cowbellz's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- driving to NYC = BAD i learned a very important lesson this weekend. never ever EVER EVER think it is a good idea to drive to NYC. never. ever. it is, in fact, a HORRIBLE idea. i head out at 3:30 thursday afternoon to drive into brooklyn to hang out with chris for a few days and see some rock. by 6:00 i still was not out of boston. rhode island was a breeze, connecticut was fine except for the war i had with the driver of an 18 wheeler. he wanted to kill me. i even called jules to tell her what was going on in case something bad happened to me. ha. then i hit new york and i head into the bronx. i do ok making the three highway changes with no co-pilot, in the dark. my blood pressure rose and i was in need of lots of beer when i finally got there. it was was pretty stressful. by the time i parked my car on chris' street in brooklyn (i got a PRIME spot), i was ready to leave it there forever and take the bus back. i had been in the car for 7 hour at this point. boston to NY is only supposed to be a 4 hour drive. chris and i got pretty trashed that night and everything was great again. we hung out in manhattan the next day, saw the mendoza line play in the village with lori. saturday we headed out to coney island for the siren music festival sponsored by the village voice. every scenester from new york and new jersey was in attendance. but the bands were good and the beach was nice and i got to ride the cyclone. so yesterday we wake up, go out to brunch, take a walk around prospect park, and it's time for me take off. reluctantly, i get back into my car and prepare for the drive into the depths of hell. i end up calling chris five times for help because it's impossible to get on the freeway from his place. he was at his house alternating between the sunday times and maps of the city, talking me through it. two hours later, i made it through the maze and i'm on the last leg of the brooklyn queens expressway, or the BQE as it's known by the locals. i'm about to hop on (or creep on, there is constant traffic on this road) 95N to head back to new england where the roads are wide and smooth and surrounded by trees. i'm in the bronx now, on the on-ramp, stopped, and i hear a crash behind me, i turn around and a car is going full speed between me and the wall to my right. he had already crashed into the van behind me, then he hit me, and then hit someone in front of me before he stopped. so now it's 5:30 on sunday afternoon, the BQE is PACKED. and i'm alone in the far right lane with a completely busted tire and the shakes. my nerves were shot. i waited there for TWO HOURS for the cops to come. meanwhile, i'm calling my parents, i'm calling chris, i'm calling lori, and i'm having to listen to the polish guy who hit me tell me in broken english that his brakes went out. THEN WHY WERE YOU ACCELERATING WHEN EVERYONE ELSE HAD BEEN STOPPED IN THE SAME PLACE FOR AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES?? it's too dangerous to be stopped where i am, much less to change the tire. and the rescue people in NY can only come after the cops assess the damage and call them. so it was a good three hours before my tire was changed. (the man who ended up helping me was originally from san antonio so he was very nice to me. gotta love the texas connections.) meanwhile, chris, the best human being on the planet, has hopped on the subway in park slope to the end of the line in queens. he then got into a cab, went over the bridge into the bronx and to where i had pulled off the BQE after the cops cleared the road. at this point it's 9:00 and there's no way i'm driving back to boston alone at night with no spare. i was pretty frazzled. so, chris and i turned around, went back over the bridge and back through the horrible maze and back to his house where we drank a six pack of budweiser. so i got up this morning and tried it again. with relatively no problems except traffic. it took me 6 hours to get back. and i have never been so happy to be back in boston. i love new york, and i'm going to go more this summer, but DUDE. take the bus. only 4 hours, no stress, and a movie, all for 20 bucks each way. 7:05 pm - 22 july 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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