24. juuli 2006
Yay for roadside service contracts
Yesterday was...complicated.
Eshtan A. is back from India for a couple of months before she returns to continue teaching music at a school there, so she threw a welcome-me-back-and-see-pictures-and-say-goodbye-for-two-years party. Rachel and I both wanted to go, and Eshtan's house is five minutes from my church, but the party didn't start until 2:30. So the plan was for Rachel to go to church with me (it's 30 miles away from where we both live) and then we'd eat a picnic lunch that I packed and hang out and play Squabble until time to go over to Eshtan's.
Simple, except for that when we went to get our lunch from my car, we realized that I'd left it sitting in the parking lot at my apartment. So we had to go to Wal-Mart, which is between my church and Eshtan's house, and get some chicken fingers and canned Mexican nectars. It was pretty hot in my car and so after we ate we went into Goody's and the Dollar Store to cool off and waste an hour before we could legitimately go early to the party.
Dollar stores are great places to amuse one's self, by the way. I found a blister-pack of fake fingernails in a gaudy coral color, nail glue not included, that sold under the off-brand name SPLURGE. I laughed and laughed.
Upon returning to my car we found, to my dismay, that I had locked my keys inside. I've never done that before. Fortunately I have a roadside assistance agreement with Honda (even though my car is a Ford...yeah, nevermind) and I had my cell phone on me and the emergency decal in my window. Huzzah! So they sent a guy to come jimmy the lock and let me back in. The nice lady on the phone told me he'd be there within an hour.
So we went into the only other store on the Wal-Mart strip, which was a Cato clothing place, because it was broiling hot outside and my Squabble tiles were also locked in the car. We tried on every piece of clothing while we waited, and while I was in the hallway of the dressing area showing Rachel what a hilariously bad idea this one particular pair of pants was, I managed to lock myself out of my dressing room. Vetoing Rachel's idea to call the locksmith back and arrange for him to meet us there first, I wriggled underneath the door back inside, because there was no way I was going back into the store to find a saleslady while wearing those pants. Not that not-wearing them would've been better at that point, but...
At Eshtan's house finally, an hour later, it took me about five minutes to work up the courage to completely shut the bathroom door.
