Thursday, March 25, 2010

It all started with a car crash. Adventures with jojo & louielouie & our friend Julie








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I need to change this blog post but didn't have a lot of time, so i thought i would tell a story instead that i already had written out. It's a true story. (for the most part.)

Before i go on, let me explain the photos: this is not the same trip as the car crash trip because i didn't own my digital camera yet. And the black&white photo is from 1983. That is me and louielouie (on the right). We are at the union office (my job now, but not then) during a teacher strike. The rest are from Alderbrook Inn at Hood Canal: soup photo: louielouie used to be a home ec teacher and now is a voc-ed administrator and is a very good cook; puzzle photo: Julie (on the left & louielouie on the right); boat photo: scenery at Alderbrook; & the last one is julie and louie.
For about 10 years now louielouie, Julie and I take a trip somewhere in Washington or Oregon at least once a year just to hang out in our jammies, cook, drink good wine, watch DVDs, put puzzles together and talk.
louielouie, as y'all know posts here often & has been my friend since 1979. Our friend Julie (since the early 1990's, is an elementary music teacher - she used to teach Ms. Hippie!) doesn't post here, but says sometimes reads. (Maybe she will weigh in on this trip and clear up any misrepresentations.)

On these trips Julie usually drives and louielouie and I do the shopping and cooking. It's a nice trade because we all do what we're good at. This trip of which i am writing about was to Port Townsend and it started out with a car crash.

We were being picked up at my place and Julie was unusually late. (Usually it is louielouie who is late.... I, of course, being such an anal person, am always on time.)
Julie finally arrives, and because she hates being late is speeding around our condo circle up to my garage where we quickly loaded up our luggage. (And yeah, they make fun of my 400 thread count travelin' sheets that i always bring on trips in case i get a bed with flannels on them, but you should see how much THEY pack. Julie's hair products alone need their own suitcase!)


As Julie sped out backwards from my fairly long condo driveway she hit the steel post that protects the electrical transformers. And she hit her fairly new Honda Accord hard. So hard we didn't even want to get out and look at the backside until we made a pit stop. (It was pretty bad.) But Julie didn't let this little car crash deter her from having a good time and we did. (Port Townsend is a wonderful place!)

About a week later Julie gave louielouie and me a heads up that Rebecca, the insurance agent was going to call us. And she did. And we gave our account of the story of the car crash. And here are the email exchanges about how that went down, color coded for your convenience:

* * * * * * * * *

jojo's email:
Julie, here is what I told her ….
She asked what happened. I said that we had had an all night party celebrating your 2 month celibacy and had switched to bloody marys just before loading up the car to head out to Port Townsend where we could hopefully score some weed.
I told her that you were backing out of my driveway and that I was a little concerned because you were exceeding the speed limit and so I explained the reason for my concern and all that being because of how I used to be on the condo board, but now I am not, and so I didn’t have the same kind of ‘pull’ to get away with breaking rules such as speed limits and hanging political signs in my windows….anyway I digress…so I said that you hit this big pole which protects all the trees that used to be here only they have cut them down (two since I got off the board!) and I thought maybe you had even run over a little dog but I couldn’t be certain because I think it was still stuck to your tires and you refused to get out and look because you were pretty drunk on the bloody marys and couldn’t get your seat belt off.
I think the agent appreciated that I made a special note to point out that you DID have your seatbelt on. I thoughtfully added that you didn’t run over any old people, and if you had, well it would have been their fault anyway cause they NEVER watch where they are walking. She thanked me and said she was calling louielouie next. I hope louie's story and mine match so she doesn’t think we are drunks AND LIARS.
Oh yeah, and I told her my neck was hurting bad. And that I spilled hot coffee in my lap as a result of the crash and I was wearing my new $300 suede Armani jacket, which is just perfect for those Port Townsend beaches, only not so much when it is raining.
I hope I did okay and that you get your money soon so you can fix your bumper.
If not….i have some Obama bumper stickers.
Jojo's email:
Oops
That is a typo on the $300. I meant $900. As if you could buy anything Armani for so little money.
louielouie's email:
Julie,
I want to apologize in advance for any rude or threatening calls you may get from Ron
.(louie’s husband, who is a doctor) He’s got this unnatural and unfounded fear of narcotics that I so don’t understand. I find that the Oxycontin and Vicodin help ease my pain somewhat and provide me with a little peace. I’m sure you understand.

