Keep Holding On

Officially, as of now, this blog will not just be about my trips, but about all of the wild adventures of my life.. or.. sometimes, maybe the not so wild:)

To update those of you who do not know my current status with Mercy Ships, I will(hopefully) be joining them again in January of 2011 for Gateway, then from there goto the ship for 2 year. Yes, two. Now, the reasoning is pretty simple:
1)Why not? I'm at the point in my life where there are no strings attatched to me, so why wouldn't I do this. This will not happen again probably ever.
2)It's actually CHEAPER to go for 2 years- it costs about the same as 1 year
3)I get a month off to come home, which I will more than likely use around the holidays. This is great for fundraising, but also to refuel and get myself pumped
4)I feel it's where I belong.

So, I'll be, as of now, working in the kitchen as an assistant cook and I'm hoping to build my way up the ranks.

I've realized my passion for cooking is not quite one that can be containted(thanks to Julie and Julia.. I know.. but I loved that movie), and I feel like it might be one of the best jobs for me, and certainly they're in need of people to be more consistent in the galley.

Anyway, now for the story many of you are more than likely waiting for... the car fire.




Last Thursday, I was supposed to be taking a couple of friends for a cruise in Cape Liberty New York. So me, and that couple along with my friend Ellen loaded up my Buggle(the bug's name), and took off. Not long after our stop at McDonalds, where I said we shouldn't stop because somethign bad always happens(ohhh the irony), we stopped because a member wasnt feeling so well. About 10 minutes after that, the overheating light starts blinking and beeping at me.

We decided the blinking was a warning, not a 'get out of the car now', so I called my dad. He was at work. He didn't answer. So, we kept driving. Five minutes(or so) later, I see smoke pouring out of the back, which we later concluded was coming from the front, but was pushed under the car and came out the back. I got out of the car, tried to find the hood latch, couldnt(thank God) and told everyone to get out of the car. I say Thank God becuase if I had released the latch, there was potential the fire would've been energized much more quickly, potentially exploding the car and me, just gushing up at me, or catching onto the fluid pouring out of the car leading yet again to explosion.

Once everyone was out, one of my friends saw told me the paint was coming off. Much to my horror, I looked and saw that the hood of the car was Bubbling... yes.. you read that right. So, we knew something bad was going to happen and we got all important items out of the car.

I was completely freaking out by this point, but didn't want to melt down in front of my friends, so I took a little walk. I say it was to find the number to call, but really, I just needed to have my moment. Soon, I look over and see my friends throwing lugguage out of the car, and black smoke absolutely pouring out of the front. I knew.

I knew that the car was on fire from my experience on the ship. White smoke is normally not so bad- steam or something of that sort. Black meant fire. We saw a few ships like that, and it's not what you want to see coming out of any vehicle. Soon, I see fire and it got bigger and bigger until finally the fire department came.

Thank GOd for my friends too- I'm so glad that they were as on top of it as they were beucase I didn't think to call the police until my mom was like 'CALL 911 MICHELLLE!!' haha. But, they'd already taken care of it. My lovely friends also got all of my most prized possessions, such as my ipod and some money, out of the car before it went up. Whatever was left was either burned, or had serious water damage- there was about a foot of water in my car by the end...

Anyway, I'm also thankful the car never blew up. My friends were standing so so close to it, that if it had, I dont even want to think about the nightmare it would've been.

It was all so surreal and I dealt as best as I could. I'm happy to say the insurance found that there was faulty part and we are getting over 7k back and they are filing a claim with VW to recall these cars. Apparently many models from 2000 on are catching fire, which is absolutely terrifying, and means I will not be getting another buggle(which is really kind of sad), but I am looking for a new one:)

It's a little bit overwhelming to be looking for a new car, preparing for auditions, getting ready for a NY trip to see Next to Normal(YESS!!! and hopefully I'll actually make it to NY this time), and fixing up my apartment so it's ready to go once I return full-time, but I'm alive, and for that I am so thankful.