A Bad Day, I'd Say

Today was Monday. The first day of final exams. The first day of my last week of my fall semesters at college. All of these things, in my mind, make up a good day. So - I had finished my Sales final early and was eager to get to Target.

I was hoping to pick up a 500 GB external hard drive for the boy for Christmas. It was on sale, people!

So, I get out to the parking lot into my car. And then this little guy pops up: Anybody recognize that indicator? Any takers? No??

Well, don't worry - I got out the manual. And the manual said: LOW PRESSURE. CHECK TIRES.

So I opened my glove box to get out the cute pink lunch box that holds all my car tools. Only, where was the lunch box? Ohh, that's right - in my old car. Silly me.

Hmmm.... so what's a girl to do? GENIUS IDEA!! Go out and look at the tires. Surely you'll be able to see something, right?

Well, actually - wrong. But that's neither here nor there. What I did see was that the rim (or that plastic thing covering the middle of the wheel) was cracked. As if somebody had crashed into MY TIRE for god's sake. So I got back into the car and called my dad while my teeth chattering wore off. Positive note: Weather.com said it felt like -2 Degrees Fahrenheit outside. Score. I pulled off the little plastic/metal cover thing because I didn't want it to fall off and be lost forever, cause then I'd be pissed.

So I called my dad. We chatted. He said it would probably be OK to go a SHORT distance to get more air. Unless the car was visibly bumpy or weird-driving. Which I immediately claimed it to be. "It's shaking really bad I can barely control the wheel!! Eek what do I do!?!?!" Actually, it seems as though that may have been an exaggeration. Drove totally fine.

So I drove to the local Meijer, which happened to be the closest large store. (P.S. Meijer is like Wal-Mart or another big-box store only a little less dirty.) Rushed around and picked up a tire pressure measuring thing. (Side note: SHIT!! Did I want 1-15 psi or 10-50 psi or 50-100 psi. Shit shit shit why did I not check before I left the car. Contemplated leaving the store to check the car, but hell no it was cold!!) So I got the gauge. And some other random muffin mix and other random things bought to make myself feel happy (didn't work).

Got into the car with freezing, shaking hands and got the guage ready. Looked around to find the correct pressure - 34 psi. Checked 3 tires - they were all about 31 psi. Checked the 4th, rim-less tire - 28 psi. Didn't seem like a crisis situation to me, but what the hell do I know? Called trusty dad.

He said to get to a gas station with air, STAT. Of course the first station didn't have air. NEXT. The next one did, at the cost of $1 per 3 minutes. Talk about a rip. Can you guess who didn't have any quarters to fill the meter? That'd be me.

I then filled the lowest tire. Turned on the car. No dice - the light was still on. At this point, I had all my 'emergency' gloves and hats and mittens on, but I couldn't unplug the little cap with gloves on so... my hands were PURPLE. Couldn't feel them AT ALL. I was seriously freaking out because I thought, for the first time in my life, that frostbite was an option. Filled the 2nd tire. Went to check the pressure when, LOVE OF JESUS, the gauge broke. Popped off into about 58378 pieces. Fabulous, really.

Went into the car. Blasted the heat. Called my dad sobbing. He said that it sounded like the pressure wasn't THAT emergent of a situation and that I could probably drive to Target, get the gift, and buy ANOTHER gauge and check them in the morning when I wasn't so worked up.

Then I mentioned that boo hoo my feet were freezing because I was just wearing these little flats with no socks and woe is me. And then my dad flipped his shit. Because I wasn't mature enough to be at college and because I was an idiot and didn't I ever learn anything? And I should have been prepared for an emergency and why wasn't wearing a full snowsuit with boots and I am unprepared and shouldn't be allowed to live - the end. Commence more sobbing. End conversation with slightly angry tones.

Arrive at Target. Guess what they were sold out of?? I'll give you $.25 if you guess right... the external hard drive that I drove all around creation for. Ohh, and guess what ELSE they were sold out of? Tire gauges. Seriously.

So I drove my big cart all around the store and purchased a pair of earrings and a can of shaving cream. And then a thing of Edy's ice cream in Carmel something, because I refused to pay the same price for what I really wanted - Häagen-Dazs dulce de leche. So I settled for the LARGER (like I need it) giant tub. And it did not quench the hunger. So I got Chick-fil-A.

And then I drove to Wal-Mart and bought a tire gauge, thus completing my tri-fecta of big-box store experience on this particular Monday (Meijer, Target, Wal-Mart). Bought something at each store.

The end.

Thus ends my presentation of a very bad day. Please feel free to leave sweet murmurings of sympathy at my awesome good luck.

And also, I still haven't purchased the boy a Christmas present. Hold me.