reflections

As I lay here in the bed I grew up in, with an incredibly full stomach, I wonder how it is that we lose track of our lives so easily. I can't say that 5 years ago I thought this is how my life would be. If I were to take stock of my life at the moment, I'd most likely find that I'm behind schedule. How did that happen?

Somehow everything in my life is changing and I have lost track of every little nüance. Am I supposed to feel more in the loop? Some days the things we are taught to work for seem so trivial, other days I feel compelled to find my place in life. I suppose as a child we all just assume growing up is easy. Well it's not, it's a hard, confusing, slow process that you often lose sight of.

Owning a car sounds like a good idea. In truth, a car is a money pit that can never be filled or avoided. Foreign cars are especially expensive to maintain. My car for example costs way too much money to fix, and it just gets messed up within hours of getting serviced anyway. I must have bad luck with cars.

I recently paid to have my bumper, fan, air conditioner, heated seats, suspension and brakes fixed along with routine maintenance. This does not come cheap mind you, so I was already bitter at having paid for all this. But with my luck being what it is, no repair is ever simple. Less than 12 hours after returning my car to its rightful parking spot I was greeted by a quiet knock on my door. This was the kind of knock that you dread because it can't bring good news. Well it didn't bring good news. My friend's girlfriend hit my bumper right where it got fixed and returned the damage that was just removed. Money well spent. Ok, so the bumper got hit, nothing else could go wrong.

Well I always get my car serviced before driving the 5 freeway, it seems like a good idea. This time it wasn't. My car has a nice, convenient little pocket below the stereo, or used to anyway. I put my phone in there and my dashboard collapsed. That's right, my DASHBOARD COLLAPSED while I was driving, spewing my phone out and scratching it. Well I have never stopped at a rest stop on any freeway, but this seemed like a good time to start. It would appear that whoever replaced my fan for my A/C forgot a few screws. Well a collapsed dashboard carries a few consequences, like some blown fuses, a driver's seat that no longer moves, a rear defroster that only works half the time, and breaking your new A/C fan that you just put in. So basically I am no better off than before I took my car in, and now I am out a significant amount of cash.

Yup, I am one lucky guy when it comes to cars.