MOVING ON

by Gina Sestak

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I hope everyone is celebrating equality and freedom.

On the home front, my last post described how my car was wrecked on the final day of 2011.

Everyone who looked at it said the same thing:  It's totaled.

Well, it's official.  After having the car towed to a collision center and partially dismantled, the insurance company declared the car a total loss and wrote me a check.  I went out on Saturday and bought a new car.

I really liked the Saturn Astra and planned to be driving it for several more years.  I would have bought another Saturn were they still available.  Unfortunately, the near collapse of the American auto industry brought about the end of Saturn.  They just don't make them anymore.

One hold-over from the Saturn is my addiction to On-Star.  I never thought I'd like something like that, but once I tried it, I just couldn't get enough.  In addition to providing driving directions in a voice that issues from your rear view mirror (creepy), it allows you to call in and speak to a live person when those directions fail to work.   That live person will really try to help you, too.  And you can summon emergency assistance anytime you see a wreck by pressing a button.  Besides, it's fun to use.  Whenever it loses track of your car in a tunnel (a common occurrence around here) it will begin to BONG! BONG! BONG! and warn that you've left the planned route.  At first I used to argue.  "How the *$@^%$ could I have left the route?  I'm in a *&$@# tunnel!"  On-Star never argued back.  The calm voice from the mirror would only ask whether I needed directions to get back on route and, when I would answer, "NO!" it would go quiet until the car came through the tunnel exit, then pick up directions where it left off as if nothing had happened.

I love On-Star.

That's why, when I went looking for a replacement car, I wanted one with On-Star pre-installed.

I found it.  Meet my new car, a Sonic hatchback:

And yes, it really is Inferno Orange.  Go figure.  So, if you see something like this coming at you

it just might be me.

So what's all this got to do with writing?  you're probably wondering.  A lot.  Cars are part of life and life, as we know, provides the fodder for all writing.  Plus, it provided me with a topic for this post.

OK, I can't resist inserting another Bollywood car chase clip.  This one's from Don 2, the sequel to the one I inserted the car chase from last time.  This chase takes place in Germany.  The man driving the first car is an international crime boss.  The woman chasing him is an Interpol agent who wants him for personal reasons as well: he murdered her brother and her friend.  Enjoy.

GOING OUT WITH A BANG!

by Gina Sestak

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last week, I wondered what to write about in this first post of 2012.  I considered resolutions, non-resolutions, anti-resolutions, and times of new beginnings and of ends.

Then all hell broke loose.

Picture this:  middle of the night, December 30-31.  I'm sound asleep.  A THUD, as if the entire house is caving in.  Flashing lights and sirens.  Outside, the street is full of police.  I wake the roommate (who can sleep through almost anything.  OK, her room is further from the street than mine).  We go downstairs.

From the front porch, we can see an SUV against a tree, about 50 yards away.  My best guess is that a police chase was in progress and the SUV driver failed to notice that the road curved slightly to the right.  He kept going straight.  The police weren't giving out much information, other than to tell us to keep back away from fallen wires and that the driver wasn't dead, just drunk.  The SUV had come up onto the sidewalk and proceeded between the front yards and the cars parked at the curb.

Along the way, it slammed into my car (which I had left parked safely in the driveway),

tore into my hedges,

took out a portion of a utility pole,

damaged the neighbor's hedge, smashed the neighbor's arbor, threw a tire against the neighbor's fence,

and came to rest against a big tree.

Now, you all knew I'd find a Bollywood connection, right?  Here's a car chase scene from Don:

I just saw the sequel to this film last week.  Both Don and Don 2 are exciting, thrilling works of art, but I prefer to keep my vehicle collisions on screen.   In real life, there was a lot of damage to my car.

Talk about ending the year with a bang!

How did you say adios to 2011?  Are you, like me, hoping for a better 2012?

And, by the way, how do you cope when everything goes kinda kerflooey?