"Mamma said there'd be days like this,
there'd be days like this, mamma said
(mamma said, mamma said)
Mamma said there'd be days like this,
there'd be days like this my mamma said."

After a very nice but mostly unproductive day yesterday, I ended up at the Starlite (or the Lite for short) as I am wont to do, and actually closed the place down, which I haven't done in a while. So I was asleep by maybe 2:30 or so and woke up just after 7 this morning just because my body is adjusting in some ways to my work schedule. My mind still doesn't wake up until at least 10 or two cups of coffee into the day (whichever is first, maybe), but my body can't seem to sleep in past 7 anymore without at least an "I'm-late-for-work!"-panic and an "Oh,-it's-an-off-day"-roll-over.

Anyway, I wasn't planning to wake until after 9, but I decided that an early start couldn't hurt me and it would give me time to finally water my garden (which I've been putting off since Thursday) before hitting the road. After deciding that I was running too late to try out the new church before going to my Gramps', I was all excited that I was going to get moving by ten-thirty and make it here earlier than I have in a while. So I went to the gas station to check my tire pressure and fluid levels...

I just got my oil changed two weeks ago or so, and knew that my power steering was running low because the Ru has been a little persnickity on his turns and parking.. but I've checked my oil twice since the change and the levels were just fine, and I did have power steering fluid, just not a great deal, and I've driven vehicles without power steering before -- now that I've got muscles, it should be that much easier, right?

But today when I checked my oil, it was completely out. Then I noticed in the rear-left corner of the hood-wall and engine innards: a bunch of weird dark brown lines, like someone had taken tarrish paint and flung it off a paint brush inside my hood.

Then I noticed that it was wet, whatever it was, and was EVERYWHERE in that section. Large glops of it and big drips of it along with the little paint-brush flung looking lines up near the top.

It looked like gloopy oil, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from and I couldn't see anything that caused alarm -- the boot on my CV Axle was just fine, so it wasn't the joint grease on that. (Forgive me if I get the terms wrong, I can see the part in my mind, I just don't actually know what these things are called)..

It hit me hard, though -- I knew my muffler and at least one section of my exhaust pipe needed to be replaced, and I knew that the place I took it to for that also said my catalytic converter was what caused all the rattling and also needed to be replaced. I know that my clutch cable has been needing to be replaced for a while, because people just keep putting spacers on it to stretch it out, and the silley guy who replaced my clutch when I first got to Jax didn't replace the cable while he was in there.

And I've already gotten my CVAxle, clutch, brakes and tires replaced. So I really didn't want something completely unexpected to be wrong with my car. But the worst part was the day -- I wasn't just heading to my Gramps' just to see him and Gramma Jan or just for the fun of it -- nope. Friday is Gramps' birthday, and last Wednesday was (my older brother) John's birthday. So we were all going to meet here (Gramps and Gramma Jan, John, Peter, Sloane, Mom and Mary, and myself) to celebrate both birthdays. The one task I actually accomplished yesterday was their present shopping.

So, despite the fact that it was now almost 11 and I had really not wanted to show up late on my first Sunday at this new church (figuring maybe I would've missed all the worship music and that was one of the things I had been particularly interested in seeing there) .. despite that, I went on down there because it was the only place I could think of to go. And after the serviceI found Terri, the woman I mentioned from last Wednesday. To make a long story short, her husband was able to take me to get some oil to bandaid my car with for the moment so we could get it to a good repair shop (the one Terri and her family use), and then take me to the airport to get a rental car.

In the meantime, I managed to spill coffee on both of my shirts -- the one I was wearing and the one I had packed for tomorrow.

"Well this day's been crazy, but everything's happened on schedule.. from the mmphhmpphpmph to the coffee I spilled on my shirt." -- Derek Webb

(I think that line is from the rain and the mud..??)

I got on the road, in my brand-new Nissan Sentra rental car, around 2:30pm.

And then, because of Bike Week in Daytona, I decided to take the scenic route down instead of my normal path through Daytona and Orlando. Except that it was a beautiful Sunday and EVERYONE was driving. Slowly, at that. And every light turned red when they saw me coming. (To match my fingernails, perhaps?)

I joined my grandfather and family for dinner at our usual place around 7:30.

There is NO WAY it should ever take five hours from Jacksonville to Lake Placid in non-Thanksgiving traffic. And because this peppy little Sentra drives a whole lot different than my Albert, I kept finding myself going much faster than I thought I was -- on the way home, assuming less traffic and less lights, I'll be using the car's cruise control. (Albert's doesn't work, but I'm used to how he drives.)

Anyway -- after that, it was all pleasant .. my niece was especially bubbly this evening and especially happy to see me for some reason. My twin brother was wearing the Blue Angels shirt I got him for our birthday -- mom and Mary say they made him wear it "or else" .. which makes me feel like when hypothetical old Aunt Edna makes little Jimmy a really ugly, itchy sweater for Christmas and poor little Jimmy has to wear it every time he sees her until he "accidentally" rips a big hole in the elbow or (if he's not so clever) outgrows it past squeezing-into-one-last-time.

I'm staying here tonight and then will head back tomorrow with the time being flexible based on what's up with my car. It is nice to know that I'm in this peaceful, relaxing place and tomorrow I'll be able to sit on the patio in the zero-gravity chair (hopefully there'll be a breeze .. Gramps weighs even less than I do these days and keeps the house super-duper hot and still wears jackets) and look out over the lake and read my book and maybe even journal. (Yup, all the stuff I don't put here.)

Hopefully my little Al, jr has some minor problem (apart from the others mentioned) and will be ready to go in no time. Otherwise, I'm going to be seriously out of luck trying to manage my life in Jacksonville without a car. But hey, at least I'm not in school this semester and everything I do outside of work is in walking distance....