Reality intervenes...

[jay]

Church was hard this morning... trying not to cry, especially given that I couldn't even explain the reasons. Lack of focus...

Then, driving home in the Mustang, with David and Kevin, I accelerated from a stoplight at El Camino on to the start of 237. I floored it, as usual...

The pedal jammed. Stuck all the way down. Kids in the car.

Kicking it didn't work. The five-liter V-8 was revving at its peak power point, and we hit 80, still accelerating. Lateral nudges with one foot while stomping the (just replaced) brakes finally dislodged it as we hit 90.

Driving home, I tried it twice more, and it stuck again briefly. So I need to get the linkages adjusted. I shudder to think of how it would have gone if I hadn't serviced the brakes yesterday -- previously, I had almost no front brakes, metal-on-metal. Whew.

Strangely, I felt better when I got home. Whether due to dealing with an emergency (taking charge and positively influencing *some* outcome, at least) or just the adrenaline...

Comments

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

Feeling like you're in control of something -- anything -- helps when life is tough. What you've said: the small victories count.
The not-so-small victories count, too. Saving you and your children from destruction is a pretty sizable victory.

It would probably help not only to get the linkages adjusted, but to find other things you could do that give you a sense of well-being and accomplishment. It doesn't have to be a 'save the day' sort of thing or firefighting at work. It can be building something or making a change for the better. Any of a number of things.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness for work, where I am in control of various things and projects. At home I often feel powerless or constrained. Socially, I feel powerless, mostly unwanted and highly constrained. At work, I'm free to gamble and take risks and win and lose and it doesn't matter because I can walk away from it at the end of the day. And higher-ups compete with each other for a share of my time, because I succeed more often than I fail, sometimes hugely.

You've used accomplishments there yourself, in a positive fashion.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeow, scary! I'm glad you got it unstuck.

I know the feeling of influencing anything for the positive as a mood lifter. Some days, the best I can do is take out the trash -- it really is the best I can do that day. I still feel better if I do it. :-/

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Even trash or laundry...

Gardening and home improvement have helped me in the past, especially before I had any friends (say, ten years ago).

Re: eep!

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Glad you got it unstuck. That would have been very scary indeed.

(hugs) Hope you are feeling better.

Re: eep!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Things are better now...

[laurelt.livejournal.com]

Would have been very scary?

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(grin) well, I handled it OK.

Not that it matters now...

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

But in that situation, putting the car in neutral and switching the engine off works (used to drive a Chrysler New Yorker with an accelerator that would stick)... assuming you don't have power steering and breaks of course.

Re: Not that it matters now...

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

That's useful, thanks... although it does have power steering, I can still wrestle it unpowered in an emergency.