in case anyone was wondering what the whole dead man walking thing is about i'll tell the story. mind you, i'm only posting this because i don't have very many ways of keeping in touch with my friends/family back home so i'll put this here instead of telling each of you the story individually.
last tuesday i was struck by a car crossing the street from notre dame to holy cross college. at that particular intersection it's difficult for drivers pulling out of notre dame campus to see pedestrians in the crosswalk. the light was green and the walk light was lit so i crossed, nothing unusual. but normally, i listen for the cars coming from behind me and check behind me every couple of seconds. this time however, i had my ipod on full blast and had my jacket hood up (it was snowing), so i couldn't see/hear anything coming from behind. how stupid of me.
so before i had took a step out into the crosswalk i looked and made sure there were no cars in the lane to make that particular left hand turn that drivers have so much trouble with, and there were no cars so i thought i was safe. a few seconds later, halfway through the crosswalk, i heard a loud thud and felt myself get thrown in the air. it wasn't until i was descending from mid-air that i realized what was happening, and it worried me at first. i landed on the hood of his car and slid off and landed under his front bumper flat on my ass. it was then that i waited for the car to continue rolling and crush me and that be the end of ol' James.
but nothing happened, so i thought "if this guy was going any faster i'd be dead right now." mind you, i was concious and aware throughout this entire episode, not once did i black out or lose conciousness. first thing, i got up, turned around and looked at the driver and said "dude what the fuck how can not see someone my size?" i could tell he was worried as shit but i assured him i wasn't mad or hurt. in fact i got up and started walking around just fine.
we're sitting in the middle of the road, a very busy state road in fact, so we decide to head off to the side of the road to settle this. while making my way to the side of the road ANOTHER car almost hit me, he blared his horn and i rose both middle fingers to him like "dude i just got handled by one car, yours don't mean shit to me."
so the guy who hit me asked if i wanted to call anyone, i couldn't think of anyone at the time, and it didn't occur to me to call the popo or anything. i just asked him for his plate number, cell number, OLN and name, we shook hands and i walked off.
at first i was in no pain at all, just a little shaken up and in a real WTF state of mind. i was moving, lifting my legs and arms up and wiggling making sure nothing was broken, i was fine. but as i walked back to my dorm (i actually had my dorm in sight when the car hit me, i could see the fucking finish line) i became increasingly worried that something was wrong. you hear about guys getting mad hurt but not feeling it cuz the adrenaline masks pain and blah blah, but i was calm as anything and wasn't feeling hyped or anything and still in no pain, so nothing to worry about right? but then again, i just got struck by something with the equivalant of the weight of two elephants, SOMETHING had to have been damaged. well i went to the hospital a couple of hours later and after a few x-rays they determined there was no severe damage. all i had was a contusion (subdermal bleeding, similar to a bruise) in my leg where i was hit and a pulled muscle in my neck. no broken bones, no spinal injuries, not even a twisted pube. i spent all of 20 minutes in the emergency room. as opposed to travis' 4 hours from a sledding accident 
to say the least i'm fortunate to be alive. i asked the driver if he was going fast when he hit me and he said no, he was actually on his brakes when he hit me. that explains it all actually. if he didn't hit the brakes, i wouldn't be typing this blog out right now. how lucky am i? well the initial impact was supposed to crush both of my legs. it didn't. my neck should've snapped under the weight of my head. it didn't. the car was supposed to roll over me while i was on the ground. it didn't. Brittany said i had angels watching over me. well DUHH.
i'm sure every one of you has head a near-death experience. not sure how you handled it. i've never come so close to death in my life, and yet i somehow find it hard to be freaked out about all this. i am taking it seriously, however, because i'm a firm believer in signs. i spent the rest of that night wondering what the whole episode was supposed to teach me. i think i've figured it out, but the answer i'm gonna keep to myself until the right time comes.
since that night my injuries have been fading slowly, i actually returned to work the next day. everyone said i was brave but it really sounds worse than it is. plus i'm not a vagina. so...yeah.
we make a lot of jokes about the whole incident, and sometimes i tell myself to shut the hell up and not joke about the fact that God spared my sorry ass because...because. you know that song "if tomorrow never comes"? you start taking that song seriously after something like this.
but don't worry, i'm not gonna get all sappy and reflective and preach about how precious life is, i just want everyone to be safe and stay on your toes, not for your sake, but for someone else's. 
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