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2006-04-03 @ 7:58 a.m.

My weekend? (okay- actually this was last weekend. I should have posted this at least 5 days ago.)

Friday I picked the girls up from daycare, and when I returned to my car found it wouldn�t start.

So I called AAA. It was clearly battery involved, although how that could be, was completely beyond me.

When the guy from Citywide (a towing company) came by it turned out that it was the connection, not the battery- which sort of had me on the verge of freaking out, as Curt was showing me the amount of corrosion on the cables (I�ve had corrosion all over the top of my battery before and not had an issue, but I do know �corrosion = bad�) but then he took out his knife and chopped off the old end of the cables, trimmed back the casing (which was so cool, just like when we used to hook up extra speakers to our record players back in the day) and put it back together and lo and behold, it started- without even a jump.

And so I asked- it was just the connection, right? So do I even have to keep it running to charge it? The answer was no, because no. So we ran home grabbed our red box movies to return and went to McDonalds for dinner (cough cough). The minute, however, I turned the car off I thought- I bet it won�t start again. And so I tried it right away and I was right. No juice.

Interestingly enough, my upstairs neighbor and her son were at the red box too, so after trying to start the car, and buying a Coke and pouring it on the cables (that�s exactly what Curt told me to do occasionally to burn the corrosion away) which when trying to start the car, made the cables smoke. So Amy ran the children home, far from the car.

And once again- much later, Matt from Citywide towing showed up and we unfastened the fasteners and but everything back together, except now it was dark and Matt dropped one of the nuts into the engine where we couldn�t find it, but it all seemed to be all right and even one nut short the car started (again- no jump needed) and I got home.

And then actually started to get ready to go to an art show. With my kids. Because that was my plan. It was a crazy plan, but I didn�t really know that then, and had made up my mind I would be there. So I went- as did Amy, her son and the girls. We all looked cool too.

We parked and got to the gallery, and the crowd + the energy of the kids made me immediately go �cluster fuck!� but I knew, better than anyone, that my own judgment on when to pull out troops and run run away was pretty good. And it was.

Plus the art was cool- even should have been cool to the kids, except for all the dirty hipster art doofuses (and many of them hipster musician doofuses) who were all apparently repelled by children. There were other children there as well, who did not belong to me or Amy, but whatever. People in their thirties and forties have children! Get over your stupid slacker life without connection or repercussion already.

The band playing featured Corinne our darling, who loves the kids dearly and was delighted to see them. So there were many things in our favor. Except for the fact that the show, because it featured my friend Mr. New, who is also friends with tons of people I hung around with when I was 18 � 20, people who include my first boyfriend, who I don�t really think likes me, although I�m not really sure why except for that time, time has passed - so we just completely avoided each other because except for the last time we saw each other, our conversations are completely stupid and awkward. And besides that I don't know which element of our changed lives freaks the other out more- me having kids now (the Laura that dated Billy was a 'playing with kids' girl, not a raising kids girl) or that Billy's got a wife. (and not anymore actually, so it's more that Billy's got a divorce -equally strange).

It eventually came down to girls begging for any goddamn thing- which in this instance was freaking henna tattoos. This was so not ever going to happen. And so it was away.

Of course it was ten at night, so the car �she was not starting. Again. So we started to walk home, and I called for a rescue and it came and I had to drop everyone off at home, find a wrench and go make my car start so I could at least have it be not starting in front of my house instead of somewhere that I thought it might get towed. (It might have been a little tiny bit in front of the driveway into a parking lot).

So I did. I was asked �what is your plan here?� and I responded �I�m going to get a wrench, drive the van to the car- make the car start and drive it back here, pick you guys up and drive you to get the van�

And that�s what I did, except there was all sorts of drama between the girls and their father and I swear I will just kill them all screaming
�Good lord suck it up you big babies!!!!�

On Saturday, I got the junk I needed to fix the problem for good. With my own two hands and a wrench and new bolts and nuts that even though weren�t exactly perfect work so ha ha ha.

You know you all wish you could have seen me leaning under the hood of my car into the engine in front of my house on Saturday afternoon too. Every last one of you.



Apparently I can't shut up...
hearts aflutter - 2011-04-12
blather over lunch - 2010-04-30
revival - 2010-04-18
foot dragger - 2009-08-21
The bangs of a Stooge - 2009-08-20

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