Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Maybe if I stop driving carefully, stop allowing a reasonable following distance, start changing lanes more often, stop using my turn signals, and cut people off, the maniacs out there will see me as one of them and not get all pissy at me. I got assaulted on the highway today. Again. I'm not happy.

On the ramp from I-295 S onto I-95 S just north of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, a fellow in an SUV-ish vehicle who was annoyed that I didn't let him cut in front of me when we had to merge into a single lane because of line painting earlier (he didn't even have enough room to poke a corner of his car in!), pulled onto the shoulder, on the ramp, passed me on the right, and threw a cup of soda through my passenger-side window and onto my lap, startling the Hell out of me. I swerved. We collided. He vanished into the trees, and I spun around on I-95. I missed my concert sitting on the shoulder, first waiting for a state trooper to arrive, then waiting for a tow truck. (The officer said that if both cars could drive away after the other vehicle was winched out of the brush, he'd let our insurance companies argue about it; if he had to write an accident report, he was going to charge both of us.)

What kind of asshole pulls a stunt like that with a child in the car?

My car moves under its own power, but the front passenger door doesn't want to open all the way, I think my coolant leak is worse, and most importantly, there's a scary vibration when I drive and my steering wheel points off to about two o'clock when I'm driving straight ahead. (And the car does not coast efficiently -- when I overheated and put it in neutral coming back across the bridge, it slowed down despite going downhill.) So at best, my alignment is fucked. At worst, the car is effectively totalled.

I'm at my mother's house in Bowie now (cellist Karin followed me home as far as the exit for US-50 E in case I had more problems right away, and I drove 45MPH with my flashers on). I'm not looking forward to the nervous ride back to Baltimore from here. And just to make this absolutely perfect, I forgot my cell phone today.

I want the other driver's insurance to pay for the damage to my car, which could be interesting to get out of them with all the more visible damage already there. And I want them to pay for getting my kilt dry-cleaned. Of course, my insurance doesn't cover damage to my own car, so my insurance company isn't going to be able to help me get money out of his insurance company.

Not a happy camper. Like I needed an even less reliable car.

(The one good thing is that anusara worked on my shoulder a bit. Not fixed, but it does seem a little better.)