h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am, as of right this instant, more angry than I have ever been before in my life.

Angrier than the time my english teacher/nemesis caught me cheating.
Angrier than when Satan showed up at my friend's New Years Party.
Angrier than earlier, when I was exterminated playing Risk.
Angrier than when I got the bill for my roommate's not having cleaned the refrigerator.
Angrier than ALL THE TIMES when the director yelled at me during Sea Gull rehearsals PUT TOGETHER.

Want to know what invoked the wrath of sea?

I came back to my car, in a somewhat sour mood, since I had just been murdered playing Risk. I got in the car, trying to leave a bit quickly so that I could pass my friend Adam (who, incidentally, I have a bit of a crush on and therefore want to impress. It's silly, I know, but that's not the point), only to notice when I checked my right-side mirror that THE ING MIRROR WASN'T THERE!

I went back to where I was parked to find it broken on the sidewalk. I couldn't get it back on, which made me even angrier.

Mirrors don't fall off. They have to be ripped off.

This makes me very, very angry. My car may not be the fastest, or the most expensive, but IT'S MY ING CAR, AND I ING LOVE IT. IT MAKES ME VERY MAD WHEN PEOPLE WITH MY CAR.

If it was a random thing committed by juvenile delinquents (in a rich neighborhood, 50 yards from a police station? Unlikely), I hereby declare war on all teenage males wandering about after 11pm. I shall be the enforcer of the curfew.

If it wasn't; if it was perpetrated by someone who knows me by my car (easier than you think, being that I've had the same fuzzy orange steering wheel cover since I got the car), there are... three people that I wouldn't be surprised if they did it.

One of them was playing Risk with us tonight, and left 10 min before the rest of us.
One of them may or may not be in San Francisco.
One of them I referred to above as "Satan".

I wonder if I could get my friend down at the Sherrif's office to check out the prints on the mirror. There sure are a lot of them...

In any case, I am really ing pissed off. So pissed off that I drove home most of the way at speeds that would probably be considered reckless endangerment. Add in the fact that if I had been pulled over, I might've gone into a homicidal rampage... Bad. Bad bad bad. The only good that might come out of that situation would be police-enforced anger management courses.

Did I mention that it's highly likely that I have a barely controlled anger problem?

Oh dear...

I wouldn't call it an anger problem if this is a single incident - but if you feel like this every now and then...

Hmmmm... then I'd say that you'd better find a safety valve in your life - some channel to let out your anger and fury and frustration...

...like kick-boxing or Flamenco-dancing (does it for me!) or any activity where it's OK to look murderous while vigorously exercising it...

Poor Italics - I've had several fits over Moderation after my Flamenco classes ended for the summer...

How do you feel now that some time has passed?

Sea, I agree with Ti. You need to find another outlet than driving, unless of course that you drive in a closed circut racing course. Ever thought about looking into that? I am not sure that bessie is the first canidate for a race car, but you amy be able to find a class that you can use old beat up cars from the junkyard. That may quell your urge to do your racing on the freeway.

hehehe, i feel a bit better now.

i agree that i need a hobby i'm actually thinking of taking some martial arts classes to release the stress, starting ASAP.

a race track actually sounds like a good idea.... i'll have to look into that.

and on second examination, the damage is more extensive than first noticed. it seems that, instead of having pulled the mirror off, someone crashed into it on a bike or something. the plastic housing that the mirror lives in is broken, and there are black skid marks down the side of the car.

Go file a police report at that police station that was nearby the scene of the crime. You'll need it if you decide to file an insurance claim. And you never know, they might know who dunnit.

Martial arts classes sounds like a good idea. I understand they teach you how to channel your emotions effectively.

*nod, sigh*

sound advice. grrrrr, that's so uncool. if /i/ had crashed into someone else's car and damaged it, /i/ would have offered to pay for the damage. why can't people have morals?!

my poor bessie...

People suck Sea. It, alas, is something that we have to put up with.

Call the police, report the damage and then your insurance co.

Well, inconsideration of not hanging about to apologise aside, at least it seems as though the damage was an accident rather than deliberate maliciousness. Not much comfort for your poor car though...

yeah... *sigh* argh! that STILL makes me mad. and now i have trouble parking because i have no right side mirror!!!

*still *

Be like me and just don't look

Actually I never use my right mirror because of the few cars that I have owned that do not come equipped wiht one. They (mostly trucks) never had them to begin with, and in Utah a right door mirrior is not required by law.

Get the steering wheel swithed to the other side of the car. Would that help? All you American's drive on the wrong side anyway

Glad you're feeling a bit better, sea.

There are lots of people out there who are jerks, but there are way more who are decent. And even some of the jerks may not really be jerks. I mean, think of someone who witnessed your driving after you found the broken mirror. They would probably look at you and think: "Jerk!". But we all know you're one of the decent ones, not a jerk. That's not to excuse the damage, or, if it was an accident, the failure to leave a note or something. But it can help if you can put it in perspective - it may have been done by a jerk (of which there are relatively few real ones), or it may have been done by accident by a semi-jerk (who is normally a pretty decent person). And in either case, in the end, the mirror is only "stuff". It can be replaced. In a couple of years, the whole car will probably be replaced. I know it's *your* stuff, but possesions are transient and not all that important and whatever happens to your stuff, you are still you.

Furthermore, you can choose how you react to the situations that life presents. In this case, you chose to get angry and endanger your own life by driving recklessly. That didn't make any difference to the mirror. What if you had stayed calm, sighed a bit and just driven home normally. The car would have been exactly the same.

I was in a similar postion many years ago. I had been out of school and working for a year or two and had bought a brand new car. I was very proud of that car and kept it washed and polished (it was black). One day, I was visiting my girlfriend (who is now my wife), and parked the car on the street where she lived. When I came back, someone had taken a key and scratched a line in the paint up one side of the car and down the other. Obviously deliberate vandalism. I was angry, but I "stayed calm, sighed a bit and just driven home normally". I reported the damage to the police and my car had to be repainted (which my insurance paid for) and we all lived happily ever after. (Epilogue: My father eventually bought the car from me and still drives it - it is a 1981 model and the paint is holding up just fine). I've had several other similar instances: a side mirror broken (just the mirror smashed), a rear wiper broken off, an aerial broken off. But in all of them, I try not to let it affect me much, since it is only "stuff" and the "stuff" can be replaced. There will always be jerks, but if you let them get to you, then you've given them power over you.

Besides, what's done is done. No amount of anger or reckless driving can remedy the situation - it can only make it worse. The only thing that can remedy the situation is calm directed action. If there is a way to prevent such things in the future, then go ahead and do that, but if there isn't, then fix the problem and forget it. It's highly unlikely to happen again, and even if it did, you would know exactly how to handle it.

Sage words GL.

What He Said!

Someone keyed my new car just the other day. But I am lucky in that they did not do a good job of it and that the scratch can be buffed out easily (also helps that I live with a body worker). It made me somewhat angry, but I try to let that kind of thing slide now. If I knew who did it Imight feel different, but perhaps not.

Once you get the money from the insurance agency go to a junk yard and pick one up for 1/10th the price, install it yourself and then go buy as much ice cream as you can with the left over money.....stop looking at me like that! I may be skinny but I can eat my fair share of ice cream!.........at least that's what I would do.....