"All these things I should keep to myself
But I feel somehow strangely compelled...."

- Neil Finn, Sinner

Since I was a kid, this intersection near my kids' schools was controlled by a four-way stop sign. About three years ago, it was deemed busy enough to put in this signal (I would guess because so many parents drive their kids to school nowadays, rather than have them walk). To this day, when driving up this street on my way home from work, I may slow and almost stop at a green light, or stop at a red light, then almost immediately start to cross if nobody's coming, before I remember it's a light now. I know it's a signal, yet "stop sign" seemed to have gotten hard-wired into my brain. This will likely get me killed someday.

Red light-Green light
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
24 June 2009

Somewhere in this jungle is another geocache (sorry you're seeing so many of these as a subject lately - I kind of got on a kick after Spokane...)

Zoom!!!
Seal Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
23 June 2009

And yet, only a few feet away ( is this... )

A co-worker of mine puchased a SmartCar. After work, she gave me a little ride around the parking lot before we both went home. First time I've been in one; surpisingly roomy for only two seats. Friends of mine later told me - omg! enter smartcar=die instantly!!!1!1!!

Smart Car
Los Alamitos CA
Sharp VE-CG30
27 April 2009

Our new neighbor's car sears my retinas every morning...

Pink Camero
Huntington Beach CA
Casio EX-Z80A
5 March 2009

One of the other kids gets to ride to school in this.

Hearse
Huntington Beach CA
Casio Exilim EX-Z80A
12 February 2009

Slightly foggy evening's walk down to the pier with the fry.

Pier
Huntington Beach CA
Sharp VE-CG30
27 September 2008

( Blast from the past... )

In the corner of the parking lot at the local Fry's Electronics. Just the perfect way to haul around more than a dozen pallets, right?

Actually from back in June, but I hadn't posted about it yet. We'd been looking for awhile, and something finally clicked!

( new baby! )

I get gas station rage. I'm going to have to start avoiding small Arco stations. Every time I have a bad experience at a gas station, it's at one of those.

First there was this incident (my, venomous, aren't I?).

A few months ago, I was at the one at HB Central Park. The machine refused to take my cash, so I went inside and gave the woman behind the counter my last remaining bills. Not much, probably enough to get me to work and back. I put in my gas, the pump clicked off, and I looked up at the meter and saw a dollar less than what I'd given her. I went inside to see what had happened, and she told me, "No, you only gave me this much." I had counted it before I gave it to her, and it certainly wasn't in my pocket anymore. I was so mad, I forgot the nozzle was still my gas tank and drove off - I'm very lucky I didn't rip it off or I would have been out even more.

Then yesterday, I stopped on the way to work. All the pumps on one side were full so I pulled around to where a single car appeared to be finishing up. It was a white Buick LeSabre convertible, a little shabby looking (but I'm a fine one to talk, the Trooper is covered with dust and bird crap because I park under a tree). A blonde woman was sitting in the passenger seat smoking, and finally the driver comes out of the convenience store. He opens the door and then stands there digging around in his pockets. He pulls out his smokes and a lighter, looks at them for moment, then starts fiddling about in his pockets again. Then he looks around the seat, then in the door pocket. Pulls out a cigarette, sticks it in his mouth, and digs in his pockets again. Dig, dig, dig. This goes on for a full five minutes. I wouldn't mind if he's lost something, but he's parked right between two pumps, so nobody else can use either of them. The guy on the other side of the island is even looking at him and shaking his head. I haven't said anything to him, but as the other guy leaves, having been there half as long as the guy in the Buick, he accidently touches his horn as he leaves, and Mr. Digger, finally in the seat with the engine running, turns around and flips me off.

I pull up to the pump (leaving enough room for someone behind me), he swerves around behind me, and dammit, I should have kept my mouth shut, but I say loudly, "Yeah, thanks very much for the bird, I wasn't the one that honked!"

"Well, I'm sooorrry!" he yells back, not sounding sorry at all.

"And you were taking up two freakin' pumps!" I retort, whereupon I get the bird again, and he and his passenger roar off with much shrieking of tires.

I could have handled it better, I suppose, asked "did you lose something? Can I help you find it? would you mind moving ahead a little?" instead of just sitting there getting irritable.

