Sunday, December 25, 2005

If it was Rudolph, I'd have Seen it in Time

I hit a deer on Christmas Eve in my new car. As is our tradition, we were out visiting a specific set of friends, and since my parents were both drinking I was the one doing the driving. On the way home at roughly 11:30PM, we came up behind it, as it was bounding down the side of the highway, and no sooner did I get the word "deer" out of my mouth then it jumped out in front of us. I came onto the brakes hard and swerved over to the opposite lane, but the tires slid on the wet snow and it swerved right along with us, so I hit it pretty square with a "thump!" It slid up over the left side of the hood and kept on going, and we slid to a stop. I said "shit, my new car!" in an exasperated voice as I pulled over to the side of the road and put on my 4-way flashers in order to inspect the damage. Miraculously, there didn't really seem to be any. The only visible damage was my license plate, which had been bent back under the car a little, and which had a tuft of deer hair stuck on one of the screws holding it on. I had managed to get slowed down quite a bit before we hit it, so I was cautiously optimistic.

However, a closer inspection on Christmas morning in the light of day showed us a few things we had missed. My left headlight is bent imperceptibly towards the left side of the car, but the only way to notice it is by comparing the width of the seam between it and the side of my car to the same seam beside the opposite headlight. A quick glance underneath the front shows a small dent below my radiator, and I have no idea how it got there, short of the deer poking it with a stick, since it's a 1/2-foot removed from the front, and there's nothing in front of it that could have been pushed back into it. That's all we know for now-- my dad took some pictures as a precaution, and we're taking it to Wood Motors for a closer inspection tomorrow (incidentally, it is the president of said company who's house we were at that night).

In any case, everyone's fine, with the possible exception of the deer, who may very well have collapsed and died a mile away. It could have been much worse if there had been a car behind us, or a car coming the other way, or if the damn airbags had deployed. And I think I acquitted myself quite well, which I'm fairly proud of. My mother was a little shaken up (psychologically, that is to say, since the impact was barely perceived inside the car), but I think she's over it now. Hopefully there's no major damage hiding beneath the vehicle.

So, anyway, if anyone sees a doe with a stylish "8BIT ME" branded on her thigh, then let me know, because she owes me money.

[UPDATE: Several internal braces and connecting rods were bent or broken (which is why the outside of the car was undamaged), but none of them are essential (provided I avoid any further front-end collisions), so they'll likely stay that way until it warms up, at which point I'll probably have them repaired (which shouldn't cost any more than a couple hundred, I hope). The license plate was straightened without cost or incident.

Also, I remain unconcerned with the doe's ultimate fate.]

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's the most awful post I've ever read! You hit a deer and you're only concerned about your car. What about the deer? Owes you money???!! You should be ashamed of yourself. The poor deer! I hope it's alright, probably isn't :-(

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 9:01:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry about your car.

As a side note you need to hit 2-3 more deer before you tie my brother at your age.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 4:02:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

deers spend their dolla's on does

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 8:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you're a monster

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 1:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, at least you got your car into its first tussle while you actually have a job.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 1:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

why isn't your blog called Bramblings?

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 11:18:00 PM  
Blogger Jordan said...

why isn't your blog called Bramblings?

Because I'm an idiot, and that name didn't occur to me until after I'd made my first couple of posts, and by that point I was too stubborn to change it.

Thursday, December 29, 2005 2:03:00 PM  

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