Thursday, April 30, 2009

Velocibadgergirl and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day evening


It all started when the printer ran out of ink. I knew it was coming, but it just had to happen in the middle of MB printing out his students' papers to grade. I offered to make a run to get more ink, though it was my preference that instead of spending $60 on ink for a printer that produced crappy printouts and that MB regularly bitched about, we just spend a little more and get a brand new printer. There was a discussion, which grew a bit heated. The dog was a bit worried. Finally, it was decided that I would go to Walhell and enlist BoMB's help in either picking out a new printer or finding the proper ink, depending on the price of each option.

Other than the fact that a trip to Walhell is never the best choice for a pleasant activity, things went pretty well. BoMB recommended the same model of printer that he uses at home, which rang in at a truly respectable $29.99. Upon purchasing it and leaving the store, I realized I had left my umbrella in the cart that I took back to the electronics department in case I bought a big printer, and then abandoned when I bought a small one. I sent BoMB a text asking him to retrieve my umbrella for me, but it was already gone.

I was planning to go to a birding talk at 7:30 at the local nature center. There are actually two local nature centers, one about five minutes from our house and the other in a neighboring city, about 20 minutes away. The email that I'd received seemed to indicate that the talk was at the closer nature center, following an hors d'oeuvres reception. Before leaving, I called the car dealership to see if they could tell me when the detailing on my CR-V would be finished. Turns out that even though they took down my number and said they'd call me when it was ready, they somehow neglected to call me. The car was done, but I only had until 7:45 to pick it up, and it was already 7:11. MB had just put a pizza in the oven, and my mom wasn't home, so I decided to get the car in the morning and just head to the birding talk.

By this point it was pouring down rain and I really didn't want to go back out, but I'd skipped yoga class specifically to go to the talk, and damned if I wasn't going to go. As I was getting into the car with my drippy backup umbrella and my bag, I hit my elbow so hard on the doorframe that my pinky went numb for at least a minute. Because I am a master of mature behavior and ladylike stoicism, I shouted at the top of my lungs, "This is the worst fucking day!" Oh, but I didn't even know. I drove to nature center #1, to find the parking lot ominously empty. The padlock was on the gate. I guess the talk was at nature center #2 after all, and it was now 7:28 PM. My elbow was still achy, and my pinky was still tingling. I called MB. "I missed the lecture and now it's too late to go. I AM GETTING AN ICE CREAM CONE, DAMMIT!"

As he was telling me to get a big ice cream cone for my trouble, the network dropped our call. Then the gas light came on. OMFG. I called MB back to wail some more, got $10 of gas, and went to fetch my ice cream. Miraculously, it did not land in my lap as soon as I pulled away from the drive through window, but I did somehow manage to smush it against the CD holder visor thing in MB's car as I was putting the strap of my bag over my shoulder and preparing to get out of the car. (Don't worry, hon, it was a minor smush and I cleaned it up.) I decided to hedge my bets and ate the rest of the ice cream standing over the counter in the kitchen, just in case.

Luckily, things seem to have improved since I returned home. Perhaps my bad luck only applies to stuff I try to do outside of the house? My elbow still hurts, though.


(Oh, and I think my camera died today. It happened out in the yard, so my hypothesis holds true. Goddammit.)



Reading:  It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather B. Armstrong

Playing:  The Fragile (left) by NIN

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:22 PM

    Detailing.

    Auto-detailing, AKA - 'Car Valeting'

    John :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Any day that involves a trip to Wal-Mart (I like Walhell) is a bad day in my book.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous1:33 PM

    Sorry you had such a crappy night! Serious kudos (does anyone give kudos anymore? I give kudos!) for finding a printer for $29.99, though! Unbelievable!

    ReplyDelete