SHATTERED GLASS, INCOMPETENT POLICE DAMPEN SUMMER--BUT THERE ARE STILL REASONS TO SMILE

I'm starting to think that the old joke about my family being related to the Kennedys and thus subject to the Kennedy curse might not be so farfetched after all.

Monday, May 17 brought a car accident in the Twin Rivers Mall parking lot access road. As I made a signaled turn--for which I had the right of way--a black Toyota pick-up T-boned my front driver's side door.

The impact crushed the driver's side door in my Ford Taurus sedan and shattered the window glass, spraying it across the front seat. Though I wasn't injured, the collision was frightening nevertheless. As the force of the impact jostled me around in the car, I thought about the person who is most important to me. I remembered the things that really matter in life.

It was an epiphany of sorts.

But then, reality set in.

As the officer who soon arrived at the scene surveyed the damage, the other driver told him her version of events. He inspected her vehicle and walked with me to mine, parked a few yards away, to inspect the damage. I asked the officer if he would like to take my statement, to which he replied, "No, that’s OK."

I cooperated fully with his investigation and gave him my driver's license and registration card. After taking the information to his patrol car, the officer wrote what was presumably an accident report for approximately 20 minutes.

The officer found me to be at fault for the collision and cited me for unsafe movement. When he handed me the ticket, I respectfully asked the lawman how he could make a determination of guilt without hearing my version of events. I reminded the officer that I had offered to make a statement and he declined.

I took photographs of the scene of the collision, the damage to my vehicle and the skid mark it left. A simple glance at my skid mark showed the officer's sketch on the accident report to be erroneous.

After talking in circles with the patrol sergeant at the New Bern Police Department, the police finally dispatched an accident reconstruction crew to reinvestigate the crash days later. Though he seemed impartial, this officer ignored my irrefutable evidence--the skid mark that proved my vehicle had turned from the turn lane and had the right of way.

The original accident report stands.

Now I'm deliberating whether to fight the charge in court and if so, whether to hire an attorney. Either way, the experience will be stressful and drawn-out. No matter what, I'll be out hundreds--if not thousands--of dollars.

With my abysmal luck, it's difficult not to become cynical and flippant. In the words of columnist Mike Dewey, a fellow situational pessimist, "I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but once things spin out of your control and you're on your own against the world, I expect the worst and am seldom disappointed."

But things aren't all gloom-and-doom. Here are a few things--some major, some minor--that give me a reason to keep smiling this summer:

* My friend Kristin, who has been a constant source of comfort, inspiration and camaraderie and is the sole most important person in my life.

* My reporter intern job at the Sun Journal, which will be a career dream come true. I'll take residence in the newsroom cubicle beginning June 1.

* Seeing Hollywood flops like Van Helsing and listing the innumerable things that make these movies truly terrible.

* The music of alt-rock starlet Alanis Morissette, who released a new album May 18.

* Entering the annual Associated Collegiate Press Reporter of the Year contest...and aiming for the N.C. Press Association newswriting award.

* Finding a potential candidate for a new church--St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Havelock

The more I think about it, I've had more than my fair share of good luck as well as bad luck.

Sorry, Mr. Dewey, but I expect the best, even if experience has taught me to prepare for the worst.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.