Some driving tips for an inexperienced driver in LA. Or my life is nothing but never-ending nightmare. Time to wake up!
June 03, 2018 - Updated June 13, 2018 tom2artist
Prologue
I am an app-based ridesharing driver for just over one year now and I like to share some of my experience of driving at Los Angeles area with you. This might be especially valuable for someone just starting driving a car.
I just had a little car accident last Sunday evening. It caused some scratches on the front corner bumper of my car. They were minor. But this accident was enough to trigger my depression. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. Why so? If you read further, you will find why. Anyway, I came across in Twitter the quotes by Rumi, a Persian poet (1207 – 1273), the best-selling poet in the US that makes him the most popular poet in the US. They had a few words in each but when I read between the lines, there was no shortage of food for thought and I found myself indulging his world as my sanctuary much needed for my tired soul.
I'm surrounded by the darkness
I seem right now surrounded by nothing but the darkness. It seems no light in sight. But I know the darkness is not an empty space. Just like a black hole, the strong power is hidden and yet to be seen. I'm still in the process of learning for my life from the darkness. It seems that I cannot stop all the accidents from happening to me but can my misfortune be educational to myself or to others? Some of my advices I try to give out here hopefully save other people from an ultimate inconvenience while they are driving. I hope that this web-page helps save the other drivers, especially young ones with the lack of driving experiences from an avoidable traffic accident. That is how this page was born.
I can say I am a fairly experienced driver. I'm sure my safety tips for driving might be much more valuable than making the grade in school. Which do you think is more valuable, your life or grade in school? The traffic accident could be a life-changer. Worst of all, you could lose your life or kill someone else. My advices are the very short list but they remain valuable throughout the rest of your life, I hope.
How
dangerous is it to drive in LA?
Driving a car in the city of Los Angeles is a kind of like you walk through a minefield. Avoiding any accident is not easy.
What kind of driver are you? The short tempered driver who has a temperament of becoming a road rage offender, or the adrenalin junkie or reckless driver who loves stepping up on gas or weaving through the traffic, or the unskilled driver who just starts driving and needs some experience, or the multi-tasking driver who is doing other things while driving, or the DUI driver who is drunken, high on narcotics or medication, or sleep-deprived. Some might match more than one type. Not to mention that an aspired actress who drives fast to make it to her audition. Those are the types of drivers you may come across when you are driving in LA. Is it only me to think about it and see a potential danger on the street? Watch out when you hit the road!
Don't get me wrong. I love LA. Those problems are not unique to LA and other parts of the country might have a bigger problem than LA. But I have to talk about them here, because this article is all about driving in the city of LA.
I consider myself a good driver. I was a good Ping-Pong player at very young age. I won the title in my city wide competition in my senior year of Junior High. So it is fair to say that I'm nimble physically and have a better eye & hand coordination than the average drivers. But I am not young any longer. But I still believe I can drive pretty safe. I don't do any drug or drink alcohol. I'm a social drinker but it rarely happens. I'm not an adrenalin Junkie neither. So I was always thinking I could avoid any traffic accident all together. But after going through all those accidents which I will tell you later about, I don't know about that any longer. That was very sad moment. Listen! Speaking of avoiding an accident, I have many stories to tell. Believe or not, I actually managed to avoid a major head to head collision in three occasions within one year. All of which happened were at a busy intersection. I just hadn’t made a hasty decision when it came to making a left turn. That was a right decision and turned to be my true lifesaver. I just didn't make a left turn at the intersection unless no other oncoming car was entering into intersection even after my light turned red from blue. In either case, I had a customer in my car. The oncoming car drivers somehow decided to ignore the red light and pass through with a full speed by my car in the middle of intersection. Each of my customers saw what I saw. It was so terrifying moment.
The first time victim of a hit and run
Can I avoid accidents? I'm driving for my business at late night and early morning because of the light traffic, which is obviously part of my effort to avoid an accident. But my supposedly safe world is crumbling in front of my eyes because of all those accidents.
 |
 |
That safety thought is turned out to be just an illusion. It was totally a false security. In each time of the moment just before the traffic accidents, I was driving my car safely and carefully with my customer inside. This May 27 accident was the third time in a few weeks over one year. I started driving for major rideshare companies since May 5, 2017. I had never dealt with police and insurance claim on any type of the accident before. I became the victim of a hit and run in July 4th, 2017, and another of a hit and run in May 6, 2018. In either case, I had a customer with me, who can testify for me. You can also see the official police record and statement on the two. In each case, I couldn't avoid the accident. Why? The other cars which were responsible came from my blind side in the situation where I expected the least my car getting hit. That is nightmarish to me. The first one was on 4th of July, 2018. That was the first Independence Day since I became a ridesharing driver. The whole nation was celebrating American independence. Fireworks seemed everywhere. It must be the busiest day for taxi and rideshare drivers, however I chose to start rather late around 9 pm. I thought it was much safe to drive that time. Well before that day, I was thinking that I should take the day off and stay home. But on the other hand, I wanted to know what it looked like driving around town in that national holiday. Ok let's go. I had a very few rides so far. I picked up two young female customers from near Santa Monica Pier, and then their destination brought me all the way to Gardena. After dropping them off, I tried to drive back to Hollywood. I thought I would find more customers up there in this late night. I picked up a customer in Inglewood, who happened to be going north.
The first car chase, hopefully the last
I didn't usually drive around this area. But my car was fully stopped and waited on the red light at the intersection of Western Ave and 51st, when a white Honda smashed into my car behind. The customer in the back seat and I both felt the impact. The customer told me the car was running away, and then he encouraged me to chase the white car. At midnight, there were a few cars at the time of the accident and no other white car was around. The car made a right turn onto a poor lit off-street. But I could quickly catch up to the car because of the color. It was easy to spot even at night. My customer managed to take a picture of the license plate of this fleeing car for me, which just stopped for a while at the intersection with no traffic lights of Vernon Ave and Harvard Blvd. Then the car started moving and made a left turn onto the westbound Vernon Ave, because the driver noticed my car was still following. I just followed the car again and we drove less than a mile. The car finally pulled over and stopped on 43rd PL between St Andrews PL & Western Ave. At ten yards away behind the car, I stopped and parked my car as well. No other cars were in sight in this dark narrow street. I didn't know who the driver was at that point. I was expecting, whoever he or she was, someone was coming out of the car saying sorry at some point and exchanging some info. But what I didn't expect was three doors were flung-opened and then three mid-20s African American males came out of the mid-sized white Honda almost at the same time. Holly cow, is this real? They, not muscular, but more like a lean athlete type, looked all fired up a little. The guy coming out of the driver seat walked toward me sitting in the car pondering what should be done. I rolled window down a few inches. He started talking without being asked, "I didn't hit your car. I saw another Honda hit your car and drive away, not mine." I heard the other two yelling at us near the front of my car, "Get the fuck out of here!" I admitted to the police later that I felt the impact, but I didn't see the car hit my car. From my driver seat, it was impossible to see. All I saw was the car passing my car with a high speed just after the accident. Fortunately my customer did see it. He who sat in the back seat turned his head around after the impact and saw which car hit my car. That was the only reason I was chasing his car. The customer was my solid witness. And there were not many cars around at the scene and the white car was only his. "If you didn't hit my car, why are you running away from us like this in the first place?" That was my question. But it was not the good time to argue. All I could do was to stay put in my car and kept calm and friendly as possible and try not to provoke them. Let the police handle this. So I didn't say anything to him except "The police are coming." They were going back into their car without any incident. The driver started the engine, U-turned and before they drove away toward Western Ave, he stopped and told me again, "Look, there is no damage of my car. I didn't hit your car." I didn't follow them this time.
No police will come unless we have somebody injured
'The
police are coming' turned out to be false. During the chase, I heard my customer
dialing 911 and talking to an operator for a while. When they were gone, I
immediately asked him if the police were coming or not. He said no. 'The police
won't come today unless we have somebody injured." That was something to do with
July 4th, the busiest day, I guess. I felt rather disappointed. I finally got
out of my car and the first time checked the damage on the back. No wonder he
claimed his car didn't have the damage. I found the ugly scratches on the
bumper, which showed the shape of a number plate. My plastic bumper against his
number plate. Which sustained the damage? The answer is obvious! I resumed the trip
with my customer and dropped him off at his destination, not far from the end
point of the chase. My customer was young looking but I felt maturity from him.
