Tuesday, August 23

Driving Miss Crazy

Long post ahead, just to warn you. I divided it into segments.

-----


I'd like to let you in on a little secret. Driving is not my forte. Dustro knows this. He frequently uses the "driver's ed passenger brake" at me when he doesn't think I'll stop in time. But I had to drive from the apartment in O-town to my house in Winterset. Sure, it should've been a piece of cake. I did it last weekend, and the week before. But throw in a lot of rain, dark clouds, and more lightning than you'd care to shake a stick at ... and, well, I got confused. More than once.

Here's what happened: In Omaha, I-80 is kind of merged with I-29 for a little while. I wanted to get on 29 South so I could catch Hwy 92 for a straight shot home. Through all the rain, I somehow thought that I should take the 29 North exit (first mistake). I realized my mistake right away, of course, and there aren't any very good ways to turn around. (I drove past the casino where the Indigo Girls are playing on 16 Sept, so at least I know where that is ... Did I mention that we already have tickets? $20, baby!) Anyway, I got turned back around and got on 80 East again. This time I managed to take the 29 South exit. But for some reason, I was spacing off, distracted to the storm that I thought was off to the north. I was so wrong.

I went instead for Hwy 34 -– a good 20 miles south of where I wanted to be, but I thought that staying south of the storm was a good idea. I intended to grab Hwy 59 North to get back to where I wanted to be, but the storm didn't stay where I thought it was going to. I decided that it must be very large, so I called Dustro in a mild panic after I went through Red Oak and told him to look at weather.com. He told me that the storm wasn't that big, and that it wasn't even raining on Hwy 71, which was my next chance to go north. I didn't really believe him at first, because, having driven through a lot of heavy rain just moments before, I couldn't understand that the storm wasn't gigantic. (I should have taken the hint in Red Oak when I stopped for a little gas; it wasn't raining at all there.

So I kept on keepin' on, got to Hwy 71 without any further mishaps, and sped home when I got back to Hwy 92. And I still managed to get home in a little over two hours.

-----


To change things up a bit, here's a little meme, thanks to Biddy Love, via this post. Questions posed are in italics, and her answers follow.

1. Reply with your name and I'll respond with something random about you.
Remember those times we went to WalMart with Allen and took all those photos? That's one of my favorite memories of all time.
2. I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
Anything Eddie Izzard, cos you love him so much!
3. I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
One of those weird flavors that's really exotic but then is paired with a very common fruit like Mango-Guava-StarFruit-PassionFruit-Grape. It just seems right.
4. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me (maybe/maybe not).
Remember the choir tour package and book? Those were fabulous! I still have the book!
5. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
We met in Deutschkurs with the fabulous Herr Schmidt. The first thing I remember about you is that cute laugh you have and how every time Herr Schmidt said "Springen Sie!" you giggled.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
This is such a weird question... but even though it's not an animal per se, a ladybug. I distinctly remember you painting a lady bug for someone. I think.
7. I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
What got you so interested in learning about dead languages?
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal. And so I did.


So to return the kindness ...

1. So this one time, at the drag ball ... you dressed like a girl! And then you were one of the infamous girls-turned-boyband. And then you were a girl again. (Maybe this explains your body trying to make you a man ...)
2. Anything Simon & Garfunkel, anything from the Biddy Mix, and French rap, thanks to all of those fabulous mix CDs you burned for me.
3. That horrible seven-layer jello that old ladies bring to church potlucks. It looks pretty, but would be much better used in a wrestling match than consumed by any living thing.
4. Viva ß!
5. Despite the many "Springen Sie!" episodes of dear old Deutschkurs, my first real recollection (I think -- time gets a little out of order sometimes) is the time we got all crafty and started painting and collaging on all those little paper boxes. There were a couple of tributes to W.C.W. in there. Good times. And of course, there's all that knitting.
6. A manatee, specifically for the time Barbara Manatee went missing for days and days and you were a little distraught.
7. ASL and French and Russian and German (English goes without saying, I suppose) -- you could be a one-woman, um, translator thingy. But the real question is, when did you start knitting? And why didn't you and I ever watch Hedwig together?


-----


In other news, the paper has now adopted a cat, thanks to my dad telling some guy that we'd take care of the stray cat he found. We batted around names all day yesterday, and I think we finally decided to call him Quark, after the layout program we use.

Also, someone remind me to order one of these when I have a spare moment.

No comments: