Vancouver Snow = Treacherous, Hazardous, DANGEROUS!

The aftermath of Vancouver’s big snow dump has been all of the above… treacherous, hazardous, dangerous, and then some! I’ve had two incidents in two cars on one day.  I have several visual depictions to accompany this post.

First incident (mild): Driving a Honda Civic. Got hit by a car.

Second incident (definitely not mild): Driving a Mazda Tribute. Spun out 630 degrees on a bridge. Almost T-Boned by a mini-van.

First incident: I’m driving with my sister in the car. I’m in the right lane, at a full stop at a red light. The lane to my left is empty except for a car decelerating towards the light. It catches the snow/slush/ice and hits me on the driver’s side.

Verdict: Not the biggest deal in the world, that’s what insurance is for. No one is hurt.

Second incident: I’m driving my mom, sister 1, sister 2, and brother in mom’s Mazda Tribute. It’s 1:30am and we just picked up my brother from the airport. We’re on Arthur Lang Bridge on the turn and i feel the wheels lock. Massive spin out for 1.75 revolutions, for 630 degrees, for __ scary seconds.

I remember feeling tense but calm. My mom in shotgun is screeeeeaaming and there’s some yelling from the back as well. I’m pumping the brakes, clenching my teeth hoping we don’t hit the rails, c’mon c’mon c’mon.

We finally come to a stop and are perpendicular to the road. I look to my left and see an oncoming mini-van heading straight for us. It doesn’t have time to come to a stop. I’m holding my breath, hoping and praying it doesn’t hit us. As it gets closer (probably in a second’s time), i know it won’t T-bone us on the sweet spot but it looks like it’s gonna hit our front end pretty hard. I literally think all these things in the span of… say, 2 seconds:

- please not another accident today! and this one’s gonna be my fault..
- simultaneously, i know it won’t be a mild accident and it’s likely the van is going to smash into the rail after it hits us and we’ll probably fly at least another 180 degrees.
- mom is going to be SO MAD.
- there are a lot of people in this car.
The mind is an amazing thing to think so fast.

In divine provision, the mini-van squeezes between the rail and our car and slows down afterward making sure we’re okay. I’m still stuck perpendicular to the road, facing the bridge rail and i see that the rest of oncoming traffic has slowed to a stop and waits for me to re-adjust. I do, after taking a second to breathe out some major relief and a couple “Praise the living Lords!” (one Lord, multiple praises)

Mom is shaken and ANGRY. I’m also shaken but after we start driving again, i actually BURST out laughing and literally say, “That was kinda fun.” I guess that’s the only response i know in such relief and thanksgiving. Sister jokes and says i’m on “driving probation,” all the kids laugh to break the tension, but mom is now LIVID.  Understandable.

The rest of the way home, we talk about the mechanics of the incident. And about counter-steering (which i didn’t do). But in my head, if we were starting to slide to the right and i counter-steered to the left, would we have drifted diagonally ’til we hit the rail? Unless i steered left while still accelerating.. would that make us go straight (with 4-wheel drive)? I’m sure the snow/ice under the tires factor in somewhere as well as speed and so forth. Physics was never my forte.

Verdict: We all knew how serious that was and how bad it could have been. I’m extremely thankful no one was hurt.  Merciful God!

Drive safe!!

Twilight Hoopla

Okay, kids. The current Twilight phenomenon has caught up with my curiosity. It takes up a huge chunk of space in every Chapters, there’s an unreasonable amount of paraphernalia around, screaming girls are sobbing and heaving at the mention of Robert Pattinson, some of my own peers are crazed with it as well. What’s the deal? Teenage “love” stories and vampires… i don’t get the appeal.

So, i read it last week to try to piece it together. And what can i say? Well, it’s proved itself to deservedly belong in the teens fiction category, that’s for sure. The whole thing is easily predictable, many parts quite drawn out, cliches and overkill at every angle.

But what’s most frustrating about Twilight is the very thing that sells it. Edward and Bella.  In short, he’s a brooding teen in public and an aggressive vampire in secret. She carries herself with a mild “screw-off, world” attitude even though she really does care about people. Together, “I hate you” actually means “I love you” (or, at least, “I’m so infatuated with you and our inter-species dating relationship”) and meeting the parents is a whole new ball game (hardy har har, cliche pun for those who’ve read the book).

I find it hilarious that they can’t bear spending ANY time apart from one other. It’s one thing to miss somebody but EVERY waking (and sleeping, for that matter!) moment MUST be together?  Don’t be so dramatic, a few hours without the other isn’t going to annihilate your very existence. Boundaries, people!

