Apparently, the old version of MT-Blacklist that I left on my server after upgrading to Movable Type 3.0 was interferring with my comments system. And even though I had it checked it automatically approve all comments, it wasn't. I signed in to find about six comments waiting to be approved and spent twenty minutes trying to figure out what the hell was the problem.
But it's all fixed now and comments are automatically approved, so they will show up immediately. All comments that were added have been approved as well, so they'll show up down below.
And I was beginning to think ya'll didn't love me!!!
On another note, I got my car back!! Yay! Four thousand dollars worth of damages and it looks almost brand new - there's a little alignment issue with the hatchback but I was without the car for so long that it doesn't bother me much, partly because it's purely cosmetic.
Even better, I have a new layout sitting in the wings waiting to go up and I've been working on it diligently for about two weeks. The reason it's taking so long is because I'm actually reworking my content and everything so things will be all fresh once I get it up. I have a wedding this weekend, but hopefully, that will give me a breather once that's over, so keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for Kallure to be revamped once again.
That is all for now - carry on!!
They're expecting my car to be done soon. Hopefully, by tomorrow but there's not a guarantee on that. Last I spoke to her on Wednesday, it was going in for paint. I'm so excited!
Also, I just want to wish my baby brother a big Happy Birthday! He turned 21 today and I hope he has an awesome time! Just wanted to tell him that and that I love him and am very proud of him. Keep up the good work!
We're going four-wheeling this weekend. Just camping on Saturday and wheeling on Sunday. I've got some cleaning up to do and bills to pay during the day on Saturday. I'm also working on a new layout. The best inspiration I've had in awhile. So look for something new soon.
Other than that, life is starting to settle a bit. Normalcy shall return.
If one more thing goes wrong, if I have to deal with one more thing in my life, I will sit down where ever I am at the moment - be it in the mall, or in the middle of the street - and cry.
The month of July and the beginning of this month have turned into a true test of just how much I can handle at once. My mother always told me that someone thinks I'm strong enough to handle everything that's thrown at me, but it's times like these that makes me wonder just how strong someone wants me to be.
The Fourth was about the sanest weekend I had all month. Steve decided to buy a keg spontaneously so we had numerous pool parties at his house to finish that and watch the fireworks, which convienantly were visible from his backyard. We also went back up to my high school to watch their annual fireworks show, which we've sort of turned into a tradition.
I went along about my business after that, planning my vacation and putting my new computer together. I was actually without a computer for a week because I ordered a barebones kit from Tiger Direct and had to put that together then transfer all of my good stuff from the old machine over. So let me introduce you to my new toy.
It's has tons of good stuff: a 1.8 GHz Athlon processor (much better than my 950 MHz), 400 watt cooling supply, 768 MB RAM, 256 MB AGP nVIDIA graphics card, 200 GB hard drive, 40 GB hard drive, DVD burner, CD burner, firewire, and cool neon lights. It's nothing fancy but it works for me and it's so much faster. Regardless, I spent about a week gathering all the parts I needed and fighting with the tiny ass screws needed to attach everything. And of course, you can't expect to put a computer together and have it work on the first try - I still spent a few days after that reattaching cards and screws and moving wires and stuff. But everything got put together and I did it all by myself!
The weekend after the Fourth was when everything fell apart. Take one look at this and you'll see why.
That is my car - my poor, poor baby! I was driving to Steve's house on Friday, the 8th and as I was on 95 South behind this pickup truck. All of a sudden, he slammed on his brakes and I had to swerve to keep from hitting him. I didn't know what he was doing but as he passed the person in front of him, I realized it was that person, not him who was having issues.
The car kept swerving around the lane and I just gave up and passed it. As I did, it looked like an older person was driving so I happened to glance in my rearview mirror as I was getting off at my exit and saw the car swerve into the guiderail and drive along it. I lost sight of the car as I came to my stoplight and I'm thinking I should probably move, but I couldn't go anywhere because the light was red and cars were flying in opposite directions. After about thirty seconds, I didn't see it so I'm thinking, I'm cool. Then I glanced in my side mirror and saw it drifting up the exit - once again, I'm thinking I should go and get out of the way, but the light was still red.
