If I Only Had a Brain...

I'm completely exhausted right now. Today ended leaving me satisfied and happified, only after quite an ordeal. I just finished watching Pride and Prejudice (2005). I haven't read the book or completely seen any of the other adaptations, but I love love love this one.

On to the stupidest part of my day. Right now, I'm staying with my greenparents- after concert etiquette- and Papa was too ill to go to the meeting, and so I decided that I wanted to go to Easel's meeting. I got out of bed at 10 AM and proceeded to take my time going about Sunday morning rituals. I left Eas a voice message and a txt telling her to call me back. At almost 12 PM, she called me and said she would love for me to come to her meeting, especially since her parents had gone to East Griffin to give a talk and her brother would not have been able to sit with her. Quickly and excitedly, I got dressed and was ready to go. I should've noticed that I was more absent-minded than usual when I had made about 30 mental notes to get something to eat before I left and then proceeded to leave without getting even a nutri-grain bar. Directions from the Northridge exit in hand, I left the house and drove for my first time on 285. (Sunday morning was probably the best time for a first.) I made it there in a timely fashion and was 5 minutes early for her 1 PM meeting. Eas wasn't there when I got there and made it just in time for the song. We picked seats and enjoyed ourselves throughout the talk,(which DOES NOT mean that we chatted through the whole thing). Eas has problems with her blood sugar and she mentioned that she felt it was getting low and she had to go out to her car and get some crackers. This was about 30 minutes before the meeting ended. My tummy was rumbling too, so I picked up my purse to get some mints. In the process, I noticed that the pocket on my purse for my keys was very empty. They weren't in the big part either. All I could hope was that they were in the parking lot somewhere. I hurriedly went to go see and Eas joined me as I met her in the lobby on my way out. I got to jeepie to find all the doors and trunk locked, but I didn't see the keys. So I wandered around to the passenger seat and saw the keys... in the ignition. "Shart" was the only word that came to mind. I went back in feeling very distracted, but it didn't much matter because the brother went through probably 15 paragraphs in 30 minutes and I wouldn't have gotten much out of it anyway. At the immediate end of the meeting, I called my parents. The first phone call contained a VERY upset mom and dad, not only because I had locked the keys in the car, but because I had gone to Sandy Springs by myself. Once again, I lag in communication... or selective hearing. I'm gonna call it plain ol' absent-mindedness on my part- seriously. Dad decided that he would drive to come unlock the door. I didn't want him to have to drive 3 hours round trip just to unlock a car because I knew I would get hell once he got there, but to a less severe degree because he would have had lots of time to cool off. When they got to the house (dad was away giving a talk as well and they were at hospitality), dad called me and I told him to wait and see what a locksmith costs and that there was a brother in the congregation that thought he could do it. He was much cooler by that time and said calmly, to give him a call later. The young brother tried, and if I had automatic locks, I think it would have made it so much easier for every one that tried. He suggested to go to Pepboys and see if someone had a slim jim and could get into the car, since it was going to cost $55, plus labor for a locksmith. That didn't fly, so Eas, who stayed with me the whole time, in the cold, without a coat (I knew I picked a good friend 12 years ago), took me to Pepboys. OK, I think this was the most uncomfortable part of the ordeal. Two young girls in a Pepboys, in their skirts, looking quite lost in the first place. After standing around for about 15 minutes waiting for the head mechanic, the young lady at the desk said she'd get someone for us. Promptly, she did- thank goodness. We discussed it with the fellow and he said that it would be $40. I had that in my wallet and was throughly willing to pay it since he was very confident and had the tools in his hand to do the job. He followed us back to the Kingdom Hall and for about 30 minutes, tried the manual lock with a long metal stick. First, he tried the driver's side. Then we got out a mirror to help him see and not just have the two of us trying to help him out. From there, he switched to the passenger side with the long metal stick. He quickly abandoned that tool for the slim jim and within about 10 minutes, he had the door wide open. I was so happy I could've hugged him, but instead, I paid him extra, which he was probably much happier with. It's so frustrating to be so close and not to be able to get in! He was getting flustered too and seemed to be just as happy as Eas and I were to see the car open. The most embarassing part of it is... I just locked myself out of the car on Wednesday. The good thing about Wednesday was that the trunk was open and I just crawled in and unlocked the doors from that point. For about a month now, I've been very airy inbetween the ears. I've even restricted my tv watching to basically CNN and Discovery channel (and I've found I really like them both), but I'm not sure whats wrong. It was SO good to see that door open wide. The paint was coming off my nails and my hands were so chapped they were purple and my nose was a hot pink, but it still doesn't matter. I hopped in and blasted the stereo and the heat. Elated, I called my mom and dad, who were happy to hear that I was safe and had gotten into the car. Dad said he was sorry it cost me so much, and offered to reimberse me. I told him that there was no reason for him too because I was the one that locked the keys in the car and it was not as hefty a fee as him driving there or calling a locksmith. From that point, Eas and I hurried off since Poly had been waiting for us at the Starbucks down the road for about half and hour and both of them had plans for the Superbowl. Coffee never tasted so delicious. I couldn't have been happier- and probably haven't been that (this) happy in a long time. Contentment abounded. I was so exhausted- to the point where I completely relaxed and could've sat there and chatted the night away, and the obviously gay baristas were happy to have us gabbing gals to keep them company (Poly had left).

I learned that I should look into getting one of those retractable name badge holders for my keys and keep it attached to me at all times. See, the Jeep even beeps when you leave your keys in the ignition, so I'm at a complete loss so as to how I left them there so I must need something else to help me keep track of them. Also, it's pretty hard to break into a Jeep Wrangler, as simple and manually as they are built. Finally, echoing my "pretty good year" post- I picked a great friend, who stood in the cold for nearly two hours, drove me to Pepboys and stood with me, though she was very uncomfortable, and dealt with her friend who is evidently losing it mentally and still, she went and got coffee with me after the whole ordeal. Though we've been through trials before, there's nothing else that proves to me that we're stuck with "with super glue around the world and the alfalfa sprout" than this past week. One thing that's stable and there are so many more reasons than the few she manifested today that make her terrific, despite the fact that I get annoyed with her a little more than with my other friends. End of story, it means so much to me.