Gay Gasp - New York: January 2013

Well it has been a while since I wrote my last true automobile short story! I know child, but I was busy during the holidays plus trying to get things sorted for the new year. Now I am super busy with work, learning new computer programs, fixing my portfolio, and studying again for the ARE (Architect Registration Examination). Uggh, but I am in it to win it fer sures! So I am trying to keep this going too! Which brings me to this story. I will have to say a couple of things though, probably as a preface to explain my awesome scholarly choices.

When I was right out of high school during the mid 90's, I really got into listening to house music and started going to all night raves. Like duh for those who know me... I had graduated high school a semester early (there was a time when I was an overachiever, haha!) and moved up to Denver. So during this time, I was all about going to these parties, dancing all night long, and then sometimes having to go straight to work. It went like this; Every Friday, I would go to a Fab Friday party, dance all night, then go home, sleep a couple of hours maybe, then go to work if I was scheduled, then get ready, then go to a rave Saturday night, dance all night, then go home, most likely not sleep, and then go to work. I would finally sleep Sunday night and then basically be good from Monday - Thursday... This went on for about 5 months before heading off to my freshman year in college.. Call me cray, I know for real. And then to take it further cheyeld, starting college with an Architecture major also meant a lot of staying up all hours of the night, actually many sleepless nights working on projects to make the deadlines! Oof! So when I started college, a few semesters in the beginning of my college career got a little out of hand where these two worlds of academia and all night raving were starting to collide with eachother!!. For example, there was this one semester when I thought it was such a great idea to take a 6 credit hour Studio and a 3 hour AutoCAD class over the summer. It went like this.. We would have a deadline for our work due every Monday for critique, So basically I would be in the studio working on models and drawings all week up til Friday night, then sleep, then go back to the studio to work more, then get ready for Saturday night's party, dance all night, then head back to the studio to work all Sunday night for Monday's critique.. And then child, I would head to my other class that day and would finally head home and sleep Monday night. And I did this for 3 months.. Anyways, needless to say, I somewhat became a night owl and sometimes when the sun would come up, I would have a hard time trying to go to sleep. Hmmm well, staying up all night and then going through the next day without sleep caught up with me a few times, and here is one of them. Hoagh!

Oh yeah!!! Back to the story...Picture this, it was the beginning of Summer of 1998 in Denver CO, and I had just finished my spring semester of college. I was going to be on a couple of weeks of break, and then I was going to start taking that Studio class that I mentioned previously...mmmmmhmmmmm... So I was all about letting my hair down and wasn't about to miss any gathering or party adventure! So one Friday night, I got into my black 1987 Nissan Pulsar, and headed over to a friends house to have a couple of drinks... While listening to records there , my homegirl Melissa and my home boy Josh convinced me that since we were on the list, we needed to hit this party up in Boulder at a friend's club, and I was of course "Let's Roll on up there then bitches!". So we got into my car and cruised up to Boulder, thinking to myself that it was going to be a fun early night, no big deal.. Yeah right, we had so much fun that we ended up shutting the place down, and meeting new peeps who invited us to an after party in Broomfield, which is a small suburban area on the way back to Denver... Anyways, we went and partied even more, while our friends took turns playing records. I actually met one of my homies for the first time too, who complimented me on my vintage motorcycle photograph tank top btw... (Yes cheyeld, I still have that tank top!) So we finally left and headed back to Denver at like 10:00 am! I know, CRACKACITA!!! RAVEACITA!! Luckily we were fine and it was a smooth ride home, with the t-tops off the roof and the latest Vitamin D promotional tape blasting on the stereo! (Shout out to Vitamin D for sure! haha). I drop my friends off and head home to shower and sleep, since I didn't have to work that day..

Oh yeah, so I lay down and maybe doze off for a few minutes here and there to realize that I am basically not going to be able to sleep til way later. Hmmmm. So I get up and head into the living room to hang out and talk to one of my roommates, Robbie. We start chit chatting and then it hits me that today is one of my best friend's birthday and homegirl is having an outdoor party back up in Boulder! So I decide that we should go to the party since I wouldn't want to miss it and had already said that I would be there.. I know! We get ready, get into my car (You know, that awesome 1987 black Nissan Pulsar I mentioned earlier) and head on back on up there. We meet at my friends house to round up the troops, put the keg in the trunk, and then head to a park in north Boulder. T'was a lot of fun hanging out with my peeps, but I of course someone thought it was a great idea to do Tequila shots and I wonder whose idea that could have been?! Anyways, I started going down fast after that, which led to me walking over to my car to take a disco nap, while everyone else partied on.

So my homeboy Robbie wakes me up a while later saying he's ready to head back and that since I am in no shape to drive, he will drive my car, which I was truly grateful for at the moment. So what do I do you ask!? My ass passes back out as we drive away from the park. A few minutes go by, according to what happens next, and I am woken up by a loud smack! I open my eyes and see the hood of my car folded up towards me. Basically, we were driving up a hill in a residential neighborhood and when we got up to a curve that veered left, a car came toward us out of the blind spot from the curve which caused my friend to swerve out of the way, overcorrect, and crash into a tree that caused my car to be sandwiched between the tree we hit and the one behind the car. And guess what was beyond that tree you ask? A cliff with a 30'-40' drop off! S C A R Y! This is where it gets cray! There were people outside in their front yard down the street who witnessed the whole thing, so of course the cops and emergency services were called right away. Luckily we weren't hurt or anything, but Robbie decides to tell me in that instant, "Tony, I have to leave right now because I have two warrants for my arrest!" So homeboy takes off down the cliff, runs to the party at the park, tells the people what happens, and then continues on into the sunset! Meanwhile, the police show up and here I am a mess. They start to bust out the handcuffs when luckily those people, witnesses, (Can I get a witness? That's for Brady) told the police that I wasn't driving and that the person who was took off. So they started asking all kinds of questions. I basically told them this awesome lie that I was at a party, and this kid who was there that I knew mostly as an aquaintance, needed a ride to Denver and that I told him it would be no problem as long as he drove us back so I could drink! Totally believable right?

Anyways! I get my car towed, the police drop me off at the downtown Boulder bus station, and I head back to Denver on the bus, barefoot!!! I forgot to mention, chiolds, that while I was staggering and getting out of my wrecked car, I lost my flip flops that I was wearing down the cliff! Ay ay ay.. Needless to say, I made it home in one piece thankfully. Eeeee, talk about craziness. Oh also I need to mention that a week before this, I took my car to the shop because of an exhaust problem, and the mechanic did a compression test on the cylinders which to the discovery was the fact that I was going to need a rebuilt engine, so the car was going to be on it's way out within a matter of time anyway, but I didn't know it would be with a bang!

So I always end these lovely short stories with a moral of the story, but this one definitley has so many, that I have to improvise and give you only a few to choose from.. So here are your choices.

A. Don't let your friends convince you to go to an afterparty after being up all night.

B. Don't go to an after after party in another city without sleeping.

C. Don't drink tequila shots at a party when you know damn well that you have to drive to another city to get back home.

D. Don't let a friend or criminal who has a warrant drive your car.

E. Don't wear flip flops in case your in a car accident with a tree.

Here are some pics of my car for your visual needs too......