A Day of Fail

Yesterday seemed to be a day full of Murphy's Laws, or what I like to call, FAILS. They were minimal at first and if one didn't look closely, almost unrecognizable. It started off early in the morning as I headed to my Latin class. I was day dreaming as I drove through the addition. There are many entrances/exits to our addition and for some reason unbeknownst to me, I took the wrong one. Instead of going straight down my road, I turned right. I laughed at myself after I passed the first block, "really? Idiot!" I had two options: I could find a place to turn around and drive through the addition or I could keep going and go out to the main road and have to fight through traffic. I took option A, which in all honesty, took probably the same amount of time since there is an elementary school beside our addition. It wasn't a big deal, I was just a few minutes late to class. The teacher didn't care and I still had a decent parking space.

The next fail came around 4:50pm when I was counting down the minutes to the end of my shift at 5pm. I hadn't felt well all day and I just wanted to go home and curl up with my recently acquired LOTR book. I don't know what made me think of it, but I suddenly realized that it was Friday and my shift ended at 6pm, not 5. I can't explain the level of disappointment and anger I felt toward myself. I don't really know why I thought it was 5, that's not really important. So I had to find a way to pass yet another hour. I had a few customers but they were self-sufficient so I was left to myself. I walked around, stocked a few things, and watched tv. I love TBS reruns: Everybody Loves Raymond, According to Jim, The Office, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Those are what I look forward to on Friday afternoons.

It was shortly after my work fail that I suddenly thought to myself, "oh no, did I put on deodorant this morning? I can't tell. I can't remember. Did I?" I still don't remember if I did, lol.

And now for the big one, the one that kept me at the alley for two more hours.

After mom and Jeff got there, I gathered my things, clocked out, and said my goodbyes. I settled my things in my car, strapped on my seatbelt, turned up npr and made my way down the street. I decided to go straight down the side street instead of turning off onto the main street; I like to do this because I get to look at a house that is Rent-to-Own and near the alley. I like to dream, basically. As I pass the house, I suddenly hear this massively loud thud/popping/snapping noise under my feet and it was strong enough that it made me jump and actually vibrated my feet. I thought, what the hell? I know I didn't see anything in front of me as I drove. Maybe I did run over something and it hit my undercarriage. I looked in the rearview mirror. Nothing. There was nothing in the road, anywhere, including potholes. My next thought was that maybe some of the lowlifes that live across the street had thrown something at my car. That was a stretch, but I had no idea what it was. My car still felt normal, so I kept driving for a block or two. I noticed my left wheel felt wobbly or uneven; I thought maybe my tire had popped. I decided to turn around in a parking lot and head back to the alley. As I turned, that's when the popping began again. Great. It IS my car. I make it back to the alley and run inside. I tell mom and Jeff the story and he comes outside to try to see. In the mean time, I'm texting and calling Brandin with no answer. Talk about annoying. He was at work so I could understand, but still. It was almost a half hour later before I got a hold of him.

Jeff couldn't see anything when we went outside. He texted his friend, Bill, to have him come up and look at it. He's not a trained mechanic, but he always does all of his own work and would probably be able to tell me what was going on. The problem was, he was still in Ohio, so we had to wait for him to get there. I ended up calling Andru, who then called his mom because she was with Domingo, her ex and also the "family mechanic" who does all of our work. He kept saying it sounded like a spring, but all of the things he had me look at and the "testing" he had me do, nothing acted in a way it would if the spring had broken. Finally Bill got there at the same time Brandin did, around 7:30pm. He messed with it for a long while and drove it around the block. Finally he came back and said it's either a tie rod, which had been previously mentioned (however, the wheels were fine), or a rack and pinion. One is expensive, one is not. He said he's leaning toward the rack and pinion, which is the expensive problem.

Of course. I've had nothing but bad luck with this car. It would take another entry to list all of the issues I've had with it.

We decide to take it to mom and Jeff's instead of leaving it at the alley. I took my camera and laptop out of the car after I parked it in the driveway and we headed home.

I'm not sure what's going to happen next. I have to have Andru take me to get his truck since it's at his mom's, and then I have to use it to drive to work today. Tomorrow I have the Brookside photoshoot in which I'll have to borrow Brandin's truck. I don't have a way of towing the car, so I'm not sure how to get it to Domingo. It's drivable, I just don't feel safe doing so, considering it's about 20 miles from home. Something has to be done though. We can't survive on one vehicle. We don't have the money for this, either. On top of that, Brandin has to go see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, which is going to be in the hundreds of dollars just for the visit and testing alone. He might need surgery. And he has problems with his car (I can't remember what it's called) but we're looking at $1000 plus. So now we're back to considering trading it in.

Oh, and did I mention we're both full time college students and work part time jobs that are just enough to cover our monthly bills and pay for gasoline? Yay, higher education. At least in the fall, I have a better opportunity to get another/different job and work during the week since I only have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

What a day of fail. I maintained my cool for the most part up until the car issue. Then I just wanted to cry. I still kind of do, really, lol. And to add to the fun mix, we have four big birthday parties scheduled today again, so there isn't going to be any resting or lull time at work. At least I am off at 5 today! Wait, is it 5? 6? Kidding, I know it's five. I'm counting down already and I'm not even at work.

Here's hoping the Day of Fail was unique to only yesterday.