Weekend of Suck: Episode Two

Sunday was supposed to be either Dave's Exalted Game, or perhaps just boardgames if everyone wasn't available for Exalted. My friend Laura was going to head out to Providence to a Borders for a They Might Be Giants appearance, and I was welcome to tag along. Since I didn't get to see her on Saturday like we'd planned, that sounded like a good substitute for the day if Exalted didn't run. kaiwoklaw was also going, so I'd get to see her, too.

Then kaiwoklaw did a little more research about this appearance by TMBG, and learned that it was much more signing than performance, and that it was a much more kid-oriented affair. The prospect of driving 60-90 minutes to watch them perform for about 20 minutes and listen to screaming children the rest of the time appealed to neither of us, so we both opted out of that plan. I finally managed to determine that Exalted wasn't going to run either, though, so kaiwoklaw and I decided to just get together on our own. We decided to meet at her place, and I tried to go see her, only to discover that my car was stuck in its parking place, and I was just spinning my wheels on ice trying to escape.

That was annoying, but it wasn't the end of the world, because she could just come and see me instead, which is almost as good. However, all of the rearranging of plans and deciding who would drive and so on continued to eat away at the time we'd get to spend together. Eventually, she made it out here, and it seemed like things were going to be fine for the rest of the day. Ha, ha.

My brother had stopped by to snowmobile in our yard, and he offered to try to pull the car out of its spot with his truck. By the time it made sense to do this, my father had come home, and he thought we should try some other things first. We did it right then just in case we still needed the truck, as long as it was there. Eventually, and relatively painlessly, we managed to extricate the car, though it was actually sort of embarassing how easily it came out. I reassured people that yes, I had spend a full 15-20 minutes trying to get it out by myself a few hours before. Anyway, it was time to get food, and we called to order a pizza that we would drive 5 minutes or so to pick up. Since we'd just freed my car, I volunteered to drive.

Remember back in early February when I drove a few hundred feet and eventually realized that I had a flat tire? Yup, you guessed it. Shortly into the drive I pulled into a driveway off the street telling kaiwoklaw to call the house because I was almost certain that I had another flat. We had only driven down a couple of streets, and I honestly thought the wobbling was due to the potholes and leftover ice and snow from yesterday. Once we hit the relatively smooth and clear streets of Route 110 and it only got worse I knew I had a problem. Anyway, I turned out to be right - another completely flat tire. Right Rear instead of Left Rear this time. Joy. kaiwoklaw called the pizza place to cancel our pizza, explaining that we had a flat on the way to come get and get it. Then we sat there waiting for someone to come and help us. After a while, I started to wonder if they were coming or not. We were literally 2 minutes drive from my house after all - what the hell could be keeping them? Eventually I gave up and called AAA. 20 Seconds after I hung up from requesting roadside assistance, my father and brother pull in. Shoot me.

Called AAA back to cancel the assistance. Colin and dad changed the tire in near pit-crew worthy time. We called the pizza place and order another pizza. We drove to the pizza place and they asked us if we're the flat tire people. We admitted that we were, and expressed our hopes that we didn't leave them with a wasted pizza. The guy told us not to worry, that he ate our other pizza, and that it was quite good. I said that I was sorry that I missed it, but hopefully this new one is good, too. It was very silly.

Later still, it's time to move my car so kaiwoklaw can drive home. I had trouble starting my car. Hopefully it was just because it was rather cold out or something, but on top of the rest of the trouble with my car today, it was infuriating. Stuck, flat tire, and now it won't start? Why?! Why?!?!

There ends the Weekend of Suck. I'm hoping this will be the Week of Magical Happiness to compensate, but at this point I'll settle for the Week of Hey, Thing Aren't So Bad.