Poor, poor, pitiful me.
Waaah.
That point was driven home for me while waiting for my car to become more street-legal. I'd thought I was just there to have the oil changed - no, wait, that's not quite true. I had TOLD myself I was there for the oil change, for which my car was 1,000 miles late and a month early.
I had also told them that I had a wobble at midrange speeds and needed that to be investigated.
I already KNEW what they would find and I had done some research to find out what that was going to cost. You know, to psych myself up for the financial one-two sucker punch.
I already KNEW they would find that my tires needed to be replaced, that they had reached the end of their lifespan. That said, I knew the price tag for that would be about four hundred bucks. Oh, sure, the tires would be about sixty dollars, so you're thinking $240, plus tax, DONE.
No.
You see, there's the fee to dispose of each old tire.
There's the State Tire Impact Fee.
There's the fee for the valve stem so the tire can be inflated.
There's the fee to balance the tire before it's put on the car.
Oh, and there's the fee for the bits of metal to balance the tire.
Altogether, that's $4.00 + $1.00 + $4.99 + $7.00 + $2.99, or $19.98. Per tire.
Plus tax.
So, I KNEW I was going to buy new tires today and came prepared to do so. Mentally, at least. Thank God I have plastic to pay for it all.
I also KNEW they would find my car was out of alignment. I've known that ever since I ran over the deer.
Oh, didn't I tell you about that?
No?
Well, when I was driving from Pennsylvania to Virginia in July, I was tooling along, enjoying the blue sky and rolling highway and steady traffic flow, lah dee dah, lah dee dah. Then, as I topped a rise in the road, I saw it: a downed deer, straight in my path!!!
There was no time to maneuver around it into another lane. No time at 80 miles per hour.
So I steered the car to pass OVER it, trying to hit as little as possible. Hopin' and prayin' my car had enough clearance to pass over and not get lodged atop of the dead beast. Holding my breath and trying to levitate the car just a little bit, just enough to float over the animal...
And as quickly as I had come upon it, I'm past it. Whew! Relief!
I hadn't felt an impact from running over any part of it! Yeah!
But what was that awful smell???
Indeed. What WAS that awful smell? That smell of burned hair, burned flesh?
I had tried not to think about it, though it persisted for several days. But my car still ran, when I could get it started. So I had continued with my vacation, telling myself I would have it checked out when I returned home.
But I didn't.
Today, I found out the hook that holds the exhaust pipe in place had snagged a bit of deer hide. The hook had stayed in place, miraculously, rather than breaking off. But that hook had snugged that bit of animal flesh against that hot metal, too, releasing the horrid smell.
If you ask me, I was given a miracle that day. The entire episode could have been so much uglier.
So, back to today's events, yes?
Yes.
As I was saying, I knew today was going to cost me and was mentally ready for it and was even carrying an appropriate piece of plastic to absorb the financial hit.
At first, I'm sitting there, texting with my ex about my sorrows and commiserating with him about his. Then I finish with him and pick up the issue of "People" sitting on the table. It's a fairly bedraggled issue and is dated 24 June. Hey, at least it was for this year, right?
I was skimming through the contents, trying to find a tale or two to pass the time. Whoa... what's THAT? It was an amazing story of love from the ashes.
Literally.
Both of these people had been horribly burned.
He had been painting a church when he made near-fatal contact with a live wire, burning his face off. No exaggeration.
She had been texting while driving. Her car flipped over and burst into flames and she was trapped inside it for twenty minutes. She has no idea what the text was that had seemed more important than attention to the road.
They had met and fallen in love and were wed in March.
Incredible.
And there I've been, whining about my first-world problems, as the bfe calls them.
Waah.
That kind of story puts the world back into a better perspective, doesn't it?
So, now my tires have new bling and I'm safe to drive again.
I've had an hour-long texting session with my ex, with him starting it.
That was nice.
I've had a real-live talk with my first niece, with her starting it.
That was nice, too.
My bff checked on me this evening and had this message: "You're not broke, you're not starving, and you're not alone. Everything else is small stuff." She is SUCH a mom!
And that was very nice.
For dinner, I actually cooked something besides soup. A lot of onions, a bit of garlic, and some discounted filet mignon bought a few weeks ago and now rescued from my freezer. A bit of pasta with olive oil and some Mrs. Dash, too.
Very nice! I even used a real plate, too.
Later, I'll be joining some friends for a special Friday night edition of the improv show I now miss on Mondays. Actually, there will be TWO of the Odd Lot shows tonight, and one of them will be bLuE!!!
Tomorrow, I have a baby shower for a niece I haven't seen since her graduation from high school several years ago. She and her honey had moved to Tennessee, then to Mexico. I am very much looking forward to that!
Then more friends at movies and pool parties and dinner!
I think my pity party has been called on account of love.
