Fender Bender

A car hit me. Or do I have to say I hit the car? On my way from work, as usual, I was on my sweet ride (which is a bicyle), hitting a short uphil while listening to the 21th episode of the first season for The West Wing from my mp3 player. Then I was just about to pass this little 3-way junction and this car pops up from the backalley. The car driver should have looked both left and right side, but he only checked the left and kept on moving forward. I was coming from his right side, by the way. Just like the very slow motion in a baseball game where Matsaka from Boston Socks throws a gyroball at Derik Jeter and you can even see the thread of the ball rotating, I gradually put on the brakes, fully knowing that

I am going to hit that car from the side. And I did.

Because of my acute sense of kinetic response, I somehow was in the middle of kicking off the ride and at the same time put on both brakes. Luckily, I did not trip or fall, but simply fender bendered the car from its right side, in particular the right front tire. The car stopped as well. And the driver walked out. I was very anxious at that moment, unsure if it was really my fault or his. As soon as the pretty three words, "I am sorry" came out of the driver's mouth, I thought, "Well..good."

Then, I got off the ride and started to growel as if it hurts. Actually, it did and it still is hurting to some degree. Since I managed put on the brakes, I could mininize the speed and thus the damage to my body. The back of my neck, my left arm bi-cep, left leg calf, and lower back and my spine started to feel pain. I thought it should not be the bones or the cartiledges or even the joints, but muscular injuries. Not even fracture. Nevertheless, I was bumfuzzled and a bit mad at the driver. And he kept saying he was sorry and made sure I was ok. And we exchanged our businesscards. He said if I needed anything I should call him and let him know. Then, I looked the bumber sticker on his car, which reads "GM Daewoo", a Korean company picked up by GM a while ago. So I suppose he is, unlike me, thorough with this kind of accident and thus apologied to me instantaneously, knowing the fender bender was his fault.

Well, the aftermath is general pain on some of my body parts and the chain of my ride derailed, which I put back on. Other than that, I am doing ok. But I might as well go to see a doctor and get an X-ray tomorrow just in case there is something wrong. I was in a car accident a month before I entered the military a while back. I totally wrecked my dad's car, which sorta made him happy in that he got a new one :) Anyway, I was under a physical therapy for a solid month in order not to fail the physical upon admittance to the military program. And I did not.

So I am a bit scared now. The whole relapse thing.

Also, about a week ago, one of the brakes of my ride was broken and I did not want to fix it because I really relish speeding and riding without my hands on the grip when I hit the downhills on my way home. Then, I thought "Hmm.. maybe safety comes first no matter how great it is to ride the downhills." So I got the brake fixed and who knew that it would pay off eventually. If I had not repaired the brake, then today's fender bender could've been worse than it is now.

So, people. Always make sure that safety comes first. Ok? And little hug from you would be nice for a patient :)