miscellanous adventures

i am home. and it was an adventure or something:

i packed speedyquick and i left only half an hour after i was supposed to be gone. that might be a record. but my battery light was on and so i stopped to get it checked.
because boys work at autostores i pulled out my trusty 'im a girl and i know nothing at all about cars' look which works, of course, and so they helped me figure out what was wrong--it was my alternator. so i got a new one and they called a guy to come put it in. so i went to the bank a block over and i drove cause the carguys thought it would make it and because i didnt want to walk cause it was dark already and i was on the other side of town, you know. and so then i got to the bank and it broke right when i was at the atm and there were 6 people behind me. so a sweet punkish guy [who had a poodle] helped me push it out of the way.
i walked back and waited for the mechanic guy. i walked around the autostore forever and that was boring. and i talked to the car guy who was 21 and was going to be an engineer when he grew up. i made him promise to call the police if i didnt come back. and i bought a pocket knife.
so then terry the mechanic came. he is...scruffy. and chubby. and country. and smoked 4 ciggarettes [i cant spell that] in 45 minutes. and i walk out and say hello and tell him my car is at the bank and he gets all worried about his car not being clean enough for me to sit in and so he cleans it up and helps me into the car and shuts the door for me. then we go over to the bank and he fixes my car and tells me all about things like: how to fix cars, how to legally avoid paying taxes, the male mindset when it comes to working, what i should do when i grow up, how to start a successful home business, how to determine where you will live when you grow up, and how to do all kinds of other things, i cant even remember. he talked a lot, but limited his cussing [saying only d***, S*** and h*** instead of every single bad word ever] because i was a girl. he was very amusing, and a good mechanic. and i didnt even need my pocked knife and im not kidnapped.

so then i leave for home and drive all night and everyone is all anxious and stuff and i keep getting lost, cause i have never been without directions before. and i was listening to Tom Jones on tape, and it was halirious, but i had no idea what was going on in that book, cause i didnt feel like rewinding the stupid tape so i missed the beginning. and i never found a krispy kreme on the way home :( which is of course the only thing i wanted to eat
and i was sooo sleepy at 1130 but at 230 i was very awake.
and then i finally get home at 5 in the morning and i went to sleep.
so i am home. and i voted today. and i got to wear the sticker on my shirt. it was my first presidential election to vote in, so it was extra exciting. hurrah. the lady asked me if i knew how to fill in the ballot and i said "um. fill in the circles completely?' and i got it wrong. we have arrows. of course. but i think i could have figured it out without her 4 minutes of instruction that followed my wrong answer. i should have told her to stop forcing her beliefs about how to fill out the ballot on me, cause that was discrimination or something.
and i survived the 'tornados'.
and i felt like a really real author for the very first time this week. we were sitting around this table in class and these people were discussing all these authorial things about my work. it was crazy. apparently i [at least usually] have a 'style' :O it was really crazy.
its very autumn here. its good. im glad to be home. home is a nice word.
i need to read more. and be less stupid. and less selfish. and bake more. and write more. and be kind more. and pray more. and be less stubborn about stupid stuff.
maybe i need to start keeping a list for those things.
[im doing all my laundry that ive been saving up at school. i love the smell of clean laundry. but i could live without having to do the laundry to get the smell.]
phrase of the week / year / restofmy life: 'i suck. i need Jesus.'

Posted 10/21/2004 10:57 PM