Saturday, September 5, 2009

Things That Are Happening (or Have Happened)

  • I haven't seen Creepy White Van guy since last week, so that's good.
  • Here's a scintilating topic: My hair is now so long that it's starting to cause weird problems. When it's wet post-shower I have to keep it in front of my shoulders until it is dry because it's annoying to lean back on the couch against my own wet hair. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night now because Penn is accidentally sleeping on my hair, keeping me trapped in one position. Despite the fact that I've been growing my hair out for well over a year now, it has only been in the past month or so that it has started to annoy me. So, I may have reached the limit on how long I can stand to have my hair (for the record: just below my breasts. I may be able to handle another couple of inches. We'll see.)
  • Penn and I did a twelve mile bike ride today. It was supposed to be a ten mile bike ride, but we took a couple of accidental detours. Also, we learned a valuable lesson: when there is a bike trail that winds from behind your apartment all the way to your destination in another city, just STAY ON THE BIKE TRAIL. Don't go getting any sort of crazy ideas about "saving time" by "taking a shortcut to 16th Street" because said shortcut will either a) not be a short cut because you'll temporarily get lost or b) will be a short cut, technically, but will involve a hill that's so steep you want to cry and it just won't be worth it. Trust me. With that said, we made it to our destination (a free outdoor blues festival) and it was a lot of fun and then we ate enormous sandwiches for dinner and then took our bikes on the subway to get home and all was well. That's the furthest I've taken the bike in one day (so far) and I'm up for more biking adventures in the future.
  • Those adventures will have to be sometime after my comprehensive exams, which begin in just over a week. Ugh. I've long since passed the point of freaking out about the exams and am now just resigned to the thought that if I fail I can do it all again sometime and I'll eventually pass...someday. Because writing 120 pages in three weeks is something I can do twice if necessary. Right. My new attitude towards these exams may not be an improvement.
  • My car is dead. Very, very dead. So dead that the cost to repair the car is more than the car itself is worth. So, no more car. Mostly this isn't actually a big deal. I hated having to spend money on anything car-related and it's as if deep down I've known for the past few months that the car was on its last legs (wheels?) anyway because I had gotten into the habit of biking or riding the bus or subway almost everywhere. I also stepped up my practice with driving Penn's truck, which is good because that stick shift truck is now the only working vehicle we own. I'm proud to say that I drove it to work on the Scariest Highway in America by myself the other day. As in, completely alone! I was the only person in the truck, Penn wasn't sitting there to say things like, "You really need to shift to fifth," or "The brake is still on." So, yeah, mostly I don't care that the car is dead and I think that for now Penn and I will be just fine sharing a vehicle since he walks to work and I take the bus to campus and we were both only filling our cars' gas tanks once a month or less before the Death of My Car anyway. Sharing shouldn't be a problem (and if it proves to be one, my dad has offered us his old truck. In fact, he's pretty much trying to force me to take the truck because he wants an excuse to buy his midlife crisis sports car. It's a nice offer, I'm just not exactly enthusiastic about the three-day drive it would take me to get Dad's truck up here, so, we'll see). Anyway, I did have an afternoon where I was a bit sad about my car because it's the end of an era. I'm pretty sure the days of two-seater sports cars are behind me, at least until I'm trying to pawn my Mom-SUV off on my hypothetical future child so I can buy MY midlife crisis convertible.
  • On a vaguely related note, Penn and I opened a bank account together the other day. We're still keeping most of our money separate, but combining a little bit of it will make the day-to-day logistics of living together easier. I'm living with my boyfriend and we now have a joint checking account. That's still a little mind-blowing sometimes.

No comments: