stranded karate kids

now playing: jeffrey focault, "walking at dusk"*


i think that God has a way of aligning events to give me a good, character-building kick in the nuts sometimes. (i mean that in the nicest of all possible ways, G.)


last night, i was on my way to pick up the kids at their moms' house, and as i turned off the bypass onto lancaster avenue, a car in front of me came to a stop in front of me and put their flashers on directly under the light at the intersection there. i did my usual inside-the-cranium grumbling about what kinda idiot stops dead still in the middle of the intersection, etc, etc...and went to pick the kids up.

we all loaded into the van...dylan, jayda and her beau (whom i've nicknamed A-ROD), and headed back towards the house - i had a pretty thick agenda for the rest of the night, with a cabling installation and a quote to deliver - but when we turned back onto lancaster avenue, the car was still there in the same spot, but there was a woman standing next to it, with two kids on either side of her in karate uniforms. no coats, just uniforms. i rolled down my window and asked her if she had anyone on the way, but i didn't wait for (or really hear) her reply before i pulled off to the side of the road. as she was telling me that the car ran out of gas, i pulled off my coat and gave it to one of the kids, and a-rod and i went over and pushed her car off to the side of the road. then we loaded the kids and their mom in the van and drove her up the street to get a gas can and we all returned to the car and got them all set and on their way. oh, and i got my coat back.

this morning, as if to say thanks for being a good samaritan, there was a puddle of coolant underneath the front passenger side of my van that had obviously come from my car. i had to get the kids to school, though, and i figured i'd evaluate it once i got there. things seemed ok, no high temp readings or anything, so i drove on to work. halfway there, the oil light began blinking - so when i got to work, i backed into my parking spot (knowing already that it wouldn't be leaving under its own power) and went around back, to find that there was a thin coating of an oil-like substance all over the hatch and the back window.

please, if you're up there...enough already. i won't pick up any more stranded strangers on the side of the road in the freezing cold, i promise. i've learned my lesson.

todd and i were in philadelphia once, after a gig, and we had gone to south streeet to get a pizza at lorenzo's, when a fiftyish black lady came up to us and asked if we could please give her some money, she needed to buy tampons in the worst way...

hell, it had been a good gig, and i was feeling generous, so i hooked her up. above and beyond the call, i thought. she was very grateful, and as she walked off, she told me that "God will bless you tonight!".

later that night, i got a ticket that resulted in temporarily losing my license...for something as harmless as making a u-turn on the ben franklin bridge. can you believe that?

i don't think "blessed" would be one of the things i felt as i sat there watching the reflections of the lovely red and blue lights in my side view mirror...


in all seriousness, i do believe that there exists a higher power, and i don't think it's in my job description to analyze or scrutinize The Plan...although some part of me does think on occasion that he's fucking with me when i swing and miss at one of life's little curve balls so soon after doing a good deed.

i think my character is sufficiently "built" now, G. i'd welcome a break anytime you wanna send one my way. like that time that the guy walked into cash converters with the fender princeton amp that i bought for about 1/8th of what it was worth before they could even put it into stock? or that time that i got those free tickets for john mellencamp and the wallflowers? or the time that i had the blowout on the turnpike literally right next to the ramp for the rest stop?

actually, you know what? never mind. i think we're pretty much even.

i'm gonna go to bed now. let's talk again soon, ok?




*you owe it to yourself to check this guy out...he's an inspiration. he makes me almost want to write songs again....almost.