It's Complicated

Somehow our #1 Son manages to get himself into the weirdest predicaments i've ever seen.  Maybe it's a talent, i don't know, but i do know it makes for some interesting mental gymnastics and physical contortions trying to get him out of them.

A couple of nights ago, he and a friend stayed up late playing video games, and the friend got angry when he lost.  He said a few things, and #1 Son left in a bit of a huff, and huffed himself and his car into a ditch.  At 4am.

Now, he knows i keep my phone on and by my bedside because my kids work late and i want to know if they get into a bind, a car quits running, there is an accident, and etc. He has called more than once in the middle of the night for a flat tire (or two flat tires and bent rims) or other such things.  So, did he call me?  Of course not.

The police officer who came out was very nice, but #1 Son did not have the money at that moment to pay for a tow.  His pay would be deposited into his account the next morning, just a few hours later.  Had he called me, i could have told him that since it would be deposited the next morning, by the time the towing company ran the charge the money would be there, and if he ended up with a "bounced check" (that's what we always called it) charge, i would cover it.  That would certainly have been cheaper than the vehicle being impounded.

Impounded it was, though, because he didn't have the money at that moment and didn't call me, in part because he didn't want to bother me and in part because his phone had died and he didn't have a charger and didn't think to ask the officer to use his phone to call me.

Then the real problems started.  He lives a good driving distance from work, and now he had no vehicle.  And in the confusion of the moment, he left his phone in the vehicle and walked home, about a block up from the ditch where he had deposited his car.  A few hours later, as it neared time to go to work, he realized his position and sent out a Facebook post begging for someone to please come get him and bring him to work.

One of his roommates went back out there and rescued him, and brought him by our house on the way to work so he could pick up his spare driving glasses and ask if Sweetie could give him a ride to the towing company lot the next day.

That was only the start of that mess.  He spent the night here, and then Sweetie ran him out to the lot only to find that they did not have the key to the vehicle.  They claimed they'd never been given the key.  #1 Son had no idea where it could have ended up, and to make it all worse, he also didn't have the registration and insurance papers, that he had shown the officer, in there.

The next plan was going to be complicated if we needed it, but we would have to get his insurance company to fax a copy of his insurance to a FedEx Office, take that to the OMV and get a registration, go to the dealership for a key, then go back out to the lot and get the vehicle.  This would take a couple of days and end up being even more money, a bit more for each day the car sat there.

Thus he came back to our house, got ready for work, and went to work, and came back home, all on borrowed rides, while his roommates went through their house to try to make all this rigmarole unneeded.

They came up with the key, insurance, and registration, all of which he had dropped in the house because he was so upset about the whole situation, and which his cat had then managed to knock something on top of (leave it to Mikey to make a complex situation even more complex, right?).

While Sweetie celebrated his birthday with Brother-in-Law, The Mouth, Red-Headed Alec took #1 Son back to his house for the keys and papers, then to the lot for the car, and the whole saga was over.

If they'd told me all of this at the hospital, i'm not sure i'd have had the courage to bring him home.

Today is:

Ashura -- Islam (optional day of fasting that ends at sundown, local observances and national holidays may vary)

Blue Ridge Folklife Festival -- Blue Ridge Institute and Museum, Ferrum, VA, US (a large celebration of authentic folkways)

Buffalo Racing Festival -- Chonburi, Thailand (lots of water buffalo contests, including fancy dress!; through Oct. 26)

Emma Crawford Festival and Memorial Coffin Race -- Manitou Springs, CO, US (spooky fun for the whole family)

Feast of Good & Plenty (the candies)

Food Day -- US (inspiring people to change their diets and our food policies) 

Gormanudr -- Old Icelandic Calendar (beginning of "Innards Month," after all the animals have been butchered and fresh innards figure predominantly in the menu, as the rest of the meat has been preserved for winter)

Hogeye Festival -- Elgin, TX, US (Road Hog Car Show, crowning of King Hog and Queen Sowpreme, Cow Patty Bingo, and more!)

