deathmetalthunder dot com

Well, things didn't go so well Friday night. After the party, a bunch of us headed downtown (Mac, 420, Patches, incognegro, Winston, Flashman, among others) and a good time was had by all. Winston had agreed to drive me and incognegro back to my place. That's where the fun started.

We left the bar and were heading up Red River when I stepped off a curb wrong. The rest of the experience really felt as if I was looking up from the ground. I saw myself falling face first towards the concrete, but not before some glass broke in my path. The small pieces of glass look huge from the ground and my body looks like a tree being cut to the ground. My body is surprisingly limp except my right arm which is desperately trying to brace the fall though this will do no good.

My next angle is behind the right side of my face as it impacts the shards of glass, viscously breaking my fall before the concrete.

The rest of the next few hours are a blur: me actually realizing I needed to go to the hospital; the look on the cop when he first saw my bloody cut face; the medic in the back of the ambulance saying to remain calm and me responding that I had no other choice; the flurry of activity as I was pulled into the emergency room when I asked for them to spare my shirt, coughing out blood while saying it was from Brazil; somebody mentioning how much glass had been in my face; me verifying that I would be able to go to Sealy's wedding Saturday night.

Some were a bit more vivid, like when the second doctor couldn't close the cut on my neck and me coming back to myself. Questioning something I've taken for granted my entire life. I've never said the words before and hope to never again: am I going to die?

The answer was an obvious one for them and I know why. I needed to know I was going to live even if it was a lie. In death, that would've been the greatest lie ever. In life, it seems almost matter-of-fact.

The total damage was 30 stitches. I've got a cut from the right eye to my mouth and two on my chin. Though I did learn after the fact that the carotid artery was cut, it definitely could've been a lot worse.

incognegro came back to hang out after the work was done. I quickly got back to my flippant style of things and had him take some pictures of the mayhem that once were my internal liquids. We got back to my place around 7 am Saturday and I slept like the dead. Funny, I didn't find out until I woke up that I should've been woken up every few hours in case of a more serious concussion.

I was woken up by a knocking on the front door. I got up, but only barely. I can only imagine what Patches was thinking when he saw me approaching the back door of the house. Me, wrapped up like a mummy with bloody gauze.

It was around 1:30 and I decided to stay up. I woke up the house guest and we sat around most of the day. It was obvious I was in no condition to go to Sealy's wedding so incognegro headed out without me. The Saw came back later in the day and picked up some of my medication.

The rest of the day was uneventful, though I called up some people to let them know. I was thinking of not doing anything, but it's kind of tough to hide the damage the glass and concrete do to a face (that could be a fortune cookie).

I took incognegro back to the airport a bit earlier today after successfully doing nothing of consequence (though I did get him to watch the classic Time Bandits).

I think I'll be looking forward to boring weekends from now on.

Labels: 420, flashman, incognegro, mac, movies, near-death, stupidity, winston