Probably his mid 30s-40s. He was entitled to be upset but he was the whole time
rather cool, calm, and collected. He comforted me instead with nice words asking
me how my feeling was. Before he got out of my car, he gave me his number to
call in case I would need him in future. The customer was only good part of this
whole terrifying ordeal. It all went downhill from there ever since. I went
through with the rideshare company, rideshare insurance and my insurance
company, and police to filing the report. At the police station later, an
officer to whom I talked about the accident asked me "Why didn't you call the police at the time?" I thought I did
everything right with the help of my customer but nothing right came out of
this. I paid $60 from my pocket money to get the police report result from LAPD for my
insurance claim. But they got me nothing but a headache. I didn't get a cent. Zero,
Zilch, Nada. My damage was just scratches on the bumper but the rideshare
company I mainly worked for at that time suspended my account for a whole week
without any explanation. I switched another rideshare company because of this.
My car still has those scratches on the bumper on the back, just exactly the
shape of the number plate of the car that had struck.
The first time freeway accident
The second accident, my car was heading to the destination of Santa Monica
near the beach. Not many cars were around on the I-10 freeway at 4 am in Sunday
morning. It was still dark. Little did I know that the 70-80 mph speeding car of
the suspected DUI driver was approaching from behind on the lane next to mine.
The car suddenly crossed the line and smashed into the driver side of my car when
it was passing and then sped away. It all happened in the blink of an eye just
before Cloverfield Blvd Exit.
There is always the first time for everything. It was my first time accident on
the freeway. The police were called immediately. The hit destroyed my left
side-mirror totally and caused the major disfigure of the left side of my car
extending 2 doors and the left front. The customer made that call for me by
using his cell phone after I pulled over to the right and parked my car on the
shoulder. I was still struggling to process what had just happened. It was hard
to comprehend why and how. Traffic was so light at the time of that day that my
car front and behind and both sides were all surrounded by the endless open
spaces. It was supposed to be a fun ride. But then next thing I know, wham! The
unknown car smashed into my car out of the blue. My customer was gone by the
time the police took my statement. I filed the accident report to the company
when I drove back home safely. I found that the damage was only cosmetic. But I
couldn't drive until my side mirror was fixed. I had to get my suspended account
of the company reactivated again. That took a week. My insurance is no use for
fixing the damage unless I can afford paying the $1000 deductive, which is still
expensive. I don't know what to do with the damage right now. After I cleaned up
my car with some touch-up paint job by myself, I drove the car to pick the
ridesharing customer again, hoping I might figure out and come up with some
solution. Working as a ridesharing independent contractor is the main source of
income currently and seems the option best fitted for my life style. To live on
the street is not my option. I kept working without off-day for a whole week. I
felt good about it and made some money to save. I thought I was seeing some light on the end of
the dark tunnel, so to speak. But that was short-lived. Because I got another
car accident on May 27. Just outside of UCLA campus where I frequent.
UCLA
This
campus is one of my favorite places in LA. It has an impressive urban forest
landscape. I love the positive vibes coming from the students. They are a breath
of fresh air in a tiresome night, so to speak. I love to talk with them and did
have so much fun most of time. This is one of a few places in LA making me feel
I belong. There were so many customers I was regretting to pick up in the course
of my business. But not from there with a few exceptions. How about USC? It is
another large and wealthy university in LA. I
sometimes picked up USC students on the street of LA. I picked them up even near UCLA
campus and dropped
off around USC. But the numbers were much more small. I did drive around USC campus
a few times but there were many off-limits for a car to enter. I only could see
a part of it. There are definitely a lot more to explore. In my opinion however,
I had gotten more positive vibes from UCLA students in different majors and its campus
so far,
even though I'd had a great time talking with some of USC students in my
car, including a female law school student and some male film students.