I really didn’t mean for him to blame my “addiction” on the car accident you caused with your carelessness last week. I explained to him that you really were paying attention to the best of your ability and that excessive speed is a relative thing and that I didn’t blame you for my excruciating pain that can only be relieved by narcotics. Plus if Jo hadn’t been fumbling around under the seat for her battery-operated device while you were trying to drive you wouldn’t have been so distracted. How were any of us to know the condo board had installed those poles in our direct path earlier that same day?

Anyway, I don’t blame you in any way; as long as I can keep the supply coming. I may need your help with that down the road apiece or maybe Jo can hook me up with her contact there at the Brown Bear, I have no ill will against you. I’m just warning you meanwhile, don’t take any calls from Ron; he can be sooo unreasonable.
sarah

PS I won't mention any of this to Rebecca if you can help me out, if you know what I mean.


Julie's reply:
I hope Home Land Security is not monitoring us (due to the fact that we have signed up for the Democratic Party and Ron actually ran and I am a card carrying member of the ACLU and I send money annually to some womens fund in Afghanistan). Wait - there's a knock at the door . . . . louie's reply: Since when is Narcotic’s addiction an issue for homeland security? I would worry a whole lot more about your leftist leanings and the fact that you’re consorting with an undocumented international with questionable political intentions if I were you.
julie writes:
Dear "friends"
I want to thank you sooooo much for helping me out. Did you happen to mention that I probably did some serious damage to the pole and that it will cost the condo board at least 30 grand to replace/and/or fix it?

Sarah I am so sorry you are sleeping poorly because of the accident and that you can't feel anything in your fingers (or, apparently, in your cold cold heart). I'm sure you failed to mention that both were pre-existing conditions. Are they making the insurance check out to your husband who also just happens to be a physician? What a coincidence.

Also - there is the continued inquiry as to "other" witnesses. I'm sure Dorothy could help you out here, Jo. Or maybe you could say it was her oxygen tank I hit which caused a minor explosion, resulting in about 100 grand of damage.
Again - thank you both. I'm sure Rebecca will be happy that I chose Nationwide as my car insurance company.

27 comments:

jojo cucina cucina said...

shit, this took a lot longer than if i had written out a new one because of the cutting and pasting and trying to reformat this HTML. I am hoping my HTML Dreamweaver web design training in May will help me blog faster.

jojo cucina cucina said...

Anyway, i forgot to add that y'all should add your own excellent adventure stories!

Modern Hippie said...

hahaha thats pretty funny!

you know im still considering selling that oxycodine I have - I know i'll never have it and I could probably get a lot of money for it - is it unethical? haha I would feel pretty bad if it ever got anyone into any real problems. :-/

although I am considering taking it if i ever decide to get my tattoo. haha.

jojo cucina cucina said...

girl, you could be arrested for selling your unused drugs. so forget it. i will not bail you out since i warned you. But you could, however, give them to your aunt, for free and i don't think there is anything illegal about that.

jojo cucina cucina said...

Ok, here's just random stuff on my mind.

1. Poor Sandra Bullock. A separate/divorce is bad enough without the whole world having to hear about it.

2. i think i would actually like Sandra Bullock in real life. I don't think i would like Angelina.

3. I just bought that new Vietnam novel called Matterhorn. It's supposed to be an amazing book that will end up being a classic, according to the reviews. I read the first few pages and was hooked.

4. My husband packed more clothes for our trip than i did. I mean a lot more. i laughed at him so he started taking some out.

5. louielouie, did you ever get over to see Amanda's Safewayman yet?

6. Natalie Merchant has a new cd coming out April 13. I am very excited. She's probably my favorite female artist next to Joni Mitchell.

7. I loved "Lost" last night. The last two episodes have been pretty cool. I didn't love "American Idol" so much this week, except Crytal Bowersox amazed me with her "Me & Bobby McGee" and i think that's one of those sort of sacred songs that nobody should try because they will just screw it up, but she didn't. It was cool.

8. Having said that, i will love the day when next year i plan to break my addiction to both Lost and American Idol. those shows are like a bad boyfriend.

equeyaya said...

Love that! Aren't girlfriends the best?

I think you have heard most of my stories.

Did you hear the one about my friend Kym getting seduced in Ireland?

Or trying to find the right train in Hungary when none of us spoke Hungarian? Then when we finally found it (we had been in the wrong train station altogether) we were hauled out into the middle of nowhere with bad plumbing, stale bread and watered down wine for a week and on the last night walked through deserted streets for a mile or so to the tiny general store we remembered seeing and scored chocolate bars and diet coke.

Then there was the whole episode in Italy with Vittorio and the bat. http://equeyaya.blogspot.com/2008/07/bat.html

I loved Bowersox's Joplin cover, too.

I watched LOST twice and fell asleep both times.