I see the car coming and I'm looking over my left shoulder at it, and it's angled as if it's going to go into the right merge lane. And just as I turned my head to look over my right shoulder to make sure that's what was happening, I felt the impact and heard the crunching of metal. Adrenaline kicked in and I somehow managed to put the car into park, turn my hazard lights on, grab my cell phone and get out of the car. As I'm dialing 911, the car that hit me has bounced off my car, drifted backwards then righted itself towards the left, and was DRIFTING OVER THE MEDIAN AND INTO THE OPPOSING TRAFFICS ON RAMP TO 95. I see the driver passed out in the passenger seat and I'm running across the median, yelling at them to wake up and crying my eyes out at the same time, all while I'm shaking like crazy and trying to relay my information to the 911 dispatcher.
At this point, I was concerned because the driver, to me, looked like an old man who was passed out. As I'm on the phone, some passerbys ran over to the car and pried the door open and as it turns out, it was a woman. Eventually, the police and the paramedics got there. I called Steve and he and his parents came up. My car stayed right where it was and even though I was blocking traffic, I wasn't about to move it. We stood there for about an hour while the paramedics loaded her into the ambulance and the police took our reports. As it turns out, apparently, the woman was a breast cancer patient and she was on medication, which explains the close cut hair do and weathered look. But she was actually fairly young from what I glanced on her driver's license.
And here's the best part - as I was making sure if she was going to be ok, the state trooper mentioned that she HAD BEEN SMOKING PCP! WHAT?! I just stared at him with this shocked look on my face. I mean, who smokes PCP anymore? And his quote was something along the lines of 'She doesn't remember doing anything today but she remembers smoking the dust'. I could only stare and shake my head.
Regardless, I spent the entire week before my vacation making phone calls to the insurance companies and to the state troopers. I got absolutely no where. My insurance company said I could pay my deductible, get my car fixed and they would go after her insurance comapany. But I didn't want to do that because SHE hit my CAR and I felt I should go through her insurance company. Well, hers kept saying they had to investigate and couldn't get me a car until they accepted liability but that I could go rent a car and they would reimburse me for it (I'm not old enough to walk in somewhere and rent a car because you have to be 25). I went five days without a vehicle and with her insurance company dicking me around and I was stressed to no end because I was supposed to leave for vacation to South Carolina on July 15th and we were supposed to be driving my car.
The Wednesday before I was supposed to leave, her insurance company finally said they were going to have to wait for the state troopers report to figure out what happened, which would be seven to ten days after the accident, which would be right in the middle of vacation. I pretty much was livid because regardless of whether she was smoking PCP or clean, she still REAR ENDED my vehicle as I was stopped at a red light, which, in PA, makes it her fault. And her insurance company was ridiculously rude to me.
So I called a lawyer. He saw me early that morning and by noon, I had a loaner car to drive, my car was in the collision shop and I had an appointment with a doctor. I had already been to see my MD but my lawyer wanted me to get checked out more thoroughly. I made it on vacation and when I got back, I had to go for x-rays of my back and an MRI and now I'm physical therapy three times a week for three weeks or so. It took her insurance company until last week to accept liability for the accident, which meant my car was in the body shop getting absolutely nothing done to it because no one was authorized to pay for it. So I still have the loaner car, which I hate because it's an old Cavalier with manual everything and a rough idle and tons of miles on it - and as I was driving home from King of Prussia last night, the check engine light came on. So I'm just waiting for my car to get finished and we'll see where we go with the lawyer. He said he was only taking the case because he thinks he can get me something, but that could probably be years from now.
I just really want my car back. I will never again groan about having to pay my car payment.
The rest of July just ended up being vacation, which I totally needed and completely relaxed me. And I'm a bridesmaid in one of my closest friends weddings, so I spent a lot of time getting things together for that, like the dress and the bridal shower and stuff. And there's still stuff yet to come with that and it's all wrapped into the month of August because she's getting married the first week of September.
Needless to say, I've just been in an odd place lately. I don't handle stress well and the past few weeks have been ridiculous. I have so much I want to do with this site and I'm trying to make plans, but in truth, I just can devote the time to brand new layouts as much I used to, so truthfully, the colors and pictures might be the only things that change. Who knows though, I might surprise you.
I still have South Carolina pictures to add and information to update but I just need to get some sleep now. My back in killing me and it's time that I get myself back on a regular sleep schedule. I'm going to try and make more updates this month as I realize that I definitely went an entire month without posting.
So forgive me if I'm around - it's not neccessarily that I have a life, because truthfully, I don't want to deal with the one I have right now, in this moment.
But I have to and I guess that's the real thing about life - sometimes it stinks but if you can get through it, things will be better.