Friday Five

1. Do you have a car? If so, what kind of car is it? 1997 Ford Taurus, "denim" blue. Got US flag magnets on its right and left rump.

2. Do you drive very often? I commute 25 minutes back and forth every weekday. Most of my friends live out of town, so driving is necessary then as well; I enjoy driving a great deal, though, so it's not a hardship.

3. What's your dream car? Outside like a fish, inside like Batman's tank in Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. And black. Very black.

4. Have you ever received a ticket? Oh hell yes. None recently, though. Been a good boy, except for one fire lane parking ticket I got in the parking lot for my own apartment complex (!!!).

5. Have you ever been in an accident? Yep. First was emphatically my fault. I was sixteen and ran a red light with my dad's pea-green 1976 Delta 88 wagon. Was hit by a BMW that shortened itself by two feet. Sort of bent the frame on the wagon. My dad is a wise man; his philosophy was to wrap all his kids in as much sheet metal as possible when they started driving. We've all needed it.

The second accident was not my fault, and the car actually showed no damage IIRC. Was rear-ended at around 15 mph while I was looking back over my shoulder, about to merge onto a nasty section of highway. I was fine for a week, until my neck froze up solid while I was visiting my ex-wife-to-be at her parents' place; I was (temporarily) an inch taller from the spasms' straightening of my upper spine. Wound up with several months of chiropractor treatment; my neck still cracks funny today. Whiplash sucks hard.

-Rich