Fonze

It's been a terrible day today... My mom's birthday; I figured I'd go buy her some flowers and pay a visit. About 18 miles from my house, and another 5-10 away from where she is, I felt a 'pop' from my clutch, at which point the car stopped being able to go into gear. Clutch pedal wasn't stuck, though, and thankfully I was able to push my car to some degree.

I'm a small guy, so while I can push my car, I cannot push it quickly and making tight turns is extremely difficult for me to do. My car got stuck in the middle lane at a red light. I began to push my car over to the median and another driver got out and helped me get there, which was cool. However, I wasn't in a good place and with the traffic I didn't have the time to get myself into a better place.

To my luck an officer pulled up. We talked for a bit and he of course wanted me to get towed. I was feeling a bit indecisive and emotional over what was going on, though, and that I still wanted to complete my trip, but I recognized the fact that I couldn't just leave my car there. I began to think about having it towed a block down the road into a parking lot and calling a cab, finishing my trip, then getting a new tow back to the house or to a shop, but (I learned after the officer had called the tow truck, meaning it was too late to turn that bad decision down anyway) the area I was in apparently doesn't have a cab service, meaning that I'd have to pay a cab driver from another area the miles to come down here to give me a ride, in addition to the cost of getting in the cab and the miles we drove.

So the officer had offered to call the next tow truck driver on his list, to which I asked if that incurred a different cost as compared to me calling them personally; he said it didn't, so I let him call a tow truck for me. (I was planning on using my roadside assistance tow to get home; the tow down the block was kind of just a necessary evil at that point) Turned out that the price indeed is different (as I thought) and, well, there went 135 bucks. Everything happened so fast that I didn't have much time to get my plan down.

During the tow, I called my insurance agency and got them to send a tow truck; the guy who dropped me off actually wound up being the same guy to tow me; he got the call as we finished payment... some kind of irony there. So at least I was covered for the tow home, but now my trip is incomplete.

We took my car to a shop and the guys there took a quick look; apparently something in the clutch exploded into fragments, sending rivets likely all throughout to tear the place up. So I need a new clutch and some other piece that my brain is blacking out on now needs to be rotated. That'll be only 350 bucks, which isn't as bad as it could be; luckily my boss is friends with that mechanic, though I do have to pick up the parts myself. In retrospect, I hope he was including the price of the parts in that. I think he was, but as I have time here to sit and understand life backward I can't help but wonder.

So I went over to the rent-a-car place and now I got a shiny new car that I'm terrified to drive (because with these sudden bills I just can't afford to spend the extra 150 bucks on the insurance, meaning that anything that happens to the car, even if fault of another driver, is on me), but there's another 450 bucks I'll just have to do without. Ironically I'd prolly lose less money overall just calling out of work unpaid 'til my car is fixed.

And so here I am at home with a bouquet of flowers; I want nothing more than to leave and make the trip but the thought of hitting the wrong type of lottery keeps me grounded.

A true failing on my part; I'm so sorry.