I had such great original plans for the weekend of January 5-6, 2013, just the kind of weekend to start the New Year off right.
Originally, I was going camping with some friends from my WAKA Kickball league in San Clemente, down by the beach. Unfortunately, with the holidays and work getting nuts, I was vastly ill-prepared. The kind of not prepared where 2 days before the trip, I still didn’t have a tent.
I was going to share a tent with a girl friend. But she was also unprepared for the camping trip (no sleeping bag), and she got signed up to do some fundraiser over the weekend for her job. Another friend, Brett, offered to share his tent with me…much to the chagrin of my BF. So, I had to decline. I was going to rent a tent from REI, then. Suddenly, Dennis, texted me to remind me to bring firewood.
And it hit me how real camping this could be. I mean, I have “camped” in Yosemite before, where we had like…y’know, cabins. And heaters.
Brett assured me that this would be luxury camping. I could bring my airbed. There were showers available. Etc…etc… but I was still stuck on, tent and firewood.
Not to mention that I had a shit ton of work to do that would 90% have required me to be at the office on Sunday.
Then another set of non-camping WAKA Kickball friends decided to go on a day trip for some snowboarding action. I was actually quite excited when I got the text message Friday morning. So I told my camping folks that I’d raincheck for warmer weather, and gave the green light to my snowbuddies.
I got my board and gear ready the night before. At 5 am, I get a text from Micaela as a wake up call. I hop out of bed, wash up and was all ready to go around 5:30 am. We were to meet at Joey’s place and he would drive us up. Then I find out I forgot my wallet and all my money at the office.
crap.
Joey says it’s fine. He’ll spot me.
I hop into the car and it gives me this:
I call that the F-Squiggly of Doom. Okay, because the sign looks like the Letter F over some squiggly lines. It apparently means something to do with the temperature. And how if I keep driving with that light on, my car will explode and I will be obliterated.
Something like that.
In any case, anyone who knows anything about cars have all told me that I should STOP DRIVING IMMEDIATELY when I see that sign.
So, this meant…well, that I couldn’t go anywhere that day.
And in the back of my mind, even when Micaela and Joey were both telling me that they would swing by and pick me up…I knew that I had to just suck it up and be a responsible adult. Besides, just three weeks ago, the mechanic did tell me that I needed new brakes, too. And that my radiator was cracked. And that my car was an oil guzzler and I should have oil put in every month.
So, I resigned myself to going back home, putting my board away, telling my new snowboarding boots that we would have our time soon, and going back to bed. I mean, going to the mechanic…after I go back to bed. After all, it was still 6 AM.
I spent a good deal of money on my car Saturday. Then spent the rest of my day working–yes, working–on my brief and watching some TV.
As disappointed as I was about not being able to go snowboarding, one of my new year’s resolution was to act like the damned grown-up that I was. And I felt like yesterday, taking care of business, cleaning, working and just relaxing at home one a Saturday night was kind of like grown up.
Instead of waiting and pushing something back until it blew up in my face (which could be literal in the case of my car), I took care of it, despite having to forego something I considered “fun”.
Oh well. Next week, I’m off to the slopes with my roommate anyway.
The end. Damn you squiggly.
Stop and Stare 