Creepers, Scratches, and the Italian Job

Creeper. I'm in the parking lot of Giant today and all of a sudden this car pulls in behind me to block me into my spot.  I look up at the guy driving as I notice that he's trying to talk to me.

"'Scuse me.  I couldn't help but notice that dent in your car. I happen to be the best dent repair guy in town and I can repair your car if you want.  Here.  Come get one of my cards. Gimme a call and I'll have it fixed in 2 days."

Normally, this sort of thing would startle me because let's be honest...even if he were the "best dent repair guy in town " his approach was totally creepy. I mean who blocks a girl into her spot in a parking lot and asks her to approach his car without sounding a little sketchy? But, unfortunately this isn't the first time it's happened.  It's actually the 5th.  Not sure if they're hurting for business and drive around all day trying to find people who need dents repaired, but whatever their excuse they need a new approach.

That being said, I do have to thank this random stranger because despite all his creepiness he reminded me of my old car and the wonderful memories of driving around in it.

Nope. Not that one.

This one:

If you look closely you can see that scratch on my Mini (I'm sure Mister "dent repair guy" could have fixed this scratch as well).  Most people don't actually want a scratch on their car, but you'd be surprised how long it took me to part with that scratch and get it fixed.  I needed to save money to pay for it as I'm pretty sure my insurance wouldn't cover the repairs, but also it brought back memories of one of my favorite nights.

It was about 2:00 a.m. during Summer 2006 and we had just finished watching The Italian Job. Yes, you can probably see where this story is leading.  Anyway, one of us had this grand idea that we should take the Mini out for some Italian job-esque adventures.  I don't really make the smartest decisions when I'm tired so I figured, why not?  What's the worst that can happen? It's not like I was going to drive it off a building or anything and expect to land it. Upon much debate as to where this should all take place, we finally decided on a location: the circular WALKWAY not ROAD leading from the sports arena to the parking lot of our school. Here is the best picture I have of it:

We all pile into the car and I drive to the selected location only to find a cop car parked directly in front of the entrance to the walkway.  OBVIOUSLY I wasn't going to do my stunt in front of him.  After driving around for an hour and deliberating whether or not to just go home I finally notice that the cop is gone. His car is still there, but he's not.

And that's when all the adrenaline kicked in and for some reason I jumped the curb and decided to go for it.  Only...as I'm about to go down I slam on the breaks.  What if my car doesn't fit?  I clearly hadn't thought this through.  So...in a moment of genius I decide to measure the walkway and my car just to make sure (all the while hoping the cop doesn't return).  Well, like a lot of people, I don't carry a ruler or measuring tape in my car so I figured I'd have to measure the old fashioned way- using the length of my arms- fingertip to fingertip.

Success! I walked all the way up and down the walkway and not a problem- my car was definitely going to fit.

So...I take off again.  This time I'm committed as I'm already halfway down.  And that's when all at once everything hits me simultaneously. As I hear the scraping of my car I instantly realized the one thing I didn't factor in (mostly because it was 3:00 a.m. by now) - PHYSICS.  Yep, clearly if I turn my car around the turns the back half of it is going to swing out increasing the distance needed to clear the turns of the walkway- a distance not calculated by my arm measurement. To prevent further damage, I slam on the breaks again.

At this point, I am stuck in the middle of the circular walkway realizing I have 2 options.

Option #1 attempt to reverse up the walkway before having to go around any more turns.

Option #2 continue to go around until I reach the bottom.

Option #2 won and thankfully the rest of the turns were either wider, or somehow I miraculously fit without any further damage to the car other than the one scratch.

The morning after my little adventure I was supposed to drive home to visit my family and that's when it hit me just how irresponsible and foolish I'd been. I did NOT want them to see the car.  I mean obviously I was going to pay to get it fixed, but they'd still probably be ticked by my poor judgment.  I figured I'd try to go as long as I could without them finding out and that's when I made mistake #2- I called my brother and sister to tell them what happened and get their advice on what to do. 

Upon seeing the chance to jab his little sister my brother immediately calls my mom and dad to tell them the whole story. To my pleasant surprise here were their responses:

Dad: "Well (long pause to think) I can't say I'm proud of her because I'm her Father and I have to set the example...BUT...in some ways I actually am because it's so out of character for her.  I just hope she has fun paying to get it fixed."

Mom:  "Did she get pictures or a video of it? Cause if not, then I'll be mad."

Well...I didn't video tape it OR get pictures...and eventually the Mini got fixed and sold, but the excitement of that night will always be remembered.