January 6, 2006

• (Thursday, January 05, 2006)
  
  I dropped my car off at a shop last night. The guy couldn’t fix it, so I had to pick it up early this morning. The gas light was on when I dropped it off; he had put a little in it this morning for me.
  
  I left early for work – almost three hours early, in fact, to give Wal-Mart two hours to change my oil (which also needed to be done) before I had to be at work. Two miles down the road, the gas came back on and I immediately ran out of gas.
  
  One lady was outside next door smoking as I got out of the car. As soon as I start walking to the house I pulled over at, she went inside and closed both the screen door and regular door. I understood that as “I’m not interested.” Plus, I didn’t feel like approaching a lone female who might be uneasy about a stranger. I spent a long time walking up and down the road knocking on seven other doors to try to find someone with some gas (in a gas can, say, for a lawn mower). No one was home.
  
  Across the street, there was a gas can on someone’s front porch with two gallons of gas.
  
  Booya.
  
  I was laughing a little inside. I put a gallon into my car, and tried to start it. (I left them the can, and eight dollars shoved in the door.) It wouldn’t start. I was trying to get it fixed because it idles so hard that it knocks the whole car, shaking it. It takes a lot of gas to get it from idle to going. I punched the gas a couple of times, but because of the amount of gas it takes, nothing was happening – I didn’t give it enough punches.
  
  It made some bad noises as I ran out – I thought it might have just broken down instead. Anyway, I got out of the car to put the other gallon of gas in, in case I hadn’t put enough in. Done. I went back to start it again.
  
  Blast.
  
  I locked my keys and my phone in the car. My key has also broken off in the ignition, so I have to crank it with a flathead screwdriver. The habit of taking the keys from the ignition and placing them in my pocket is thrown off because they aren’t in the ignition – they’re just sitting in the cup holder, with the screwdriver.
  
  Despair has now taken over. I dropped my shoulders and hung my head (further). It’s an odd feeling…what’s happening is so ironic, and so unlucky that I’m waiting to wake up from this dream – I kind of want to laugh, I kind of want to cry, and I really just want to prop up against the car and take a nap.
  
  I went over to the lady who went inside. She wasn’t opposed to helping after all – she saw me coming and opened the door before I could knock. She smiled as if she had seen everything that had just happened. She asked if I wanted to use the phone, and I nodded. I called Emmy, and she rescued me. She laughed hysterically at my series of unfortunate events, and my desperate actions and reactions. I got some more gas from home, and it started up okay with repeated stomps on the gas pedal. I never made it to Wal-Mart.
  
  I got to work at 4 (as scheduled). We’re so backed up because of the Medicaid-Medicare shift as well as the usual early-in-the-month rush of Medicaid recipients from the poor demogrpahic of the store’s neighborhood. Everything is way behind; the daily order didn’t come; the minimum wait for prescriptions is four hours.
  
  By 5, we had to shut down the drive-thru and no longer accepted prescriptions for the night – everything would have to be tomorrow, or taken elsewhere. I supposed to get off at 9; I stayed until 11 (an hour after closing) to just catch up for today. Tomorrow is going to be much worse.
  
  But I’m off tomorrow.
  
  And going to give blood at the hospital, and to spend my Barnes and Noble gift card on the Chronicles of Narnia boxset.
  
  My grandpa has been in ICU at the hospital for almost four weeks. He had major heart surgery in the first week of December. He has required 37 pints of blood, but for every pint of blood given in his name, a pint is subtracted from his bill. Thus, 37 pints given in his name means no charge.
  
  I got The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe just before Christmas; started reading last night. When I finish it tomorrow or Saturday, I’ll go see the movie. I can’t wait to see it. Great book.
  
  en það besta sem guð hefur skapaðer nýr dagur
  the best thing God created was a new tomorrow

  • 11:20 am
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