I had a stomach virus this week. Took half a sick day from work (which I never do) and slept almost straight through to the next morning. Which had much to do with me falling asleep on Lost.

I'm going to watch my daughter's university equestrian team compete on Sunday. First chance I've had to do that, so I'm pretty excited.

Have a wonderful trip, jo!

Modern Hippie said...

haha yeah dont worry i dont see myself actually selling the oxydodine - its a nice thought though, the making money off of it is anyways.

i feel bad when any celebrity has any kind of news spread all over the place, i always feel like it sucks for them anyways because say your trying to forget about an ex or an old boyfriend and your sitting home watching TV and all of a sudden there they are, maybe with their new girlfriend or something - that must suck!

yeah i have to tell you jo i dont miss watching american idol at all! and ive never watched LOST on cable so i never had that issue.

i still have my cold, i thought it went away completely but its been back and forth and im really exhausted today because i had to wake up early for my early morning class for my last final presentation

i am offically on spring break now! :)

IslandPearl said...

Have a great vacation, jo.

jojo cucina cucina said...

pearl, i will be packing two bottles of really good wine in a one of those two bottle cases for my checked baggage. I assume that is okay, right? I will pack them in the middle with clothes on top and on the bottom. I needed to bring them for dinner with our friends at their place for our first night and knew i wouldn't have time to grocery.


Ms. louielouis called me and was dismayed that i put that photo of her up from 1983. And so i better explain that she had just had her baby (Nick) only about 6 weeks before.

I didn't think anyone would notice anything about our high waisted jeans, because they would be so focused on our bad perms. lol!

I had a couple of running photos of us in the 1980s when we ran 10Ks together, but they really looked bad because they were taken after the run and we're pretty sweaty looking.

eque and pearl, didn't you love the closeup of Richard/Ricardo's eyeliner in Lost?

eque, how could we forget the Italian BAT!????
You wrote about your Italian Hero who caught the bat:

When he came into the room and heard a Queen song from my ipod speakers, he (Vittorio) nodded, "Ah! This is the problem, the bat only likes classical music!"

Modern Hippie said...

checking wine is never guaranteed but i think you'd be fine if its wrapped amonst your clothes (we dealt with this at work all the time) granted luckily there is a little more gentle approach to airport baggager handlers than the ones on the pier for the cruises but you SHOULD be okay just make sure its packed around other stuff.

i love that picture! i figured it was something to do with a recent coming or going of one of her pregnanncies.

did i forget to disclose i am underthe unflience of my ambien right now and it seems to be quite strong tonight so just fyi!

i dont know what you are takling about with eye liner and a bat but i think it has to do with the new epiosode of lost so im just going to ignore it haha

Modern Hippie said...

oh jojo did i mention, did you see the last person who wrote on the louvrak fan page; it was an old friend of kelly's - she claims to be her old best friend - check it out!

jojo cucina cucina said...

ms. hippie. It IS indeed Kelly's best friend Anne. I totally remember Anne. You should respond to her since i can't since i don't have Facebook. She was probably the only real 'normal' friend Kelly had. I always liked her so much.

louielouie said...

About the photo, oh come on now Jo.

That was the one after pregnancy “outfit” I had to buy in order to come in and do the union work. The Khaki pants with matching red and khaki plaid blouse were cheap, ugly and apparently ill fitting. I remember I could barely get them buttoned.

OK, the mothers among you, which one of you would like to se a 26 year old photo of yourself in too tight pants 6 weeks after delivery posted here? And you all know she has the ability to crop that pic at the waist. Sheesch

All in all I think my hair looks pretty good

AND I am the Director of Career and College Readiness (that means the vocational/CTE programs, guidance & counselors, graduation and college entrance requirements, credits, transcripts, student conferences, course catalog, secondary course approvals, transition and grad rate…) all for the price of a voc admin.

I get no respect

louielouie said...

Vacation Rocks

Slept last night with the sliding glass door all the way open to enjoy the sounds of the Pacific Ocean and cool western breezes. It was fantastic.

Due to our typical early start from home, we arrived at about 10 pm. We checked in, took a moonlit walk on the beach and settled in with a little Bailey’s and called it a night.

This morning is overcast but beautiful. After yogurt,granola and coffee (Ron's Honey Nut Cheerios and tea), our plan is for another beach walk then maybe a stroll in town. I brought a bunch of novels to read. As you would suspect, I’m saving Jo’s hardback Jonathon Tropper for hot tub reading.

I will continue to do very little once Ron leaves and Julie joins me. I’m sure we will miss jo immensely but we’ll struggle through.

