September 14, 2004
In morning traffic. In the middle right lane.
This should be an entry about being home last weekend, or about seeing and really enjoying most of "Garden State" or any one of a hundred other more mundane and fun things than what happened today.
My car's battery died Saturday with no warning. I came in from La Salle on Friday night (where I had an awesome time) and parked it. Saturday, it simply wouldn't start. Called for a jump, and it started. unfortunately, the battery wouldn't recharge, even after I drove it around for like an hour.
Flashforward to this morning. I get the call that it can be taken in for servicing, so I call for a jump intending to drive the car the 6 miles to the dealership. One hour later the jump comes. I drive off thinking all is well. Make my usual left onto Manayunk Ave., then down Green Lane to I-76 Eastbound towards the city.
Underneath the bridge prior to the Montgomery Avenue exit (I believe that it is exit 341) my car decides to stall. On I-76. In morning traffic. In the middle right lane. And I can't get it restarted.
I throw the hazards on, call 911 from my cell, and then DESPERATELY to restart the car. No luck. I'm stalled 4 miles from the dealership, after waiting an hour for the jump, in the middle right lane on I-76 in morning traffic.
(I momentarily have visions of John Ogden doing the traffic report and specifically mentioning me by name - "There's a backup on the Eastbound Schuylkill expressway this morning caused by Matt DeMizio, whose car has stalled in morning traffic in the middle right lane.")
About 5 minutes after the car stalls (...in morning traffic...in the middle right lane) a caravan of large yellow/orange trucks comes up in my right lane. I believe they were from PennDOT. Two pull over to the shoulder, and several large men (of the type that one imagine would drive and operate the machinery of the transportation authority of your jurisdiction) get out and begin helping me to the side of the road. A tow truck driver stops and assists me in getting the damn car into Neutral (it locked itself into Park when I was trying to restart it...Toyota owners, take note: if it locks into gear, pry up the little thingie that's on the shifter console, and stick something into the hole to allow yourself to be able to shift.)
(I realize now that this was incredible luck, and am just completely floored by the generosity of the people who helped me out. I know it wasn't much more than helping to keep the road clear, but I complain enough about the DOT in any state to warrant that this seemed above and beyond. I want to buy this road crew a couple of cases of beer...)
As I'm sitting on the shoulder of I-76 contemplating traffic going by me at high speeds, I try and call a few people for laughs ("Hey, I'm stuck on the side of I-76, how are you?") but I'm unable to get in touch with many people.
Eventually the car gets towed; the car gets fixed; Matt drives to 'Nova; class goes well; Matt drives home, and then Matt writes this story down.
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I mentioned above that I spent Friday at La Salle, and I had a great time. The night began with dinner, then just random meeting after random meeting as I moved from West Campus to Main Campus to South Campus.
I had really missed a lot of people, and I had created this artificial "Because I've graduated, I can't go back" wall between myself and them. I don't know why this is (was?) such an important thing to me. I always joked with people when they came back intoning that "Commencement means move on.
But I realized moving on doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice the part of you that once was; the part of you that still exists with these people. Friends exist at all levels - undergraduate and graduate, and it was my own damn self-confidence or sense of identity that was getting in the way of seeing that.
So that's all... I'm tired, and I want to go to bed...
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson