hmmph. I can start a load of laundry after dinner and utterly forget about it until the next day, but I remembered randomly in the shower tonight that I had forgotten to write down the pH measurements I'd taken at the Dylark sumps today. Without a second's doubt or hesitation I recalled the measured values: 2 for the maleic tank dike and 6 for the styrene tank dike. I signed in at the Dylark control room at 3:35pm and signed out at 3:45pm. The chlorine reading was 4.75 inches, taken exactly at 11:20am, the maximum residual chlorine amount in the potable water from yesterday was 2.12ppm. I could go on and recall more pH values and outfall temperatures and describe the numerical variation of yesterday's turbidity readings, but I think my point is made. My mind is weird, and for some reason it has a great propensity for remembering certain incidental numbers (The phone number for the honor's college at Pitt is 412-624-6880) while totally forgetting important and relevant and recent things. Ugh.
God's merciful answer to fervent and frequent prayers, plus some jedi-like reflexes, saved me from a car accident this afternoon. After pushing through my second day of horrible snow/ice/rain on the parkway, with instant death/injury only a brake-tap or wheel-turn away, I was coasting up to a stoplight on a small road 10 minutes from home, my eyes watching a funky glimmering light, trying to figure out why it was glimmering. A second later I was 20 feet further, in the same lane, having just wrenched the wheel hard left and then hard right to avoid the butt of a car that had backed out of a driveway into my path.
My mind started to process what had just happened, and the huge shot of adrenaline worked its way through my blood system, crunching up my stomach, throbbing my leg muscles, and giving me a surging mental high. I marveled at the faster-than-thought action of the human body in extreme situations, and if I wouldn't have been driving I would have dropped on my knees and thanked God for answering my prayers and guiding my subconscious reflexes to perfectly respond to the situation. There is no thought in an event like that, and I am ineffably relieved that I reacted properly. Jamming on the brakes would have sent me sliding into the car. I don't remember exactly what was there--a car in the left lane, somebody turning--but turning hard left would have sent me into someone else. I just whipped one turn left, braked till I started slipping, whipped back right, and rolled along my way, wishing I'da honked at the idiot who just almost wrecked my day. Thank you Lord! Please keep watching over me!
--CA
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2 comments:
I've always thought of you as some sort of Jedi.
But me too, and Dan and Justin and Luke and Andrew and Nate and David and Wes and Matt etc...
Huh. I have no recollection of this post or the following. Strange.
I get the same adrenaline rush after medical emergencies or accidents, too. It's weird...one of my fencers collapses, and I do what I can until she revives (her heart stopped for about 15 seconds), and later on I shake and disbelieve my calmness during the event. Then I feel like I have to tell the story again and again to relive the event until I'm OK with the fact that her life seemed dependent on my actions for a bit. It's such a rush. (If I ever tell you the same medical emergency a lot, sorry! I'm trying to get over it.)
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