mandolin: (whee)
Mandolin ([personal profile] mandolin) wrote2005-06-08 10:08 pm

I'm insane! Oh, wait, you already know that...

Car is still at the dealer. I have a ride tomorrow. If they can't find anything by 2 pm, I'm just taking my car back and waiting for its next time of the month. I know they're taking it seriously, but you know - it's not worth it. Given the frequency with which attacks like this happen, I figure it's basically Jewel's time of the month.

Seriously, I just taught myself that going carless for several days with all the crap I had to do was not an option, especially if the mechanic can't find the problem. I got all the stuff together for the loan application to put in the UPS drop box at Pine Orchard when I got home, then realized I'd forgotten something critical: to get someone to DRIVE me there. And it had to be in the drop box before the pick-up time of 7 pm.

So I threw the UPS express package in a backpack, put on my sneakers, and walked.

All the way down 40. In this heat, well before dusk.

Both ways.

I'd say it was a five-mile round trip.

So if you were on Rt. 40 and stared at this crazy girl with a brown backpack walking along towards Enchanted Forest with a big stick in one hand and keys clenched in the other, now you know the story behind it. (Hey, there was a streaker reported in Ellicott City, I wanted to be prepared to have a blunt object to swing at his exposed skin.) I wouldn't want to do this on a regular basis, but the freaking application is submitted! *dances*

Hm, it's 10. I think a shower is in order. Need to hit the sack soon since Sherry is picking me up at 7. Thank goodness for nice co-workers who live two blocks away.

[identity profile] exiledtimelord.livejournal.com 2005-06-09 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
It could've been worse. You could have been barefoot. :P

[identity profile] ecogryff.livejournal.com 2005-06-09 05:49 am (UTC)(link)
sometimes i can't figure out how i lived for an entire year without a car. guess there's a reason i didn't know where anything was and rarely went anywhere.

[identity profile] weirdweb.livejournal.com 2005-06-09 11:43 am (UTC)(link)
At least when I was in college, there was a CVS, a Subway, a Taco Bell and a Safeway right across the street. The hospital was right next door, and Baker Park and downtown Fredneck were about a mile away. For everything else, I just bummed rides off of [livejournal.com profile] jennies or took the bus. It helped that for my last two years at school, I could afford NOT to do work-study (yay summer fellowship!) so I had the time to walk and take the bus and pass my classes.

Of course, at this point during the summer, I would be home and not at college and not hoofing it everywhere during Code Red ozone days with 90% humidity. I was fine with the walk itself, it was having to walk along Route 40 that was more of a hassle.

[identity profile] ecogryff.livejournal.com 2005-06-09 04:21 pm (UTC)(link)
there's nothing within walking distance except the bank, a kinda strange deli, a camera shop, and a couple of convenience stores. oh and bars. and the used bookstore that i didn't discover until last year, 'cuz it's just beyond the distance i liked to walk. and walking in either winter or summer here is not really pleasant. the choice is freakin' cold and humid or freakin' hot and humid. you guys lucked out while you were here. it was pretty nice.

[identity profile] violetbloom.livejournal.com 2005-06-09 12:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Carrying a stick. I'm getting this lovely mental picture of you threatening suspicious passersby.

[identity profile] ecogryff.livejournal.com 2005-06-09 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)
i've always favored those really big Mag-Lites.

[identity profile] kevenn.livejournal.com 2005-06-10 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
Well, you could have always pulled a "Bridget" and went around to everyone who lived by you begging for a ride. You could even bring things to give them for giving you a ride. . .I'll shut up before you kill me! :)