The Best Laid Plans....

... of mice and men often go awry. For mice, sometimes, you get the cheese, and sometimes you get the trap. For men, sometimes, you're a rock star, and sometimes you're the dude who's cleaning up the beer bottles and condoms out of the hotel hot tub.

And on Friday, I sort of had my mop out.

My weekend was planned out pretty well. First, Fred was getting married up north on Saturday. So, I was planning on getting out to Chicago for that. And in a happy coincidence, my old buddy Pat has been writing for Second City, a comedy troupe/school up in Chicago, and has one of his shows playing right now: Brian and Patrick's Holiday Show II: Christmas is Ruined... Again. So, the plan was for me to wrap up my Proseminar presentation at 3, and just leave for Chicago right afterwards for JohnnyO's place. The idea is to get in there by 6, and head out to the show. And then probably hang out with Pat afterwards and catch a beer somewhere. Go back and crash, and then drive out to the suburbs for the wedding and reception on Saturday. Have a great time at the wedding, and then decide if I was going to stay up north or drive back after the reception.

Of course, none of this happened.

Neil St. is a fairly major road in Champaign. Two lanes going north, two lanes going in south, and a turn lane in the middle. I'm topping off my gas tank and filling up the air in my tires for my impending drive to Chicago. And I want to turn left onto Neil. So, just a little to the right, there's a stoplight, and southbound traffic is slowed up a little bit. In the near lane, there's a little more traffic, so a nice older gentleman decides to wave me through. No problem. I creep out into the first lane. I look left. I've got some time. I look to the right. No problem. So, I creep a little further out as I start my turn into the middle turn lane. Of course, as soon as I'm getting into the turn, I look up, just in time to see a little red Dodge Neon bearing down on me.

Basically, the only way that a driver, while going in a straight line, hits someone who's moving at less than 5mph is by zoning out. So, homeboy obviously wasn't paying a lot of attention. But, sure enough. My front left end hits his front left end. And legally, it's my fault. Oh well. That's what insurance is for. And I've been wanting to get a new car, anyway.

And really, my first thought was, "dammit." Then the crash happened. My next thought was, "that wasn't that bad." And after that, I just started laughing. I had been a little stressed out Thursday night and Friday morning getting stuff ready for my presentation and my trip up north. And my first thought was that it would be a lot more relaxing weekend just hanging out in Champaign, though I'd have to figure out what I wanted to do with the car and all that jazz.

I backed back into the gas station, and stepped out to take a look at my car. Things actually looked alright. I knew that I could still drive the car home, though the fender was done. I was still giggly when I walked out into the street to see how the guy was doing. He was looking a little annoyed, but I didn't really care. I was locked into my mood. So, I basically start joking around, knowing full well that if he was mad, I'd end up just laughing at him. I think that he saw that, and actually lightened up his mood. We ended up joking around while we waiting for the cops to show up. Turns out that he's a grad student in landscape architecture. I think that I'll end up Facebooking this guy.

So, really, no harm, no foul. I'll end up getting a nice check from the insurance company for my car. And hopefully, I'll be able to fix my car for less than that amount, which leaves me a little extra cash, which hopefully will cover my insurance increase next year. And I think that it's time to switch up cars. Unfortunately, I just put $300 into some new speakers and a new stereo. Oh well. I think that I'll just try to sell the car after it's repaired. Blue book is something like $2150. If I can get anything close to that, I'll be content.

The current plan is to look around for cars that would be relatively affordable and be a step up from the ol' Nissan Altima. Failing that, there's maroon, '99 Camry waiting for me down in Greenville, SC. So, I'll fly back on the 20th to see the folks. If I want to, I can drive the Camry back to Illinois. Otherwise, I'll just fly back on the 25th. Either way, it's cool. Get to see the folks. Have the option of getting a free car that's a step up from the Altima.

Well, we'll see what the story is.

-Chairman