I won over 500 dollars this weekend but almost broke my neck!

While my poker play at Morongo Casino this weekend was facinating and I learned a lot on what adjustments to make to my game against a table full of mostly fish, the more awful thing is I could have died this Saturday night. Here's how it happen:

On the way to Morongo Casino, Randy and I were sitting in Steve's new (1 week old) car. He was driving a bit recklessly, although he did get us there in record speed. Steve weaved in and out of lanes at up to 100mph+. Randy and I were scared shitless most of the time because Steve rarely checks his blind spot. I saved us from dying at least 3 times because I check his blind spot ahead of time, weaving my head from side to side at speeds you cannot imagine then quickly warning him about the car he's about to ram at 100+ mph. Adrenaline, fear of losing my life, and the thrill of gambling can be quite motivating!

You'd think that's how I almost break my neck and get killed right? WRONG! At Morongo, I did quite well at first, I worked my stack up to about $400 from a $100 buy-in. Then lost 200 of it back before we left. (1.Trips to full house, 2.JJ to KK)

I'm up $100. We are heading back and Steve is driving just as recklessly before. This time I'm tired and I'm not weaving my head in and out. We're driving further and further away from the fish at Morongo Casino. Randy makes a foreboding comment, and says that he's too scared of Steve's driving so he's just going to sleep and hope that we get back safely. Basically, he threw all the responsibility on MY shoulders since Steve sure as hell wasn't demonstrating any of that responsibility.

I remember Steve changing 2 lanes over from the 3rd lane to the far left lane. Once we were "safely" and completely into the far left lane, he starts swerving. Steve announced, "It's cool, I got it! I got it under control!" Instantly, from past experience, I knew that he wasn't going to regain control of the car. At this point, I think, I knew this was going to happen. Then I think, I hope we don't die. I was thinking about the odds of surviving. I thought, we were going at fast freeway speeds of what I conjecture was about 80mph, he was swerving, and we're going to hit something and the odds of surviving are low. He bumps into the car directly to our right, but that car isn't heading into a spin. I factor in the fact that I have a seat belt on, unconsciously I grasp at my seat belt and end up grabbing my glasses hanging on my shirt as if I was trying to make sure the glasses survived the crash so it could tell the story of how I died. The swerving lasts maybe 5 seconds more and we hit the guard rail on the left and begin turning over. My lasts thoughts were actually quite lame - "What a horrible waste of my life if I just died right now."

I think I was on the verge of thinking of all the important stuff I would do if I survived or see the white tunnel, but luckily I didn't make it to the latter. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the former either so I don't have any extra insight on life other than the typical cliches you hear in the movies or read in old white men's autobiographies.

The car finally after maybe 3 turns (I think), slams onto the road on its side. I climb out of the top window of the car which has been completely shattered. There's glass all over the car and the freeway, and I'm still grasping at my glasses. I hear Steve slammer, "Is everyone alright?!" Randy says, "Yeah." Then I'm out of the car safely. I'm stumbling a bit and a bit disoriented. I see a bunch of other cars stopping and watching the accident and one lady on her cell phone calling the cops no doubt. I turn around to see them both coming out of a car leaking gasoline that was completely totaled.

Steve comes out and angrily says, "That motherfucker tapped my bumper. Where the fuck is he!?" He's stretching his head as if trying to look over the totaled car to find the asshole who tapped the rear right side of his car and sent us into a near death tumble. Unfortunately, I don't think he found the other car that basically did a hit and run. He was bleeding all over the place with gumps of blood rolling down his left arm, and walking around like some frantic ant that was trying to avoid being squashed by a big man's big shoe.

After the initial shock wore off, I felt incredible soreness in my neck. A police car arrives. The ambulance arrives. We explain what happens as they copy down our driver's license and asks us more identifying information. They then put all of us into a body board and strap us into this clumsy neck restraint. I felt like an insane person on the way to an insane asylum. The worse part of this car accident is that I didn't even make it to the part where my life flashes before my eyes and I gain sudden and incontrovertible feelings about the meaning of life!


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I'm okay, but my neck is still very sore.

(I do feel life is quite a bit more fragile and perhaps random then before. How awful and meaningless would it be just to die in a car accident. And I also find everything so much more humorous... at the hospital, everything was so funny. I don't know if I should be depressed and sad that I almost died but got lucky and survived w/ no fatal injuries or living life fuller and happier than before.)

(Note: I believe him about that fact that someone tapped the back of his bumper though I don't remember it happening. I do remember that same car pulling nearly up to his on the right and ended up getting side bumped by us while we were swerving. Piecing together what I remember about this, it makes sense that we were bumped on the back slightly. Steve also says that he was driving at about 65 mph to the cop, but I'm almost certain that's not true. I certainly know this is not true, but I told him I didn't know the EXACT speed he was driving, which means that I gave him a partial truth. I just didn't know if it was 78mph, 80mph, 81mph, 87mph, or 90mph and so on. I am pretty certain it was approx. 80mph+. He does call me the next day to tell me that if anybody calls me to say that he drove at 65mph. Since he did this, it made even more sense that he was driving faster than he claims. )

The next day, I had an appointment with my uncle to go to Morongo Casino. My uncle is the exact opposite of Steve. He never weaves in and out of lanes and always drives too slow. There's always a dozen cars passing us and he always seems to be behind some slow as big rig. I usually hate his slow driving, but this time... THANK GOODNESS. I slept like a baby on the way there, won $500+ at Morongo, and slept like a baby on the way back.