Independence Day -- Zambia(1964)

International Human Rights Day -- Turks and Caicos Islands

Lilith's Day -- Ancient Mesopotamian Calendar (Lilith, legendary first wife of Adam, mother of the giants; date approximate)

Make A Difference Day -- US (Whoopie Goldberg once said that if every American would donate 5 volunteer hours a week, it would be the equivalent of several million full time jobs; whether or not it's strictly accurate, volunteering is a great thing to do no matter where you live.)

Maladay -- Discordianism

National Bologna Day

Pit Bull Awareness Day -- it's not the breed, it's the owner 

Romp in the Swamp Fun Walk -- Appleton, WI, US (plus hayrides, face painting, an outdoor movie, animal shows, a campfire with s'mores, and more)

Scared Silly: Halloween in Prospect Park -- Brooklyn, NY, US (hauntingly good fun all weekend)

Share a Pop Tart With Someone You Love Day -- internet generated, and how much do you want to bet the Kellog company may have had a hand in it?

St. Anthony Claret's Day (Patron of weavers; Catholic press; Claretians; Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)

St. Crispin's Eve Celebration -- Tenby, Wales

St. Raphael the Archangel's Day (traditional date; Patron of health inspectors, druggists, happy meetings, leaving home, travelers; against blindness)

Suez Victory Day -- Egypt

Take Back Your Time Day -- Canada; U.S. (anniversary of the day in the US that the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, specifying a 40-hour work week as the standard, in 1938)

United Nations Day
     Disarmament Week begins
     World Development Information Day

World Origami Days -- held each year from today, the birth anniversary of Lillian Oppenheimer, founder of the first origami societies in Britain and the US, until Nov. 11, which is Origami Day in Japan 


Birthdays Today:

Monica, 1980
Kevin Kline, 1947
F. Murray Abraham, 1939
Bill Wyman, 1936
David Nelson, 1936
J. P. "Big Bopper" Richardson, 1930
Y. A. Tittle, 1926
Moss Hart, 1904
Melvin Purvis, 1903
Alexandra David-Neel, 1868 (first female foreigner to explore Tibet)
Belva A. Bennett Lockwood, 1838
Sarah Joseph Hale, 1788 (author of "Mary had a little lamb")
Antony van Leeuwenhoek, 1632
Domitian, Roman Emperor, 51


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Dancing at Lughnasa"(Play), 1991
"Voices for Today"(Britten Op. 75), 1965
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"(Single release), 1908
"Zibeunerbaron/The Gypsy Baron"(Strauss Opera), 1885
The first Transcontinental Telegram is sent, 1861


Today in History:

Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated, 1260
The Treaty of Westphalia ends the 30 Years War, recognized the independence of Switzerland, and marks the end of the Holy Roman Empire, 1648
Felix Mendelssohn, age 9, performs his first public concert in Berlin, 1818
The match is patented, by A. Phillips, 1836
The first US transcontinental telegram is sent, from San Francisco to Washington, DC, ending the need for the Pony Express after only 2 years, 1861
Levi P. Morton, US ambassador to France, drives the first rivet for the Statue of Liberty, 1881
Dr. Robert Koch discovers the germ that causes tuberculosis, 1882
Anna Taylor becomes the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, 1901
The first NYC subway opens, 1904
Harry Houdini's last performance, 1926
The Hershey Company is incorporated, 1927
"Black Thursday", the start of the stock market crash, Dow Jones down 12.8%, 1929
Al Capone is sentenced for tax evasion, 1931
The George Washington Bridge, connecting NY to NJ, opens, 1931
US forbids child labor in factories, 1938
The United Nations Charter is signed by the first member nations, 1945
Eisenhower pledges US support to South Vietnam, 1954
Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union, 1980
Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission, 1998
The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, 2003
Justice Rutherford of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the "motive clause", an important part of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, 2006
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices, 2008
The Northern Lights become visible over much of North America due to a coronal mass ejection, 2011