Flippy - I Rant, You Read
Saturday, December 18, 2010
What’s Worse Than Waking Up With a Black Eye?
Waking up with a flat tire. And, a forecast of rain all week. Oh, and running out of toilet paper. The black eye was a surprise because I tripped over the cords next to the bed a week or so ago and hit my head on the little mobile desk where I put my laptop, my iPod, and my new little Dell Axim PDA (that doesn’t work as a PDA - all its functions are shut off, except for the clinical trial diary that only allows me to click yes or no and send), so I figured the black eye wouldn’t show up. It’s funny, because I always worry about one of the dogs tripping on the cords and yanking my laptop off the desk and breaking it. Instead, I did it, but because I was so worried about not tripping and falling on the dogs or breaking my laptop, my forehead took the biggest blow. Better me than the laptop. When I woke up this morning, my eye was red and swollen halfway shut. I thought it was allergies or pink eye or something, but the swelling went down right away, but my eyelid stayed purple. It was like magenta eyeshadow. My forehead has a nice little lump, but it was so far above my eye that I had no idea that I’d get a black eye from it. Er, a purple eye. My forehead doesn’t even really hurt much anymore - I figured a black eye would show up when the original injury still hurt.
The tire that I had to fill up a week or two ago in the freezing freezing night air apparently decided that it had had enough. It just went completely flat. I got to figure out how to get the teeny spare out from under the car, get the jack out of its cute little hiding place, then use up all the energy and strength I had to get the lug nuts off the flat. It’s time they invented a better way of putting a tire on a car. I was just barely strong enough to get the lug nuts off, and if they’d been even a tiny smidgen tighter, I would’ve had to ask one of the manly neighbors for help. I shouldn’t have to ask for help when changing a tire. There should be some little lock that when undone, makes the lug nuts fly off the wheel. Okay, not fly off, but come off easily. I’m going to be sore for at least a week from just changing one tire, and it’s just a temporary fix since it’s one of those crappy little half tires. Fun. Oh yeah, and I had to rush to change the tire in between bursts of rain. I miss my AAA membership. I miss having decent tires more though, I guess.
The silver lining in all this is…at least I have my pain meds back, so my tire changing pain will be kept to a dull roar. No, wait, the silver lining was that I was able to change the tire without any help from anyone. Sure, I’m going to pay for it physically, but psychologically, it was nice to be able to do it. I think I’ve only changed (or attempted to change) one tire before and I had a AAA membership, so when I couldn’t get all the lug nuts off, the nice man with the tow truck did it for me. I like knowing that I can do it, if I have to, but I’d rather watch someone else change my tires…especially when it’s cold and damp outside.
Now, to get some sleep, because the toilet paper isn’t going to buy itself. You know one thing I miss about Vegas? Grocery stores that deliver. That was handy. Also, stores within a block of the house, which was also handy. If I had car problems in Vegas, I could walk to the store easily. Here, not only isn’t here any public transportation (there wasn’t near the house in Vegas either), but there’s nothing within walking distance. The closest “convenience” store is 3.5 miles away, and if I’m going that far, I may as well go the 5 miles to Walmart or Smith’s and pay a quarter of the price. I know that 5 miles doesn’t seem all that far away, but when you’re used to less than half a mile to a grocery store, 7-Eleven, Walgreen’s, a gas station, two Starbucks, etc., 5 miles seems kind of far. Then again, I sure do like the peace and quiet here w/ the twinkling stars in the night sky. That’s worth a five mile drive, to not have to hear sirens and traffic all day, every day. We’ve heard sirens exactly once since we moved here. Once! And the people across the street with the ten yapping dogs…they moved. Yay! So, quiet replaces convenience. Okay. Now, if the tires could stop going flat…
Next entry: Idiot of the Day - thanks for the "help", PayPal Previous entry: "Kitty Cat Bliss"
-
Oh, sorry about the eye. And the tire. You should post a picture of your black eye. I know I would!
Nancy on 12/18 at 11:30 AM -
The black eye is a disappointment, as it just looks like a bit of magenta eyeshadow. I don’t think the average passerby would notice it. It’s only on the eyelid.
But, I’ll have a fun rant about the uselessness of Bob’s Used Tires of Pahrump soon. They knew I was coming and desperately needed the tire, and they were closed when I got there at 2:10p…when at 1p, they told me they closed at 3p. Bastards. I could’ve been stranded. Luckily, Big O Tires was a block away and saved the day. Man, I HATE spending money on tires, especially unexpectedly. I could’ve had a ham or 10 peppermint mochas or five billion packages of Creamy Chicken ramen. Mmm, delicious. Although, it’s been almost 24 hours and my tire hasn’t gone flat yet. That’s a bonus.
Just recovering from a seriously bad weather/stress headache. It’s raining allllll week. Yuk. Will blog/rant later. Need nap now. Yesterday was the world’s longest day…first waiting for Slippy, then changing tires twice and then carefully driving to get a new one, waiting for new/used one to be put on, then going to Walmart because we were completely out of TP, my biggest fear come true. Okay, that and we needed food.
Flippy on 12/19 at 03:34 PM -
So, the next time you’re out of toilet paper, a bottle of water is a decent alternative. I learned this from hanging out with Muslims and reading online about the lota and hygeine habits. I gave it shot, with much trepidation, but it worked. Take a bottle of warm water and just rinse for pee. You have to reach from the front between your legs while pouring the water (in front) to clean your backside with your hand. It sounds gross. But it’s less gross than it sounds. Muslims claim that it is actually much, much cleaner than using toilet paper. For most of my life, this would never have occurred to me. Then I felt I’d learned something valuable from Muslim culture!
Nancy on 12/20 at 10:45 PM
