New Car Battery Saturday and a Song of the Week

 My mom has been doing remarkably well since getting her new pacemaker on Wednesday. What a relief. Today, I took her to get her hair done and then ran out to the post office to mail an order I had from my Etsy shop! Yeah, finally! So, I dropped her off and ran to the post office. Ran in and shipped my package. Got back in my car that was parked in the 30 minute parking zone and it wouldn't start. It sounded like the battery! Ugh.

I called AAA and waited for a tow truck. Since I told AAA that it seemed to be the battery, they said they'd probably send a truck that could tow but also had the ability to check the battery on the spot. Murphy's Law was in my space big time, I should add. The plan today was to get my mom's hair done and then go to a birthday party. My dear friend's mom was celebrating her 81st today (oh, I mean, 29th!). It was hot today and there I was in the heat of the day, dead car, needing to pick up mom and go to a birthday party, with my tinted moisturizer melting all over my cell phone. Not pretty.

Anyway, the truck arrived quickly, it was the battery, and he was able to provide me with a new battery on the spot! Yeah. I didn't have to drive somewhere else to get a new one so that was perfect. Picked up my mom, went home to change and off to a fun party we went. Tons of great food and great company and wonderful friends.

After returning home and kicking back for a bit, I decided to run to the store to get quarters so I can do laundry early in the day tomorrow as I forgot to get them when I stopped for a pretty bouquet of flowers before the birthday party. When I got in the car my favorite local radio station was playing album sides and they were in the middle of Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic! The song, Adam's Apple was just starting. I can tell you that I had that album (yes, vinyl) and wore it out. I loved it and every single song on it. I haven't heard Adam's Apple in so LONG that when I parked at the store, I sat in the car to finish hearing the song before going in.

As I sat in the parking lot at the store listening to Adam's Apple (and finding myself flashing back to a different time in my life) a car pulled in to the space in front of me. This car contained about 5 twenty somethings. The driver got out and opened the backdoor to let the backseat passengers out. Well, out came a young lady in probably the shortest and tightest dress I've seen in many years! Good grief. I don't think I mentioned that the neckline was elastic, which made it super easy for her to slide the fabric down and expose her left shoulder before she entered the supermarket in her skimpy little outfit. Man, where the hell is my camera when I need it!!! You know, the song Adam's Apple was really perfect background music.

So, without further ado, I present a new "Song of the Week". Aerosmith (before the rehab years)! Enjoy and if you have any memories of this song, please feel free to share here. You are also free to just comment in general.

Big Rigs, Spoonman and Freeway Gridlock

I can't remember exactly how the conversation came about but a few days ago, I was talking to a co-worker and 18 wheelers came up. That reminded me of the time I was hit by one and I had to tell her about it.

The year was 1994 and it was a Friday. Back then I had a job that had pretty cool work hours. We worked  9 hour days, Monday through Thursday and 4 hours on Friday. I loved that schedule as I always knew when I wasn't working and could schedule appointments easily. I would always schedule my hair appointments on Fridays. So on one particular Friday early afternoon back in 1994, I was making the commute (yeah, my hairdresser at that time was not close by) to the appointment. It was really like any other Friday commute to get the hair done, traffic moved OK and then the dreaded gridlock on the LA freeway known as Interstate 10.

Back then I drove a Pontiac Fiero. I loved that car. It was a dark cherry red with light grey interior. In retrospect, I don't know why I had to have that car as I am much too tall for a sports car. I would nearly bend in half just getting things out of the very small trunk! Plus, I wear heels so getting in or out of that car was always an adventure. I must have looked like an Amazon woman crawling out of that tiny vehicle. Add to that, the fact that SUVs were the newest phenomenon and caused major "visibility" issues on the road for those of us driving "low to the ground" vehicles!

So there I was, that early Friday afternoon, in my sports car on Interstate 10 sitting in gridlock, and almost at my exit. I was in the slow lane and had the radio blasting and the window rolled down. I still remember the song that was playing on the radio. It happened to be a song by a band I loved, Soundgarden, called Spoonman.



As the traffic inched forward, I glanced into my side view mirror and was pretty scared! All I could see was a huge rubber tire. The tire of a big rig. A big 18 wheeler, and I knew it was almost on top of me! I guess I did what anyone in that situation would have done - braced myself, held the steering wheel tight, and screamed as the big monster hit my little car. Thank God for guard rails as they did stop any possibility of my going off a cliff (okay, not a huge drop but still a drop). My car was pushed by the impact of that big machine and I pushed hard on the brake and tried to control the steering wheel, again, all while screaming. To this day I can't really understand how helpful the screaming was!

The good thing was that we were not moving fast so I was able to get the car to stop and didn't smash into the guardian angel guard rail! I managed to stop in the shoulder just moments away from my off ramp and wait for the truck to pull up behind me.  I almost couldn't get out of my car as my legs were rubber at that point and all I wanted to do was chain smoke cigarettes to calm my nerves. It was hard to open my driver's side door as it was damaged from the impact, but I got out and was standing there on the side of the freeway, while weird guys drove by yelling cat calls! Oh please. How about pulling over and offering to help instead of yelling unwanted shit! A little observation - that is not cool or appreciated, guys!

Anyway, the truck driver was just as freaked out as I was. He was a working stiff with a young family and just didn't see my tiny little car and tried to change lanes. It was an accident and nothing malicious. In conclusion, I decided to let his company take care of the repairs as I didn't want to contribute to the loss of livelihood for this young working man and his family by involving insurance companies. We exchanged information and I got to my hair appointment (a bit late). As I left my appointment and got back on the freeway, with my now jacked up car, I suddenly heard that scary big rig horn sound and looked, only to see the driver that hit me waving! He had made his delivery and was heading back to home base. Anyway, my car was repaired, I was given a rental and everyone was fine.