always have the right away! i guess no one told the guy that. shameful.
Good to know that people are still willing to help others in need in situations like that one. Usually everyone just kinda stares blankly at the disaster.
the taxi story is infinitely cool just because of the guy yelling, “you wait for them!” i mean, that’s a totally colloquial new yorker moment right there.
and humbling, yes, to see everyone help. like they helped spiderman on the subway during his time of need. god bless ‘ya, new york.
both of your posts have to do with tires. somewhat.
Oh my gosh! Stupid taxi drivers. Try crossing roads in Europe, now there’s a challenge.
I have my own Xanga meet every night by myself.
(how lame, I know, ha ha)
So I’m totally lame and haven’t had time to check Xanga today (or for the past week) since I just got back from London, so lo and behold I check it at 10:15pm and find out that I’m missing the dinner which I helped pressure Joe into arranging… Gah! *sigh*
Have another one soon please!
i wonder if ppl stopped to help the person out because in that situation it was something that everyone could relate with. as in, being in nyc, and getting bumped by a car. or they knew of someone that had been bumped by a car before. i am sure i would, and hopefully anyone else would, help out someone in trouble (and whatnot), but i am musing about why 10ppl would for situation that doesnt require some twenty hands.
p/s.: did you happen to notice if everyone that helped had a pair of hands? anyone with only one?
glad that you are safe. too bad that i’m no where near you guys. it sound like fun getting together.
lol… wait, first is craziness, i’ve *knock on wood* never seen anyone get hit by a car… ick.
and i love your profile pic. i should dig out the old school pics of the xanga whores doing the xanga whores symbol (a lot less slutty than it sounds, i promise).
first one: I can relate. I saw a 4 year old girl killed by a driver. It was awful, and is still partially blocked out in my mind.
third one: Yes,I suppose that people think that Facebook, Myspace, and the like are the PERFECT WAY to change the world…*sigh*
one: I hope that the guy is ok. I’m sure he is. two: you’re telling me tires don’t go to tire heaven? now you tell me..lol. and three: yeah I heard somewhere that american idol will only be on for 2 more seasons and thats it. then I found out it might be a rumor. don’t know…”we’ll find out….after the break”..lol.
your number 1 point must have been really inspiring to witness. a tragedy, but people caring enough to stop. that makes me happy.
Saved you $1,000.? Wow. I’ve always done my taxes myself. I had no idea having a professional do them could save so much. I must look into that.
I’m always amazed by the inane facebook groups. I especially love the one that’s really popular right now that has something to do with getting gas down to $1.30. While I can appreciate the optimism, I think I have a vendetta against “stupid optimism.”
@fullmetalbunny - i’m sure . . . and maybe if they’re supa-hot, they’ll make it into the scenesters’ top 8s
@chesspieceface - everyone looks out for superheroes here. it’s in the NY handbook they hand out when you land at JFK.
porcupinesol - kind of? i ‘spose
@nuanniel - we’re going to! i don’t know how frequent they’ll be, but last night
glad you got home safe!
was fun and we had people show up, so there should be a repeat
performance in the not-so-distant future
helladirl2 - when my study abroad buddies and i were in paris a couple years ago, we
tried to cross the six lanes of traffic around the champs-elysees. DOES
NOT WORK!
@leadwoodfolk - [sad WAH WAAAAAAAH trumpet sound]
@moonbunny - hahaha – i’d love to see it! i think my pre-xanga team xanga days were
sheltered ones when i blogged in my own bubble and missed all the xanga
whores/xangstaz drama
himynameisgusandiscarepeople - omg! the day it happened, i played it in my head over and over . . . i
think seeing something like that would be hard to get over. i hope it
doesn’t happen to you too often
batmanfan27 - no, they totally go to tire heaven, but if they see their shadows in february, then it’s six more weeks of tire winter
@couldquitepossiblybeme -i know. my problem with the gas ones is that they’re essentially
perpetuating the urban legends of gasoline, if you will – i wonder if
snopes has a page up that’s, like, “NO, THIS IS WRONG”
@UR_MUSE - yeah, when i did it on turbotax myself, i didn’t know how to manipulate
some of the numbers – like i could’ve gone either way on certain
credits – and this guy was like a machine. incredible. i am officially
an h&r block fan.
owbert - i did notice that one guy had two heads and three feet, which made it easier for him to run to help the guy.
I wish i’d seen this sooner.. i would’ve come to the meetup. oh well.. next time.
it is nice that people ran to help that man. i hope he’s okay!
Sheesh, change coasts, and look what I miss.
@Drakonskyr - i know, right. you could’ve watched me trip on my flipflops and try to out-reference mikey at dinner
WHAM!
do tires really need to be incinerated? that’s something to ask.
It’s scary seeing someone get hit…I’m glad he was okay.
I wish I were coming to the Xanga meet & greet! That sounds like so much fun!
#1 makes me think of Dane cook. and then it makes me laugh. Although its not funny at all :]
You’ve been listening to Mr Scruff?
Congratulations. That’s just got you an instant place in my book of cool people.
I didn’t think he’d be all too known of your way.
@Natalia - It. Was. Awful. Also, amplify it by the realization later that I knew the driver. And the trial that I had to testify in. and the fact that my friend was found guilty. I don’t think about it awful. This is one of those truly awful things that you will survive with time, but that you will never forget. It will stay with you forever, though you may not think of it for months at a time. Hang in there. It gets better.
You have really great journal posts. I will try to do better…I’m sorry : (
Don’t kick me off Xanga. Zanga? Shaun-gah? Question mark?
-red
@danteCARAX - scruff is legendary. i dabble in a little of everything but will take any street cred i can get, so thanks
@himynameisgusandiscarepeople - maaaaaaaan . . . you officially get bravery points for that. what a hard thing to go through . . .
@Sred13 - chop chop! i want to read more of your stuff. and see more pictures. kthxbye
@Natalia - Bravery wasn’t really a part of it. I saw what happened, and I felt responsible to give a good statement to the police. I also held the poor mother who was sobbing uncontrollably and heard the father scream in anguish. The bravery in the day, was that I actually went out with my boyfriend after this whole thing, because I didn’t want to inconvenience him. As soon as we were back at his place though, I broke and bawled like a baby, so my parents had to come and drive my car and me home.
Death is always bad, but it’s just worse when it’s a kid, you know?
the fact that you saw someone get hit by a taxi almost makes me want to look before i cross the street in athens.
almost.
@bandislife - nah, why bother? although i did feel bad because mom was pontificating and i was, like, “brb, gotta call 911″
I added a picture to my xanga today for you. IT’s titled “for natalia”
@JadedJanissary - awesome! going to look right now.
Thank you for the help =)
@LimeTreeLyrics - no prob – message me if you ever need help with issues on the site and i’ll get back to you asap
thanks!
Being a Cleveland ex-patriot, I am dismayed to report that I know nothing of the tire incinerator. But, to your questions I would have to answer: a.) no b.) yes!! i love lake erie
and c.) of course. where else would they go when they die?
its all so complicated – the desire to preserve nature by not incinerating tires but driving so much that we need to constantly replace them (and burn fuel, etc etc). Though, I have to say I’m disappointed with your description of Lake Erie. The Cuyahoga River, while deservedly the brunt of quite a few jokes, along with the Lake has made some pretty awesome improvements and both are doing rather well now. The river is one of the biggest environmental turn-around success stories in the world
Anyways, that’s my comment on tires and lake erie. Stay safe while you’re doing your part in preserving tires and walking about the crazy streets instead of driving through them