Jan
16
Today, one month and one day after getting my new car it was involved in its first altercation. I decided to drive down to Houndstooth for delicious coffee and while I was sitting in the left turn lane on Airport waiting to turn onto 45th the guy behind me (who had successfully stopped) smacked the back of my car. Apparently his dog was misbehaving and he took his foot off the brake while dealing with that. It was a red Volvo S40 (hi Zach).
The only damage I can see is two bites in the bumper from where his license plate screws hit but some of the plastic in the little groove back there is actually broken so they’ll probably want to replace the whole thing. I didn’t even see it coming. I was just watching the light and the on-coming traffic.
Dec
17
I spent the night at aunt Kathleen’s house and it’s about time to get back on the road. I think I’m going to go ahead and fill the car up while I’m in town and see if someone will sell me some coffee. The drive yesterday was nice. It’s very pretty country up in the mountains and I even found a little hippie, organic, sometimes vegan bakery and coffee shop by accident in Asheville to stop and stretch my legs and have a snack. According to the car I’ve averaged a little over 28mpg but that includes all the driving around in Winston-Salem and driving in the mountains. We’ll see if I can do better today.
Dec
15
I made it. The flight to Raleigh was uneventful except for the fact that the guy sitting next to me was basically a terrible human being. Not that I had to deal with him or anything but terrible none the less.
I caught the Avis shuttle as it was driving up and got my car almost immediately except for the part where you have to turn down $70 worth of stuff you don’t need.
It was a straight shot on I-40 all the way to Winston-Salem and I got the car dropped off just a little after 5:00. A nice kid from the dealership drove me over there and I met my sales person checked out the car, signed some paperwork, gave away a bunch of money and then learned how to work the car. There are a ton of little buttons and gadgets and crap but underneath all of that it’s just a nice car. It’s comfortable and drives good and all that jazz.
Also the dealership was hosting a preview of the new Mission Impossible movie and I got to go see that too. It was ok. About what I expected. A bit long in places and completely ridiculous but entertaining in the way that modern action movies are.
So far so good. Tomorrow I drive to Nashville to see aunt Kathleen and maybe cousin Janet and Jim and Parker if they’re available.
Dec
15
A disproportionate number of posts here have been made from DFW as of late. This time I’m off to Winston-Salem, NC. I am buying a car there. Why there? The one I want is not being made next year so I couldn’t order one and the local dealer wanted me to be their girlfriend in order to get one that met my criteria into Austin. The NC dealer was pretty reasonable though so I’m flying out there and driving it back.
It’s a little mini-vacation and a chance to see my aunt in Nashville and my cousin and her family there as well.
Looks like someone is going to bring their yip-yap dog in the flight. Yay.
Dec
04
I have a lot of stuff. That should not be taken as a brag. I am terrible about throwing away things that are past their useful life. I am worse at tossing or donating or selling things with either a sentimental attachment or with a particular historic obligation. When my grandfather died my grandmother gave me his work clothes. Well, some of them at least. Four or five suits, some amazingly tacky sport coats (blue gingham anyone? It’s like a picnic tablecloth with arms), dress shirts, even a tuxedo with black and white coats. He was always bigger than me, bigger in all dimensions. Taller by probably three or four inches, considerably heavier, a people person for the right people. Larger than life. So I accepted the clothes because my grandmother wanted me to have them though I could never hope to wear them. Years passed. As I have had work done to the house or have needed space in one place or another I have moved all of these clothes from one closet to another, taking them out to look at and smell the smell of the hall closet at Mim’s that has remained with them after all of this time.
But the weight of all of the past I am carrying around is heavy and today I did a very hard thing. I cleaned the closet. I took, with the exception of three things that I have actually be able to use occasionally, all of my grandfather’s clothes, and some of mine and gave them to Goodwill. There are some good things in there. Brooks Brothers shirts, Neiman Marcus suits. There are less good things as well. The tux was not particularly great and was probably something he owned of necessity rather than pleasure. But it’s gone now and I feel kind of stunned. I instantly regretted it. Why couldn’t I have just kept them? Why can’t I keep all things forever? When I’m gone we can send me and my past on in some kind of giant Viking funeral and all be released from and by our burdens.
Of course that’s ridiculous. I expect I’ll get over it but for right now that’s good way to go from a normal Sunday to a nice melancholy. The weather is perfect for it. Cold, rainy but more drizzle and light rain than a good, hard, cathartic storm; dark to fit the mood.
The worst part is that it’s not over yet. There are five boxes of random stuff in the garage that need to be winnowed, the aluminum melting furnace that needs to be dismantled and tossed, a broken car wheel and two radiators that need recycling and another hard one, a dresser that belonged to my other grandparents. It’s in disrepair and probably ought to be tossed but that will be as tough as the clothes. There’s also a lamp of theirs but that’s not as big of a deal. That will all have to wait until next weekend though. In the mean time, the will to do this has passed and I am spent. I kind of need to put the Christmas tree up which is it’s own emotional experience but a less sad one. It remains to be seen if I’m capable of anything more for today.