Death From Above

A strange thing happened yesterday while I was driving my family to my best friends house. We had gone to a mall so that I could look at some shoes and were on our way to a birthday party for Tom's daughter. Not just any birthday mind you, it was her sweet sixteen birthday. As I was rushing East on Highway 44 in Tulsa to make it on time (we didn't) a bird came flying in at an odd angle and dive bombed us, smacking into the left side of the grill. I saw it happening and tried to avoid it but when you're in the left hand lane going at least sixty miles an hour there isn't much you can do.

We took the extremely loud hit from this kamikaze bird and kept driving hoping that no serious damage had been done. To our car I mean because there is no way a bird could survive a hit at that speed. It was also impossible to pull over and look for the bird either, the traffic was way too heavy to even think about it. What's sad is if the bird had been about two miles further up the road it never would have happened. That was where traffic ground to a halt and then slowly moved forward for several miles. Why? Because there had been a minor accident but both cars were pulled off of the road and a police car was sitting next to them so every car felt the need to slow down to five miles an hour in order to see what had happened. Rubbernecking at it's best.

Still that's not as bad as what happened to me once in Maryland. My roommates and I were on our way home from work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. and suddenly traffic slowed to a standstill all because a car had broken down and was pushed off to the side of the road. There wasn't even anybody in the car or around it. Pretty sad if you ask me. I don't know why people want so badly to know what has happened even when it's clear that absolutely nothing has happened.

Anyway, we got to the party and our car was okay. It went well and I was able to discuss a few things with a few people, get some information about some things I need to do (more on that intentionally vague topic later) and then Tom's band showed up so that they could practice. This time though Shane brought out a singer to jam with them. A female singer. Now don't get me wrong, there isn't anything wrong with female singers, I just wasn't so sure how their music would sound with a female singer. It's very loud and can be quite aggressive. After hearing them jam on a Led Zep song I can attest that this female singer can sing very well. Just as they were trying to improvise on a new Clutch song I had to leave to go to work (just got back) so perhaps I'll get another chance to hear her doing Alloy songs. If only they had been able to record something.

Ah well, that's how life goes. One minute you're speeding down the road and the next you're colliding with a maniacal bird that has bad radar. Then you're off to a birthday party followed by some heavy metalish music. What can you do? Just keep your head down and try to move forward. Persevere. Advance. Keep trying. That's all I got tonight, I'm tired and ready for bed. It's time for my brain to shut down (too late). Until next time.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.