The latest accident
I picked up a customer on UCLA campus at 9 pm, still dark outside, then drove south onto Hilgard Ave at 30 mph, which is slightly down hill and slightly winding. No reason to step on gas. My car was just in the middle of the center lane of 2 lanes. There was a very light traffic. That was why I drove around here this late hour. As I said before, this was my ongoing effort to avoid any accident. I saw no car in front or on the right side of my car. It was supposed to be a nice trip with my customer. It was a small fare indeed with a zero expectation of tips but money had been secondary to me unless I couldn't pay bills. They were students for Christ's sake! Then one car appeared in the next right lane. Without warning, the car crossed the line and tried to drive into the lane in front of my car. I wasn't speeding at all. As soon as I saw the car drive into my lane, I put my foot out of gas pedal because the car was so close. The speed of my car was down to 25 or 20 mph. So if the driver stepped on gas when drove into my lane, the car still could do so with no incident, but the car did so hastily without an acceleration in the space not enough between us. The car's left corner on the back bumped into the right corner of my front as if I were watching in slow motion. In hindsight, if I hit the brake quickly, it would probably avoid the accident as well. But I didn't have a chance to see the rearview mirror. So I didn't know if a car was behind me or not at the time. If I hit the brake, would it cause the rear-end accident? I don't know the answer. Instead I was staring at the front of my car, the other car's end and between the whole time just before the accident.
Decency still exists on some street of LA
At the time of Sunday evening, there was a plenty of wide open space in front of my car. It was insane. The guilty party pulled over, stopped and came out of the car. That was different from the previous two accidents whose drivers of both sped away. That was a good sign. And the driver turned out to be a young college student. Her boyfriend showed up with his car pretty soon as her moral support, I guess.
In this darkness
of my life, I can say I was glad to witness some human decency from the driver
who immediately pulled over and then came out to see how bad the scratches were
and the kindness from the customer who took pictures of necessary info for me.
I checked myself to see the damage on the front bumper. Fortunately we weren't
speeding at all at the time of accident, those scratches were minor. Believe me I still wanted to avoid the accident at all cost.
All those interaction with people involved was not all bad after all. It could
be much worse or uglier.
The driver, who seemed sweet, came and told me that she was in a hurry when she was driving just before the accident. I didn't or couldn't say anything to that as a response. I was not angry at her at all but I was still processing the situation. Many thoughts went through my head. I needed a camera to take pictures of her ID and my damage but I knew from the past that my smart-phone camera probably would be useless due to some battery problem. I should've bought and replaced it with a new phone by now but the previous accident on May 6 wiped out my extra money, so was my plan. I thought I could wait for the new phone.
Your car can be a deadly weapon
She said to me "I was in a hurry'' when she was coming toward my car. I could tell she was honest. I believed that was the main cause of this accident. But the words has stuck in my head ever since. I'm thinking that because of being in a hurry, she should be more careful for driving. I knew how dangerous it was to drive in the LA street from my experience. Who is going to protect her from other reckless drivers on the street? She is the one, isn't she! I hoped she learned the valuable lesson from this accident. Otherwise, she would get herself into more serious trouble while driving along the way. Yes, she is young and because of that, she is allowed to make a lot of mistakes in her earlier life. That is part of her learning process with some growing pain. But driving a car is one of the few fields where the standard trial and error method is unsuitable. I wish I could have more than one life to live like in the Hollywood movie, 'Groundhog Day' or 'Edge of Tomorrow', but people normally have only one. When you are driving on the street, you want to avoid any mistake or accident by any cost because it could turn deadly and costly. Like the same as owing the gun, your utmost attention is required.
