Today was sort of comprised of Little Pieces.
Last time I drove back from Seattle, I was in the Subaru, and was on the freeway in Vancouver (i.e. most of the way home), when a semi in the lane next to me honked for no apparent reason. I glanced around, shrugged it off.
Fifteen miles later, in Portland just shy of my exit, in heavy traffic, the car behind me started blinking their lights on-off-on-off-on-off. I was all, WTF? Are they signalling me? Is something wrong? I got to my exit and pulled over as soon as I safely could. Got out, looked over the car.
Nothing. Nothing dangling, leaking, smoking, broken, oozing lava…nothing. Plus, the car had been driving fine, making no noise, no indicator lights had gone off, nothing.
Well, I’ll take it in, I thought, but haven’t needed to drive that car since then, and, well, you know.
But I’ll need the car this weekend, as Mark’s parents are coming to town (by plane), and Mark Himself is coming down on the train (i.e. not bringing his own car), and this is a good example of why I bought the silly thing in the first place, the Miata being unsuitable for such tasks. So, I took it in today.
And….a brake light was burnt out. Total cost to repair: $8.39. I love my mechanics. 🙂
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And: oh jeez, I’m going to Italy in like two weeks. It suddenly hit me today: all the things I need to do to get ready. Hey Portland folks: is there a good travel-supply store on the east side? I need converter/adapter technology, and probably a travel pillow. I used to own such things, but….I no longer do. And, I’m contemplating a throwaway cell phone instead of getting a pricey international plan for my iPhone. Any thoughts/advice?
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I mentioned the house across the street going up for sale, right? Well today there was the broker’s open house, so I walked over and charmed my way in, had a nice chat with the realtor and toured the house, which I’d never been in. Then later this evening, my neighbor came over and knocked on my door, utterly mortified that the first time I was in her house was for the open house–I’ve been on their “have over for dinner” list forever! Well, she’s only as bad as I am: I’ve never had them over either. But gee. I thought there was plenty of time!
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And then: oh jeez, Mark’s parents will be in town this weekend. Not staying here, but they’ll visit, and be cooked brunch. So I am looking at the house and the yard with anxious eyes. It’ll be their first time here, and (to hear them tell it) probably the last: they’re talking a lot about Getting Too Old To Travel So Much.
So I did a lot of dusting and weeding and deadheading and whatnot today. And keep seeing lots and lots more to do.
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Last thing, I promise. Probably. 🙂 You know how when you go to the gym at a particular time and start seeing the same people always at the same particular time? So there’s this guy, older man (not super old–but older than me) who swims at the same time as me, at least half the time if not more. And already I’ve seen him after my (our) swim at Trader Joe’s, and then today I saw him after my (our) swim at the copy store. And he shows NO SIGN of recognition. I’m thinking, Do I look so entirely different when I’m dry? He doesn’t. Or is there some weird “what happens in the pool stays in the pool” etiquette here that I don’t know about? Cause, really, we’re just swimming laps. Could it hurt to nod and smile if we see each other in the real world?