Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

Yesterday SUCKED! Busy/crazy/crappy day at work all day long. Around 3pm I'm washing my hands in the restroom, look in the mirror and see a huge flake of skin in my HAIR!!!! WTF!? I'm horrified and immediately think "LEPROSY!". No, just calm down…oh yeah, my sunburned scalp is peeling. Niiiiiccce. Next, one of the delivery dudes comes in and we start to chat about weekend plans. I tell him about Padre and he's all "Hey, I saw your car-you shouldn't go that far on your bent rim." Sighhhh.......

Remember how happy I was b/c I was finally getting a good handle on my debt? Remember how I projected that something would probably come up, but I had to ride out the contentment while it lasted? It lasted about 5 days. Two or so weeks ago I got a flat while driving to work. The car guys stated I needed new tires and two new wheels b/c two of mine are bent. One is REALLY bent, I just never noticed it. Anyway…how much do tires cost? Well, let me tell you…the car takes Pirelli tires. Just get cheaper ones, right?! Mom says she had tried that once and the size was off so the tires rubbed, it was a bumpy ride, plus they wore out much faster. So I'm getting Pirellis (I have NEVER owned designer clothes but my freakin' car needs designer tires.) These tires are $200 a piece. I need 4. The wheels for my car are $378 a piece-new. Just call a bunch of junkyards, right? Can't find mine. They're 17 inch, 17 spoke Tethys wheels. Austin, San Antonio, AND Corpus Christi cannot locate a used one. ONE, much less two. I'm driving about 21/2 hours to the beach in about 8 hours. On 2 bent rims. With two new tires (that's what I can afford so far) and two hope-they're-OK tires. In Memorial Day traffic. In the rain.

Ok, and this is the spoiled brat in me which thinks that yes, my Mom gave me the car but I just spent about $500 on wheels/rims on my old car right before she asked if I'd be willing to give my car to my cousin Ayla and take her car instead. Being an interim administrator, Mom has been driving that car all over the south central parts of Texas. I've had it for 5 months and now I'm paying for tires AGAIN! I wish they'd at least half it with me, but I don't want to say anything. My car, my tires, my responsibility. I guess I'll just have to start selling MY ass on street corners to get the funds. OR, what will likely happen, I'll have to charge $1,500 to get all this crap done, which is a little less than the amount I had just busted my ass at the IRS to pay off.

So all this is going around in my head as I drive home after work. It feels like "A Raisin in the Sun". Just when things look a little better, some shit has to knock you down. I arrive home and am trying to get inside of my house and, as usual, I'm having to say "No kitty, you can't come inside! You live OUTside!" and blocking the door w/my foot, while still trying to usher in my skittish poodle. I was focusing on the key in the door when I suddenly felt a sharp, needle-like pain in my right baby toe. THE CAT BIT ME! WTF!? I feed her, I pet her (sometimes), I let her come inside when it's raining, I've given her a blanket and food on my upstairs patio- just in case she gets freaked out by the coyotes, and THIS is what she does? I was shocked (and appalled)! I involuntarily screeched (I'm not used to being bitten by 4 legged animals!), scared the cat away, and hastily retreated into my home. My sanctuary.

Once I was home, things got better. I cracked open a beer and started to pack for the weekend while listening to Beastie Boys, Vandals, Modest Mouse (Float On patched my soul last night), and other various "Fuck it" kind of songs. Three beers later I'm done packing and on to making CDs for my trip today, singing at the top of my lungs and dancing around like an idiot. So let me recant my previous post when I say that faux, beer-induced, hazy happiness is the way to go! I shall experiment further with my colleague Jana this weekend. I'm sure a publishing of our findings will be forthcoming.