crash

so...i got into my first real car accident today. i was driving through an intersection with a green light (one that had been green for a while), when this car comes out of nowhere (ran the red, and going at a good speed) and takes the front bumper off of my car. i was able to continue to drive and park on the side, but their car did a 180 degree spin and hit a parked car. unfortunately, the driver didn't have a license, was driving his sister's car, and they didn't have insurance. also unfortunate was that the police refused to come (despite our calling a number of times), the driver and his passenger didn't speak english, seemed to be a bit out of it, if you know what i mean...and this lady drives up about 15 minutes after the accident, yells something to the driver from her car (all i caught was "verde" and "rojo"), then parks, gets out, and proceeds to loudly insist that the light was green for them. i dunno where she came from or why she was lying, but we had other "witnesses" that confirmed our story at the scene, but didn't want to give us their contact information (hey, we were in downtown la). there were also two security guards that came by and interpreted for us, though they seemed to favor the other guys...

a number of things to be thankful about:
- no injuries! my shoulders and neck are a little bit sore, but i think it's just 'cuz i got tense...
- my bumper sustained most of the damage - i didn't even realize that it wasn't attached to my car until i got out of my car and saw it lying (pitifully) in the middle of the intersection. there's a leetle bit of damage to my hood and one of the front headlights, but i don't think there was any damage to the engine...i was able to drive it to my dad's church, which was pretty close by. it seemed to drive ok, but i didn't feel comfortable driving it home...
- it was after church, and esther and elaine and i were headed to grab a quick bite...so they were right behind me, and saw everything. i was a bit dazed, so they helped me out big time...elaine took pictures with her camera phone, esther dealt with the lying witnesses, and both of them made sure i did what i had to do and provided awesome emotional support.
- all in all, it coulda been a lot, lot worse.

sigh.