I
went out and tried to get info from the guilty party. I found that my phone
camera was useless at that time as I predicted. So I had to ask my customer to
take necessary pictures and send them to my E-mail address. I had to end the
ride with this customer when I realized I was still in the trip mode with the
customer. I did it because I didn't know how much longer it would take to resume
the trip for my customer. The fare was accumulating along with every each time
ticking. So I did it for the customer sake. Anyway, she helped me to get all
the info I needed. The customer
stayed patiently with me the whole time. When finished, I offered the customer
a free ride to her home. I insisted but she didn't take it. She preferred to
call another car. I drove away feeling bad for that customer - I didn't forget
to send my thank you note to her phone when I got home though-, and resumed my
business and drove to pick up customers. I had to, because I was in the middle
of pursuing the bonus money. In order to get bonus, I needed more rides to reach
the quota and I still had time. The rideshare driver generally cannot make a
living only on the basic fare alone, because each fare is so cheap and gas is so
expensive. The amount of the bonus I was getting was almost as same as the gas
money spent for a few days. After the several rides, my account was suddenly
suspended. Oh no! My customer probably notified my rideshare company of the
accident, not to mention to giving me a poor rating. I noticed my rating went
down slightly just after this unfinished ride. Did I deserve this? No! But how could I blame my customer! The damage was
turned up so minor
like this, but my account was suspended. That meant the paper work was waiting for me. Less drive and more paper work
meant less money and less sleep. I had to follow all the steps to report about the
accident online. In order to get my account reactivated, I had to
submit the pictures to prove my car being safe to drive. That is the company
protocol. I cannot change that. What a bummer!
My
advice to young drivers
1. As I said before when you are in rush driving a car, you should be more careful than ever and well aware of the surroundings. Don't cut a corner. This is not a bike riding in the rural area. You should recognize that the car you are driving on the street is a deadly-weapon. If you are super busy and not careful of what you are doing while driving. You are just pushing your luck. It is certainly that a traffic accident is waiting to happen. I read that so many people get injured or are killed by the traffic accident every day even they are inside of the car. You don't want to be in that statistics. You cannot expect that every car driver is courtesy and nice, carefully and well skilled to drive on the road. You cannot expect that every driver follows the traffic rules. Some are a crack-headed, a drunken or a sleep-deprived driver. Even if you are an immaculate safe driver, you still get yourself involved with the traffic accident one way or another. You have no excuse to say you are in a rush. Please be careful of the surroundings no matter what you are busy or not.
2. Intersection nightmare! As I said before, I fortunately managed to avoid the deadly clash three times in the past one year alone and saved my customer's life and mine. That all happened at the same section of a street in LA, which is a busy intersection. To me, the busy intersection is a kind of a minefield. Be careful for driving through it and watch out other cars doing especially when you make a left turn. Even if your light turns red when you are still in the middle of the intersection, you cannot assume that you have to make a left turn right now. The reason is that I've seen so many reckless drivers try to beat the red light. So just wait a little longer until no oncoming car is seen on your way. You can make a left turn safely only after you eyeball the opposite side of traffic and make sure all the oncoming cars stop already, no more car is moving to enter the intersection for sure.
What did the accidents do to me?
What does the accident mean to me? I can sum up in 2 words:
Tremendous waste, or in one word: Nightmare. Each accident, no matter how small
or big, had made my life upside down and the part of my life had been wasted. It created
extra works such as paper work for filing a report which was all my expense. I
was losing money to fix the damage, like going to an auto shop to buy small things
such as a can paint, a cleaner, microfiber cloths, losing my time to visit body
shops & talk to a guy there asking an estimate in their business hour, ending up
losing a lot of my sleep. My account was automatically suspended after the
accident until I had to prove that my car was safe to drive. This alone means I
was losing time to work, which meant the potential earnings were gone. I lost
money just to get the police report result.
I also had the dilemmas I was facing. Did I have to chase the hit and run car suspect just after the accident even if I had a custom in my car? Or did I have to end the trip with the customer just after the accident, especially the police were called? Because I never knew how long it was going to take to resume the trip. After every accident I felt sorry for my customers for their inconvenience, even I know this was not my fault. But it hurt me a lot. This guilty feeling was hardly ignored.
Losing my free time was the saddest part in the whole thing,
because my free time, money, my focus were supposed be used for something
creative. The purpose of my life is not becoming a good transportation operator.
I'm arguably the nicest driver you've ever met but I'm hardly a smart businessman
type. I'm doing this for paying my bills.
