(Sunday Paper, Volume I, Issue 5)

Boy do I not want to tell you about this.

I'm afraid you'll lose all respect for me and think I'm a terrible parent.

But I feel like it wouldn't be honest of me not to write about it, since it's the main thing that happened to me this week.

I mean, I told you about when I broke my phone.

So I think I have to tell you about how I broke my car.

Let's not bury the lead - I was in a car accident this week. And the kids were in the car. EVERYONE IS OK...let's make that clear.

But I feel awful about it.

I really pride myself on being a safe driver. Especially when I'm driving with the kids.

And I guess in the grand scheme of things, one accident in the hundreds of trips (maybe? Let's figure this out real quick - I've lived in Massachusetts for, let's say, 20 years, and I've had a car for I think 14 of those years...and I have no idea actually how many round-trips we've made each year...but we're looking at at least 100 times I've driven to or from New York I would say.) means I have a 99% success rate.

But that one time in a hundred sure is terrible.

I won't bore you with details. Or maybe I will. Long story short: It was in Connecticut. There were ducks (!) or geese crossing the highway. One car stopped short, a second car stopped and crashed into that car, and then I crashed into that car.

So much goes through your mind in that situation. (After you experience incredible relief that no one is hurt.) I wondered if I could have swerved and avoided the whole thing. But if I had swerved, would I have turned into a more dangerous situation? If I was driving in a different lane of traffic would I have just cruised on by? Maybe I was meant to be in this accident because I learned something that will save me from a situation in the future?

I'm kind of a believer that everything happens for a reason. I'm not sure what the reason was for this yet. Those are some of the questions I've been tossing around. (I refuse to believe the reason was I needed some big-time humbling in front of my kids. I always brag to them that I'm perfect. Harder to do that now. But I'll figure something out.) (Because I'm perfect.)

Long story short, I am sure the car is fixable. (And will end up fixed sooner than the phone.) I know I'll drive even more safely now, so maybe that's the lesson learned. (Though I was driving safely, I promise you. Just not used to going from 65 to 0 on the highway. I take pride in the fact that I was able to slow down enough that no airbags were deployed. That's not nothing, right?)

Most importantly, we're all OK. Well, the humans anyway.

We sacrificed our cars to make sure these ducks/geese could get across one side of the highway safely.

I don't think they were as successful on the other side.

Writing

*I guess I don't have much exciting writing news to tell you about this week. Just a normal week of work tracking down information about music festivals in Illinois. Did you know Smash Mouth is still a thing? Yup. They're headlining a festival there in August.

Comedy

*I know. I bet you got confused and thought the Smash Mouth thing was the comedy update. Just kidding. I really have nothing against them. I'm entering week two of this somewhat self-imposed 'comedy vacation'. ("Somewhat" only because if someone approached me today and asked me to do a show tonight, yeah, I'd do it.) But then things get busy.

I'm happy to share with you that I'll be the Comic Sit-In at The Riot Theater's Stand Up Break In show for July and August. This show was one of the first places to book me to perform, so I'm sentimentally attached to it, but it's also a fun show with a great lineup week in and week out. The show's at 9:30 every Thursday, and I'm thrilled to get the chance to have the opportunity to perform there consistently all summer long. This sit-in will also include my real birthday and my comedy birthday, so it'll be a fun time. Let me know if you want to come out to a show - just know that the last Thursday of the month is an open mic. I still plan on being there, but - trust me - you don't want to see that. (Also, the show puts together cool graphics for each show, which I look forward to seeing every week...and now I'll be on the next eight show posters. So that's cool.)

What I've Been Enjoying

*I need to tell you here about two comedy-related things. First of all, Boston comedian Sam Ike runs a great monthly show in Cambridge, and it comes up again this Friday and if you're at all interested in local government you should think about checking it out. It's called 'Town Hall: A Variety Show' (here's a link to the Facebook event), and it's a town hall-style show, featuring co-hosts Ike and Cambridge City Council member Nadeem Mazen. I went last month (just to see the show, but ended up getting some stage time, which you can see in the picture. Also, that's the venue - it's called Danger Awesome, and it's a community and events space which is also Mazen's business, if I'm not mistaken.) and I was blown away. In between acts Ike and Mazen take questions from the audience about local government and why certain things happen and, more often, why they don't. It's amazing and I feel like every town/city should do an event like this one.

*And second of all: I didn't take the entire week off from comedy. I did check out a show while I was down in New York on Thursday night. For the first time I saw Aparna Nancherla perform. She was great. She pops up all over the place in New York (I know within the past year she was added to the writing staff of Late Night With Seth Meyers and I'm pretty sure she's still there), and she's about to do a tour promoting her new album. I'm linking here to her website so you can figure out if there's a place you can go to see her. (Local folks, she'll be at Great Scott in Allston Friday and Saturday July 22nd and 23rd.) Watching someone like her perform inspires me to be better.

Notes

*For those of you scoring at home, this was the third car accident I've ever been in. There was a minor bang-up a few years ago near the Natick Mall. I was at a yield sign and the car behind me didn't yield. It was some kid driver and it was very minor. The first one was stupid. I was on Route 2 heading into the first day of meetings after school ended back in 2007, maybe? (Seems like it should have been longer ago...maybe it was 2005?) Traffic was stop and go, and I goed when I should have stopped. Similar to this week's accident, the car I bumped into had a trailer hitch, and the car had a similar dent. That was my Corolla, though, so I'm hoping the damage is less this time around. The Venza seems like a stronger car. (Have you picked up yet on the fact that I have very little car knowledge?)

*Saw the Mets on Wednesday. I was planning on writing about that but then had the worst day of my parenting life so baseball gets put on the back burner. But I do love Citi Field. And, baseball-wise, I'll say this: the Mets have been terrible lately. But they are actually picking up ground on the Nationals. It's a lot like last year when Washington just couldn't put them away and then the Mets ran away with things in August and September. So I'm hopeful things will turn around. But, again like last year, they need some more pieces because as currently constructed I don't think this team can score against the Cubs. (And I'm not crazy that the piece they added so far is Jose Reyes. I want to like the people I root for. I do not like him anymore.)

*We're going to do some birthday talking next week in this space, but I feel like I need to tell you my friend Kevin's (he's the one who created the graphics for the old version of my blog and the one who will be putting together a new Sunday Paper graphic for me soon) grandfather turned 100 on Friday. I'm so impressed by this. Even more so because if you see his grandfather you wouldn't ever guess he's a 100-year-old man. I don't think it's my place to post pictures here but I will tell you if you follow Kevin on social media you might come across a picture. And while you're at it you can follow me on Twitter @jsucich and if you haven't "Liked" my page on Facebook, please do so. Thank you very much. And I'm sorry I used a 100th birthday shoutout to promote myself. But, in conclusion, Happy 100th Birthday Kevin's Grandpa. (Follow me!)