But besides my cynical ranting, I have to give it props cos it succeeds in its intentions. It’s not asking to be reviewed as literature. After all, who am i to fault mindless entertainment? I like watching 90210.

I won’t be reading the subsequent books in the series but i’ll eventually watch the Twilight movie.  I leave you with one of the best worst parts in the book (from Ch. 16):

“Can’t you see that, Bella?” He was suddenly intense, all trace of teasing gone. “Don’t you understand?”

“See what?” I demanded, confused by his sudden mood swing as much as his words.

“I’m never angry with you, how could I be? Brave, trusting warm as you are.”

“Then why?” I whispered, remembering the black moods that pulled him away from me, that I’d always interpreted as well-justified frustration, frustration at my weakness, my slowness, my unruly human reactions.

He put his hands carefully on both sides of my face. “I infuriate myself,” he said gently. “The way I can’t seem to keep from putting you in danger. My very existence puts you at risk. Sometimes I truly hate myself. I should be stronger, I should be able to… “

I placed my hand over his mouth. “Don’t.”

Pfffffahahahhahahaaaa. I placed my hand over his mouth?! “Don’t??!”  Oh my dear, classic.

Lastly though, i have several friends who are reading the series and enjoying it.  I consider them intelligent, grounded, sensible people.  I just had to get this post out of my system, i can’t knock it completely.  If anything, it was amusing.  So, don’t send me any riled up hate mail (or, you can. i might be entertained).

Prospekt’s March: Kind of Disappointing but with Redeeming Lyrical Content

I like Coldplay.  But part of me thinks their Prospekt’s March EP is a bit disappointing.  It cost me $6.99 but if the label behind this add-on release pulled a Radiohead effort to “Pay what you think the record is worth,” i wouldn’t pay more than 4 bucks for it.  That’s cos out of the 8 tracks on this EP, four of them are, in a sense, throw-aways for me.  Given, these are studio session extras or B-sides so i suppose it’s understandable.  Now which 4 and why, you ask?

1) “Postcards from Far Away” -  I like it but it’s 48 seconds too short.

2) “Lost+” – Throwing in a little Jay-Z is fine but “Lost+” isn’t anything new when i’ve already downloaded Viva La Hova for free.. where there are 2 more versions of Lost feat. Jay-Z made available.  [Viva La Hova is a free downloadable collection of Coldplay and Jay-Z remixes]

(EDIT: Apparently the link on the Viva La Hova site doesn’t work so try to download the album here instead.)

3) “Lovers in Japan (Osaka Sun Remix)” – Is it just me or does it sound the same as the original?  The “remixing” to me is negligible.

4) “Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground” – Five seconds into it, i thought, “Why does this sound so familiar?”  I soon clued in, it sounds a lot like “Til Kingdom Come” from Coldplay’s last album, X&Y.  Consolation is that “Til Kingdom Come” is one of my fave tracks from that album.

Not to say that i don’t enjoy this EP, i just had different expectations. The redeeming track is definitely “Life in Technicolor II.”  I watched a Coldplay interview when Viva La Vida first came out and they were saying that the “Life in Technicolor” instrumental is actually a full song but had to be cut cos there wasn’t enough room to put the whole track on the album.  Since that interview, i’ve been curious to hear what the full song would sound like.  Now i know and i like it a lot.

“Glass of Water” is slowly getting my attention the more i listen to it.  “Rainy Day” and “Prospekt’s March/ Poppyfields” are trailing a bit behind.  I’ve listened through the EP about 5 times and will keep going.  I think my appreciation will increase.

[Enter my English Lit background.]  Now what i really love about this collection of songs are the lyrics.  There’s definitely lyrical thematic implications consistently throughout.  It’s hopeful and i would even say victorious, rooted in spirituality but vague in narrowing it down to specifics.  As a sidenote, there are so many religious overtones in Viva La Vida and Prospekt’s March, i wonder if Chris Martin is turning into a closet traditional Catholic.

If you look up the lyrics to the tracks on Prospekt’s March, you’ll see that the EP is bookended with the idea of feet not touching the ground.  It’s explicit on the first and last track.  I’m betting this lyric/visual is a biblical reference to Psalm 91 and Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4:

“He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

Hope and victory.

From, “Life in Technicolor II” (first track)

There’s a cold war coming,
On the radio I heard
Baby it’s a violent world

Oh love don’t let me go
Won’t you take me where the streetlights glow
I could hear it coming
I could hear the sirens sound
Now my feet won’t touch the ground

From, “Now My Feet Won’t Touch the Ground” (last track)

if rocks are waiting boys
if rocks are waiting
swoop down from the sky and catch me like a bird of prey

now my feet wont touch the ground
now my head wont stop
you wait a lifetime to be found
now my feet wont touch the ground