I'm an artist for Christ's sake! That is the reason for my existence. That is my
raison d’être. But the accident put me into the rat race with no choice. Before
my going to work as a routine chore, I clean up the mess my careless customers
left behind inside my car in the previous day of my work to make a comfortable
ride for the next customers. The accidents cost me money and works, which ended
up wiping out my savings and created more chores. Even none of the car damages
is ever repaired yet. It was just a temporary fix by me. One of the body shops
told me it would cost me over $2500, and take a week to fix the side of my car
alone. During the time, I definitely would need a rental car. He told me that
you should use my insurance. My company insurance agent asked me $1000 as
deductive, which I don't have. I pay my car insurance every month but I cannot
fix my car damage! It doesn't make a lot of sense. It is agonizing. I'm fully
aware of that life is unfair since I was born into a family of poor farmers back
in Japan. But this is a ridiculous level. Is that life? I guess so. I have
to work harder to make up the loss. I barely make ends meet at the end of each
month. At the end of each day, ask myself, "What did you do today for
yourself?" I have no answer. The accidents caused a lot of pain, and disrupted my life
rhythm, sleep pattern, my plan and my future. What about my mental
health?
How did the event affect my mood and emotion? Is it positive? Hardly! Who is
responsible and who takes care of me? Nobody! Each accident was followed by
depression. Even my car was ready to drive after a temporary fix but I was not
ready to work. I couldn't work for sometime for some unknown reason.
There were some lights
I said there was the darkness all around. But in my life, I realized there was not always the darkness if I looked back. I mentioned a few already having helped me just after the accidents. I had more. I remember, long before I became a rideshare driver when I had a small SUV. I got a flat tire, then hard time replacing it with my spare. I was stranded somewhere in LA and It took me forever. A total stranger came up and rescued me without being asked. He did it most of work until finished and then disappeared without asking anything. Don't you remember the time at Inglewood, when I picked up a young 20s Latina just coming out of work at wee hours, I was so hungry at the time when we dropped by the drive-through of a fast-food joint, she offered to buy me something but I didn't want her spending her hard-earning money. So I said maybe a hash-brown, but she bought me a full meal combo. Her warm personality emanated through the end of the ride. She was like a living angel. I could never forget that. And she was not the first or the last one to do that.
My living condition worsen.
I'm working the graveyard shift as a rideshare driver. It is because of ongoing effort to stay safe on the road. So my sleep goes to most of time in the day time. I need a clear head to drive safe, especially the customers are involved. Whenever I feel I need more sleep, I don't go to work. I try to get some more sleep instead. I don't take any risk, because I know the danger of drowsy driving very well from my experience. So I use an extra effort managing to sleep, because it is not easy to do so in the day time. I must get a good sleep for my work. But doing so is getting harder these day. I have to explain my living condition little further, then you will understand what I've been going through.
My North Hollywood apartment
I've
lived in the same apartment for over 10 years. I'm
probably one of the longest renters here. I probably would've ended up living on the street a
long time ago if I didn't have this apartment. Thanks to this place, I'm still
able to keep the life style I had chosen. The activities such as
keeping the internet access on 24/7 and my active websites, getting updated information
& news and watching free movies whenever I want and doing some writing
or something creative over the internet are very important parts of my life.
Getting connected to the internet seems my only window to the other parts of the
world or universe. I'm seriously worried about the future of Japan. Japan's
right-wing politics and anachronistic nationalism rise in the recent year due to
the rising military power of China. If democracy in Japan is solid as a rock,
there's nothing to worry about. In reality however it isn't. It's rather weak. I
sometimes doubt that they understand the significance of checks and balances in
system, separation of religion, the role of media and recognize the pursuit of
happiness as the fundamental human right protected by Constitution of Japan. I read some
of the news and write my opinion to each in my Japanese websites as a watchdog
of democracy whenever I feel compelled to do so. I'm also concerned about gun violence in US, terrorism, Russia
aggression, and the dysfunctional United Nations. How many more victims do we
need to end the senseless killings robbing the young innocent of their dreams?
