etc.

Things might be looking up a bit. The cooler weather is allowing the injured hand to breate a bit beneath the stiffling constraint of the cast. You would think that technology might have come up with a better way to set a fractured bone other than plaster of Paris. Two and a half weeks into wearing this thing and I’ve just figured out (today) that I will not do irreparable damage to my wrist if I type with a pencil in my right hand (as opposed to trying to make it work with all sorts of manual acrobatics).

In other news, the Toronto International Film Festival rolls into town next week, and for the first time, Michael and I got our act together early enough (in July even!) to get advance coupons so that we actually have a shot at seeing what we want to, without having to quit our jobs to stand in line for 12 days to get a decent ticket. We were chuffed as anything with ourselves when we made it happen last month, but, as we have recently discovered, with all the hassle you have to go through to be a part of the whole Advance Ticketing debacle, we might have been better off quitting our jobs, watching as many films as we liked, and looking for new jobs on September 15th.

We got mucho dinero for the car: 6000 big ones! Did we do OK? Well, let’s see:

- a trade-in would have got us $5000 at the most (subject to an inspection, and we all know what subject-to-anything means when a car salesman says it)
- another car salesman (who shall remain nameless, unless you are shopping for a Sunfire in Oakville, Ontario – in that case, we should talk) told us to expect $2000-2500
- the guy at the impound lot told us to fight for no less than $7000 (we’re not really the fighting kind)
- and we were honestly expecting about $4500, but would have walked away (smiling) with anything over $4000.

So, we think we did OK.

My friends Dalya and Elisha got married a couple of weeks ago. It was the first orthodox Jewish wedding Michael and I had been to and I can honestly report that it was an outstanding experience. The ceremony was one of the most meaningful I have witnessed, and the reception was a rip-rollicking good time. You know that feeling you get when you are in the company of a bunch of people who are truly genuine and honest and happy to be where they are? That’s how it felt to be in the company of Dalya & Elisha and their guests that day. The sense of community just radiated off each and every one of them, and it truly was an honour to be a part of that.

So we were in a car accident a couple of Fridays ago, at the tail end of my birthday no less. We were leaving my parents’ place after supper at around 11.45pm. Barely out of the neighbourhood, we were cruising through a little neighbourhood intersection (with lights) when, out of absolutely no where, this white Sunbird hit us head on, on his way through the intersection. Not good.

The airbags deployed, the windscreen shattered, the car filled with the smoke of what smelled like an electrical fire under the hood. The mister shouted for me to get out fast, but my right hand was practically useless, it was that sore, and my door wouldn’t move. Panic. So he came over and got me out and we stepped away from the car and just stared at it in shock. Well, I should say, I stared in shock while the mister sprung into action. He ran over to the other guy’s car to make sure they were OK, and they were for the most part, they just seemed to be in a bit worse shape than we were.

Needless to say, we feel pretty lucky to have walked away with one fracture (my right hand) and a couple of sore necks and backs. Getting my hand tended to was a whole other story: it shouldn’t take three days, two clinics, one hospital, two x-ray technicians, and four doctors to get a cast. It just shouldn’t.

I’ll probably be back with a whole post devoted to the insurance saga.