I picked my boyfriend up after his last final on our way home so that we could see a lovely holiday performance that night. We were on the highway, and since he had pulled an all-nighter before his last final, he began to drift off. I was humming along (or probably full out singing) with whatever was playing, and making great time. Suddenly, I heard and felt something weird on the left side of my car. It was almost like gravel had blown out of the side of my car. And I knew instantly but didn't want to admit it. Out loud I said: "Did my back tire just blow out?" I kept shaking my head and then tried to get over. My back left tire had blown out while I was in the passing lane. So of course, the person behind got so close to me when I slowed down. They were right on top of me and I was trying to get over. People are so impatient today that it's scary. This is why accidents happen.
Thankfully I made it to the side of the highway. By this time my boyfriend was awake, and he sprang into action. We had to find the spare tire in my tiny, low to the ground car. We emptied the trunk and he found the tire underneath it. The cars whizzed by us, and while we determined that yes, my tire had indeed blown out, my boyfriend wasn't comfortable changing the tire on the side of the highway. I agreed.
Probably to the annoyance of every driver on the highway, we got back in the car, and I put my four ways on as I slowly crawled to the next exit. We ended up in a store parking lot and we (my boyfriend) set to work. I sighed. "I'm so glad that you're here because I've never changed a tire."
"Darling," he said, "neither have I."
I called both of our parents to let them know what was going on and that we would be a little late now. His mother recommended that we call AAA, but I told her he wanted to try it himself. She did not give him much vote of confidence. But he continued to do it and got the jack in and was trying to work the bolts off but was having some trouble. Suddenly, a man seemed to appear out of nowhere and said, "I see you're having some trouble."
We both were stunned, as usually in this area you do not find such helpful people. He came over and basically loosened all of the bolts with one good twist each. To give my wonderful boyfriend credit, he could have loosened them but wasn't sure of how much pressure to apply and didn't want to break anything. My car is small and he is used to driving a mini van. After that, the man left us to the work and my boyfriend changed the tire! I took it for a spin around the parking lot and everything seemed fine. The only drawback: I couldn't drive above 50 mph with the tire. And I still had almost another hour to drive on the highway. People were not going to be happy with me.
So I drove as often as I could in the right line, keeping it just under 50. A point came where some construction had things down to one lane, so I backed up traffic for that stretch of five miles. We were very lucky though, and thank goodness, truly that my boyfriend was there. He said, "I was just pretending that I knew what I was doing so that you wouldn't freak out." His calmness did keep my calm, and this is why he is amazing.
"We had a grown up experience!" I exclaimed on the way home. Although that is one adventure that I hope not to have to repeat very often. With my condition that I have, even if I did know how to change a tire (which, now that I've watched it, I can see that it isn't too complicated) I would physically be able to do that. My joints wouldn't allow that. So thank goodness for boyfriends and helpful people!
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| This closely resembles the cockroach that I saw. Fun, huh? |
I have neighbors above and below me, so I stifled a small scream and shut the water off. For a brief moment I panicked. What would I do? I needed to get ready. I'd have to kill it. My shoes were off in my room, and the cockroach, at least an inch and half long if not two inches, was scrambling to free itself from the clutches of the bathtub. I do not like bugs. Most people I suppose do not (although there are always exception), but it was just too early and I was too tired to want to deal with this.
I grabbed a cleaner that was in the bathtub and told myself I just had to do it. I had to kill it. The cockroach seemed to know I was approaching, as it scrambled more intensely. I jabbed at it with the cleaner and crunch it into the bathtub. There was a smear of legs and a smushed body. But now I had to actually take a shower in there. What if there were more? I shoved the shower curtain back and poised for any movement. Nothing happened. I realized then I would have to clean up the carcass in the shower so that I could actually take a shower and get ready. I balled toilet paper up and tried to clean it up as quickly as possible. Then I convinced myself that nothing else would come out of my bathtub.
Immediately I begin to believe it's my fault that cockroaches are infiltrating my second floor apartment. They were targeting me because I just don't keep things clean enough, I don't do enough, blah blah blah. All day it was running in my head. So I knew I needed to call my landlord and make a trip to Wally world before I got home. My sister was coming up that day too to help me back and go home, so I wanted things to be comfortable for her. She had never stayed over in my apartment, and of course, the day she was coming to see me, a large black roach had appeared in my bathroom.
At least, as many people have said, I haven't seen one in my kitchen. That would be the worst. So I went out and got spray and found that the only baits were for the small roaches. I did buy the baits, thinking they would work, but when I opened them and saw the tiny openings, I thought, no, there is no way what I saw could ever fit in these tiny holes. So I just made sure to spray around my bathroom and I called my landlord, who did not give me a definitive answer about what would happen. I said on the phone, "I just don't want them to have a party in here while I'm gone." So I will have to let you know what I will find when I flip my lights on the night I return.
Jennifer the commoner continues her adventures in mediocrity one day at a time!
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