With all those unsolved problems what is going to happen to our
world? Is
this world is going to be a better place? There are so many questions out there
that are not easy to answer. I like to know the latest world news. If I couldn't
do any of those, my life would become absolutely intolerable. I’d rather die. I
don't know other people but I eat to live, not live to eat. There is no other
way. Anyway, the property management company of my apartment complex was changed
so many times. There are three times for last few years. Each company of the
rent payment method is different. Every time the new company gives us the notice
to inspect the renter's apartments in the daytime. It really happens or not. I
lose my sleep over this.
Several months ago, the ownership of my apartment was changed, then our place started being renovated unexpectedly. They put a new paint on the outside walls of my building and each of renter's entrance door, cut down an tall big old palm tree, shaved branches of the big pine tree by using a chainsaw in the parking area. They replaced the old windows which were still in a good condition with new ones in all apartments, changed a balcony wooded fence to an iron fence. For the last few weeks, the renovation finally seemed over. With some relief, I have another thing to worry about - the rent increase. It is still the same right now but the future rent increase is my biggest concern, even as my rent increases 20- 30 dollars in every year.
During
that time of renovation, I was numerous times asked to move my car from my regular spot by one
of the working crews around 7-8 o'clock in the morning without any prior notice. They
came and knocked my door whenever they were pleased. One day when the paint crew
were still working in the daytime, I found in the gas station at 9pm, a few of a
couple-inch long deep cuts on my car hood when I cleaned my car as usual just
before going to work, which were very noticeable. I suspected that one of the
crew did it. I filed the report with pictures to the previous management. But
I'd never received any answer from them since.
Thank God, the renovation activity around my building seems over. But the unwanted noises outside are not over yet. The big apartment building across the street was completed a couple years ago, but another big apartment in the same block started being built and still in the middle of construction process. I can hear some hammering sounds and many other noises during the day regardless of all my windows closed tight.
The noise from a jackhammer had been terrible by the way. The gas company has been digging on the street just in front of our apartment building for weeks now. On June 12, this morning, one of the crews asked me at my door move my car. I found he was a nice guy, so I just obliged.
A parking violation ticket
I need money to pay my bills like everyone else. So I try to
work for longer hours. Ten hour driving is usually nothing to me. I feel tired
but that is about it. I don't need sleep immediately. I had driven for over 12
hours in a row time to time. I had to do this to earn enough money to pay the
bills. But one day, I felt so tired after I dropped my customer off when I had a
little over 10 hours of driving. I felt I couldn't drive any longer. I needed
some nap. I was making total 84 dollars 50cent with 12 trips before the cost of
gas so far at that time of the day.
Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. That days were usually one of the slow days. Why was I so sleepy? I blamed all the noises
I was getting outside of my apartment when I tried to sleep the day before. A
crew of around 4 people were painting the wall of my building at that time. I
was facing very dangerous situation. I could hardly open my eyes. All I could
was to find any safe spot to park my car. But no spot on the street was open. I
finally found the open spot to park. I fortunately pulled over and parked my car
safely. That happened at 1:41 pm on Midvale Ave, Westwood on the 24th of
January 2018. Then I was woken by someone knocking my
driver side window. I guessed I shouldn't be there, so drove off the spot immediately. I was so out of it. I
didn't even know how long I was there. It took an hour driving to notice the
part of a piece of paper stuck on the bottom of windshield. I didn't know what
it was. It was annoying for driving, so I pulled over and stopped the car to get
rid of it. I was shocked in disbelief by finding it was a parking violation
ticket saying the amount due $93.00. All my effort over 10 hours
working hopefully to pay toward the past due utility bills was gone to nothing just like
that. I contested the ticket but to no avail. Just inside of me, I couldn't help
but cry even over spilled milk. I felt for the first time the amount of any fine
should be different depending on the income levels of the offenders. The filthy
rich should pay more and the low income household pay less for the same offense.
It seemed unfair but because the fine should be used to deter that from
happening again. In the current system, the fine is the same amount for the same
offense to everybody. To the rich it is so small peanut that they don't care
much at all and they do it again with no remorse, and the other hand, to the low
income, it might cause to miss the rent payment and put their life on the
street. If that happens, the fine becomes the cruel and unusual punishment to
the poor family. That is not acceptable.
