well, i took my car to a shop to get an estimate on the damage for the insurance company. the guy looked at it for half an hour and gave me a printout of the necessary repairs. basically, the driver side B-pillar (which took most of the impact force) needs to be hammered back into shape, the passenger side rear quarter panel needs to be realigned, and three of the four doors need to be totally replaced. even with junkyard parts, the estimated repair cost is a hefty $2,868.77 including $74.97 of sales tax.

it’s a good thing i’m not footing the bill.

this is the story of VEHICLE 1.

VEHICLE 1, a 1998 Honda Civic sedan, got up early this morning to get its front driver side tire patched at the body shop because it had been leaking air quite badly. then, on the way home from the body shop, VEHICLE 1 traveled southbound when VEHICLE 2, a commercial work van that was facing the wrong direction on the opposite side of the street, came charging in from across the yellow lines and struck VEHICLE 1 between the front and rear driver side doors. having had its direction of travel altered by the forceful impact with VEHICLE 2, the rear passenger side door of VEHICLE 1 makes contact with the driver side rear bumper of VEHICLE 3, an unoccupied vehicle legally parked on the side of the road.

VEHICLE 3 suffers a dented rear bumper and a cracked driver side taillight, VEHICLE 2‘s front bumper has also been dented, while VEHICLE 1 looks like this:

sigh :(

what worries me most about the increasing levels of realism in video games is that my brain sometimes briefly mistakes real life for simulation. sometimes i’ll catch myself wondering if i could survive a particular jump, steal a particular car or, after a night like tonight, fight the urge to drive home like my hair’s on fire because i had just spent the last few hours sitting behind a leather-wrapped steering wheel, six speed gated shifter, three pedals, and a great big television.