Today I find out that my brother went to the ER on Sunday, the day I would've been over there celebrating his birthday with him had I not had a big exam to study for..
He "cracked" his neck.. on a nerve..
I don't know if it's as serious as it sounds, but to say that.. it just sounds really fucking scary..
He said he was spasming over and over, dizzy, severe headache.. And all he was doing was laying down.. and he turned his neck and it "just happened." The assumption is he must be somewhat okay now since he was able to hop online to tell me that.. but I don't know for sure..
"it was odd", he said. "i thought i was going to shake for the rest of my life for about an hour"
How fragile life is.
That really put a shake on my day. I was already miserable to start with, so it only shook me up some more.
That's a link to an article about a messy crash in Alligator Alley involving a Volkswagen and four semitrailer rigs. Traffic was stopped and piled up for a previous accident involving a Walmart truck that overturned or something like that. About 20 cars were piled up, but then comes a rig who doesn't stop, hits and just runs right over the Volkswagen.. Well, here, this explains it better than I can:
"About 15 minutes after the road block was set up, a blue semitrailer truck plowed onto the Volkswagen and crushed it, then rammed into the back of the nursery truck.
At the same time, another semirailer slammed into the back of the blue semitrailer, and both trucks caught fire. Manolo Santovenia, the driver of the nursery truck, said the last rig crashed into the blue truck, which was stopped and carrying electronic equipment.
Once rescuers arrived, it took a few minutes for them to realize the Volkswagen carrying two people was crushed beneath the cab of a burning semitrailer. Behind that truck was another semi, its cab ablaze with the driver inside."
Check it out. They've got a nice photo gallery, too.
What's scary is that I take that abandoned highway, Alligator Alley, pretty damn often.. Anytime I make the trip home and back. That was the road that my brother and I were stuck on for 4 hours in the middle of the night when he blew some piston rods.. There are no exits for 77 miles. This accident happened at Mile Marker 41. My brother and I were stuck at Mile Marker 38.5.
But.. shit.. It could happen.. The couple in the car didn't survive, of course.. crushed underneath the rig.. You think you're just heading home after the weekend.. Maybe a bit irritated at being held up in traffic, when..
*poof*
"Goodbye."
LJ