Darkness can be a teacher
I still have a roof over my head, but It seems like I hit rock bottom. I have no intention to stay that way. But I'm surrounded by the darkness. It seems all around. Where does it take me from this apparently middle of nowhere? I have been heartbroken and it is hard for me to bear the pain. How can the darkness be my candle? How can I make a candle out of darkness? How? It doesn't seem like a lot of sense. In the movie 'Star Wars,' the darkness always belongs to the evil. The good never comes out of it. And the darkness has a formidable power just like a black hole in the universe pulling everything inwards and is very destructive and corruptive. To repel or resist it, "May the force be with you."
Is that all about the darkness? Not quite. There are two popular expressions in
Japanese, one of which is '失敗は成功のもと' (Shippai Wa Seiko No Moto), which means the
failures are the one that propels you toward your success. Things are not always
going the way you plan in life. Some of failures can be ignored, some cannot.
Some make you feel devastated as if it were the end of the world. But those
failures pave the way to your success later in life, which makes all the
previous failures forgivable and forgettable. The other is '反面教師' (Hanmen Kyoshi), used to describe the mistake itself or the
person who had made a mistake, could be used as a life lesson for others to prevent
from repeating and that helps the others to make a better choice in the future. The person who
made a life-changing mistake must feel despair and see the darkest dark. The mistakes can be
the others' unintended life lesson but also because of the traumatic mistakes, he or she who
went through a lot might be able to open his or her eyes, be enlighten on life and death,
leading to reconciliation,
humility, meditation, infinity, divinity, silence, solitude, and peace. The pain
he had to endure is an ultimate growing pain. There are many ups and downs in
life. From only that darkness, you can learn an important lesson in life. The
darkness is not just an empty space or an evil after all. The
darkness has a lot of layers to it. It has the own unique quality to show us the
right path. It is exactly the same as a candle in the dark does for us.
What is life anyway?
On the street of the city of LA, I sometimes encounter some people who display an anti-social behavior or no self-control whatsoever. Some people say animals are a lot like people. I want to say people are a lot like animals. Some guys try to outsmart you to rip off like a some kind of competition. There are no short of money mongers, hustlers, street smarts, and skirt chasers on the street of LA. The image was reinforced by the owner at my recent visit in the daytime to a body shop. I was one time sucker-punched at night by an inebriated cholo I was trying to help near outside of a county jail. Even in churches, I used to find a lot of fake smiles and friendliness. Do you really think I don't know you are lying? You don't hurt me physically but do you know how much you are breaking my heart?
If you want to live a life wherever you are, you inevitably face the darkness. Life itself is nothing but darkness like a deep ocean. You can try but you cannot run away from it like your shadow. You can see your shadow unless your are totally surrounded by the darkness or you close your eyes. If there seems no light around you, you should be the only hope. You are the one digging yourself out. You'd better become a candle.
Epilogue
I leaned the lesson. I learned I could avoid the accident if the car caught my attention far and earlier enough. So I could maneuver my car accordingly in time. But I learned also at the same time that I cannot prevent the traffic accident from happening all together. I witnessed a traffic accident or just passed by the scene so many times over the years at somewhere on the streets or freeways. Every time I see through my car windows, I always remind myself of that could be me. Regardless of driving the car carefully, the traffic accident could happen to everybody. But you can learn how to minimize the potential danger. It is all up to you.
---------
@Bonjin007
PS, I became the victim of a hit and run on May 6, 2018, which caused major cosmetic damages to the driver side of my car, 2017 Toyota Corolla (see the picture above). I accept any donation toward fixing them, or any information of the body shop that is willing to repair my car with reasonable price with an affordable installment plan, or any other ideas which might be benefit for my current situation.
This car is only the one that I have, which was bought for a sole purpose becoming a rideshare driver to pay my bills since May 5, 2017. I still own the big loan to the bank paying back monthly for 6 more long years. Thank you for reading.