Random - v.9.14

Just a couple things, but a couple long things...

• So the day before I left for Denver (yes, I still need to post about Denver, I know) I was driving to work and cruising along at about 65-70MPH (Speed limit is 65MPH).  I'm in the left lane, there is a truck in the right lane, a little back from me, but still very much along side of me.  On this particular part of my drive it's extremely dark  - pitch black in fact.  The two lanes of road going either direction are lined by thick trees, so you can't even see the traffic coming from the other direction.  Anyhow... it's dark, I'm cruisin', and all of the sudden I see some road kill in the road ahead.  Truck to my right, trees and ditch to my left, no clear view of what type of road kill I'm about to encounter, and traveling at a speed where there is no real time to stop.  I try to center my car over whatever it is and as I get closer I see it's a dead deer.  Crap... now I really have no time to stop and in reality, if I were to try and stop, I might damage my car more than if I'm going at a faster speed, right?  So I'm centered... I hit it.. my car makes a huge thud noise, and I'm still driving.  At this point I'm about 4-5 minutes from work, so I get to my exit and stop at a gas station to see what I've done.  My bumper is dented in the center and the plastic piece (I assume some sort of undercarriage protector) is all jacked up.  Doesn't look all that good, but I suppose it could have been worse.  I cry a bit (after all, my car is 1.5 years old and this is the second time I've managed to damage it).
  
  Since I was leaving the next day for Denver, I asked my mommy if she'd be able to take it in to have it checked out.  The most important thing was to make sure it was mechanically fine to drive; I already knew it was ugly to look at.  My mom takes it to my buddy Morgan who, after cleaning all the deer guts, fur, and various other insides, performs an alignment and says it's good to go... no major damage.  That's fantastic.  Crappy story, I know.  Morgan popped the bumper back out, so now it looks pretty normal to the naked eye.
  
  Point of my story is not so much to tell you how much I suck at life, but to tell you that I'm now this completely different driver.  I'm way paranoid, especially in the dark and even more so on my drive to work.  I carpool on certain days of the week and I'm even tense in other peoples cars... always looking for deer, straining my eyes looking for deer.  It's stressful and it sucks.
  
  To the deer hunters of the world... kill 'em all this year!
  
  
• So I'm going to this stupid Trail of Terror tonight... with my bff and my bf (lol) and I'm not looking forward to it.  People don't seem to understand how scary they are to me.  I know it's just people dressed up and being stupid, obviously.  What I hate is the dark, the suspense (I HATE not knowing when things are going to happen), and the actual jumping out at me part.  Most would say it's fun - I say it's hell.
  
  I go because my bestie wants me to go and I enjoy spending time with her.  I also go because I know it provides my 'friends' with some sort of entertainment - sick friends I have.
  Most importantly I go because my bestie and I both have fears - me of scary things/places, her of roller coasters.  My understanding in all of this was that if I did this, she owed me a ride.  Now she is kind of refusing to go... either way, I'm going to live up to my end, but this will most likely be the last year I do it.  No point in scaring myself for no good reason, right?
  Call me a pussy, that's fine - I'll own up to it.  At least I've done it 2 years in a row and at least I can excel in other areas of my life.
  
  
  I just needed to talk about it.  Thanks for listening.