It just feels like I'm some kind of weirdo if I go to bed at 10pm on a Friday night

Isn't it funny how the short weeks always seem like the longest? Having taken Wednesday off, I launched into a surprisingly busy Thursday-Friday gig at Lincoln Tower, and honestly didn't think that I would be as busy as I was. Good-busy, Lincoln Tower-busy, the kind of busy that makes me want to break a phone or hurl a chair through a window. I kind of missed my blood boiling.

The theme of the last few days, of course, has been this blasted rental car. I had such not-fun driving it around SE and NE Portland Wednesday that by Thursday morning I was ready to just leave it in the carport and walk to work. It didn't help that I took the wrong turn off the Morrison Bridge in an attempt to go get Barbie for her foot gig and wound up somewhere in Hollywood and then two cars behind a car accident on the Banfield. For some reason if there is a choice to go one way or the other I always panic and take the wrong choice, then wind up far, far away from my destination with no clear idea of how to get where I need to be. Stupid east side.

So I get to work Thursday morning and immediately phone Kadel's to find out if it's true, if I really get my car back on Friday, and Sean the Kadel's Guy said absolutely, and so I believed him, and though the day was dark and gloomy and dreary and cold and wet (Barbie calls it "Juneuary") I had a little ray of sunshine in the back of my mind. And then I thought of all the things I could be doing in a car that wasn't fifteen feet long and eight feet wide and let the weather get the better of me again.. but Friday was nearing and it looked like I'd only have one more day of trying to dock that bitch in the proper space at home.

Because today was so FLIPPING busy this morning (and throughout the day, really) I didn't realize that Sean the Kadel's Guy hadn't phoned to give me a pick-up time like he'd told me he would. I went out for a breath of fresh air, without my phone, and when I came back, sure enough, missed call and a voicemail. I should mention that it was freezing cold out and though the forecast called for no rain and clearing skies later in the day, it felt yet like February. I listened to the message. He wasn't sounding cheery.

So it turns out the guy that was putting my car back together accidentally cracked my bumper. They had to order a new one and the car would probably be ready late Monday. Sorry.

That's when the wailing began. I called him back and bitched about the rental and how much I hate driving it and how could they have cracked it and oh my God how will I ever get around all weekend in this boat and pretty much went on and on. He offered to have the rental car company switch out the car, but all they had was a Chevy Cobalt (good Lord) and a Ford Focus. I told him I'd have no choice but to live with the Malibu and driving with my toe, but Enterprise was not going to be happy with the condition I will leave the transmission in.. His advice to me was, "It's a rental - drive it like you stole it." I like Sean.

And then like four more hours of complete bedlam, a trust deed-reader and an overbearing loan officer, an appointment scheduled with no loan documents and an onslaught of land sale contracts, and I was ready to go home. At 5:01 the work phone rang, but in the middle of that call, my cell rang. Sean the Kadel's Guy! I noticed at that moment the sun start to break free from all those clouds...

So it turns out that the bumper came in today and the paint guy was going to stay late to paint it, and I can have my car back Saturday! At 11am! And drop off the piece of shit Malibu! And be done with all this crap! I gushed all over poor Sean the Kadel's Guy (I vaguely remember breaking in to song).. but holy CRAP am I happy. I can't wait to start driving with my knees where they are meant to be and not up around my ears (did I mention how jacked the front seat is?).

So yeah. I think it's going to be a good weekend. Despite the upcoming week(s) ahead, battling Beaverton traffic and wondering if it will ever be consistently sunny for more than six hours. How stupid is it that my whole attitude changes because I get my car back?

I don't care. It's the little things.