The Oregon coast is awesome. Oregon is awesome. I did not start singing the state song as we crossed the border but did consider it.

jojo cucina cucina said...

I’m saving Jo’s hardback Jonathon Tropper for hot tub reading.

VERY FUNNY!

louielouie said...

you are a pal!!!!

I take back all the mean things I was thinking about you and the post

The cropped photo does lose a little 80s something, but we both look way hotter now. It was no wonder all the dudes were after us. . .

It's an hour later and we're still sitting around in our pj pants

vacation is grand, enjoy your's jo

Modern Hippie said...

i did kind of respond to her jo, she was asking how to be a friend and i had to explain to her that the site is a fan page so you become a fan and not a friend - thats a good reason to have a facebook though, theres people like that that you might actually be interested in reconnecting with, if not only to see their profile and see what they are up to!

you guys are too funny!

the oregon cost IS alot of fun! i'm still contemplating going to portland for my spring break to visit some friends that live down there but i still havent decided it will cost me $50 for the train ride back and forth and then i'll need spending money so over $100 on a trip or i can save the money for other uses.

equeyaya said...

I’m saving Jo’s hardback Jonathon Tropper for hot tub reading.

VERY FUNNY!

I laughed, too! I know how Jo is about her books!

I thought you guys looked very 80s in your high waisted jeans. There was no judgment coming from me! With the black and white and the hair, you almost look like your out of the 40s. Especially Louielouie.

Oregon sounds like perfection.

Modern Hippie said...

hahaha i cant believe i didnt realize the pun joke about the book in the hottub, i was wondering why everyone thought it was so funny.

somehow i forgot how jo is with her books to. i havent borrowed any in a really long time.

Modern Hippie said...

oh p.s. just thought I would let everyone know Jo is safely in Arizona but they don't get wifi! so thats why she is MIA - I can't believe she doesnt have wifi though, what a waste of a vaca! haha

Amanda Haines said...

Wow, no wifi! I miss you, Jo!

Have a great vacation!

jojo cucina cucina said...

hey y'all. Thanks Kylee. I DO have wifi, but it's ONLY in the lodge and i like that because while i want to check in periodically so i don't come home to over a 100 emails i don't want to check everyday.

This trip is exactly wonderful and we love where we are staying, away from the touristy downtown Sedona on 11 acres with a creek, which would be great flywater in the fall.

We love our cabin where we are staying. also the plane trip out was so perfect i was almost wishing it was longer.

We went into the town of Jerome which is a old mining town now more of a artist hippie town and we were there most of yesterday. It's about 35 miles away. Took lots of photos. I get mostly the culture and Brian takes the scenery shots. My lens is not as wide angle as his.

We are having the best time. Today is overcast which is nice because it was too hot yesterday and so we're going on a hike this afternoon. I am not a hiker but Brian assures me this one will not be difficut and is only three miles, so i'm good.

We've been to a few wineries out here, they actually make some very nice wine in this state!

I am not one for shopping Kylee so i won't likely find anything to bring back for you this trip, but i did find a hysterical ash tray in Jerome that has a photo of Jesus inside it and it says "Jesus doesn't like it when you smoke". I am going to give it to cousin Brian and Troy for their house warming. It's so damn funny, they will love it. Even though they say they are quitting, they still have Grandpa Bruce to use it.

I got a hysterical email from louielouie and julie who are on their own excellent adventure without me in Cannon Beach only it involved a trip to the ER because Sarah's husband has kidney stones. I am not even certain that the email is all true, all i know is i would need a vacation from the vacation after what they were telling me.

OK, i'm signing off to go stretch out for my hike!

Modern Hippie said...

your not bringing me a present but they get a jesus ash tray! what about ash and i's (i know that cant be grammatically correct but let it go lol) house warming? you have still yet to visit! hahahah

for some reason i cant picture you hiking, as athletic as you are, dont try running the hills though! im sure you will try hahaha

have fun and tell brian hi!

Modern Hippie said...

p.s. my captcha was just "worrybob" LOL

Modern Hippie said...

where is everyone! im on spring break and bored! hahaha.

equeyaya said...

hey, i'm here... good to hear from jo! lol that you wanted the plane ride to be longer after all that, hahaha!

JJ said...

this is Julie - at long last weighing in. All I have to add is that louie-louie's husband is probably really happy about narcotics now due to the fact that he passed a kidney stone when I happened to join louie louie and aforementioned hubby a couple weeks ago at Cannon Beach. In fact I know he was - REALLY HAPPY. Also vacations are much better when NOT spent in the Seaside emergency room. Although Louie-louie and I did drink some fine wine and ate some good food.