But today, I'd just rather think he's an idiot.

Jeez! How did it get to be the last week of school? For first graders and up, each day this week has some kind of theme as to what to wear. Today was Hat Day, so Angus got to wear his bucket hat his grandma got him from Aquarium of the Pacific, which he likes because it has sea otters on it. It's almost getting too small...

Last week there was a BBQ Thursday night to welcome parents and students from the other school in the district that is being closed. Not that we met any, but we did talk a bit with a dad and his son who were transferring from a school in Fountain Valley. He started out with asking how old Angus and Gareth were, followed by "What the heck are you feeding them?!" since Angus was two inches taller than his second grader (not the first time we've heard this; Angus is also taller than some third and fourth graders). His kid and ours then started chasing each other around the playground, while John and the other dad talked about cars. Turned out he had also been to Huntington Beach High School, a block down the road, although he graduated five years after I did, so I wouldn't have known him (although HBHS is a big school, and even if we had gone there at the same time we might not have known each other). During the course of the conversation, he let drop that he owned a Ferrari (which we'd driven past in the parking lot, and John made a "Whewlookitthat!" noise), an Escalade, a BMW (which he was saving for his teen-ager, although he was going to make him buy it), and some other expensive car. But also that Kia Sportages were great, too (close to John's heart; we were very fond of our Sportage). I could tell John was dying to ask what he did for a living, but thankfully, restrained himself from being too nosy. He also mentioned he had a 24-year-old son, who had already left home, which made my brain hurt slightly. Five years younger than me, and already has one out of the nest and a second grader? Certainly better at spreading them out than we were. *Insert wry grin here* I just hope the teenager isn't one of those I see driving an expensive cars like they own the road and no one else deserves to be on it that I see careering out of the high school parking lot. Some of their parents aren't much better, come to think of it.

The line finally got up to the table, I whistled to the kids to rejoin us, and the conversation ceased. Since he and John seemed to enjoy talking, I thought we might sit together once we got our food, but they went off and sat by themselves, as did we, since no one else we knew was still eating. John was waving and saying hi to a lot of other people, he seems to know everyone, but he is that kind of person, very gregarious. You'd never know he didn't want to come, beforehand. Made some comment about his opinion/feelings/wants not mattering. Pffft. He was the one who first mentioned it to me, earlier in the week.

..........................
Again with the eating at the school. The next morning there was a "Pastry and Parents" deal before school started. John was thought it was free, but I was sure it wasn't, considering this school seems to have a fundraiser every week or two. Yep, a dollar apiece for Krispy Kreme donuts, and the same for a small styrofoam cup of coffee or juice. I bought three to take home, and I should have waited. Just before the bell rang they marked 'em down to a twofer.

Hmmm, according to my calculations, we should have the Trooper paid off by November. Yay.

At which point, it will probably completely fall apart.

Honestly, we spent so much on repairs for it this year, we probably should have just bitten the bullet and bought something new. The bill for fixing always sounded more reasonable than trying to scrape up a down payment, though. Now it sounds like a bearing is going out, with all the squealing it's started doing when it starts up lately. Sigh.

At least after next week, we won't be forking out for school lunches until September. I would make them take lunches, but Angus constantly brings his home completely untouched, and while Gareth will eat a bag lunch, it seems unfair to let one buy one and make the other take his...

I'm glad I wasn't heading north on PCH on the way home. There was an accident just north of Warner Ave. blocking both lanes, with the fire truck and paramedics parked diagonally. Cars were squeezing by one at a time through the left turn lane, and as I went by I saw a flash of a gold Harley-Davidson (or some other such retro, extremely expensive bike) lying on its side. Ouch. Hope they were ok.

As I headed south past the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, I kept telling all the oncoming cars, turn around, make a U-turn! You're gonna get stuck! Would anyone listen to me? Of course not.

It turns out I should've thought good thoughts about Angus's spelling test, but I didn't know he was having one. He only missed one on his math test, but on his spelling test he only wrote the first letter of each word.

Sigh. I think I know what this conference is going to be about.

We had over $1100 worth of work done on the Trooper the week before last, having an oil leak fixed, the water pump and the starter replaced and a couple of other little things. The day after we got it back, I noticed a slight whirring as it accelerated, which stopped when I braked. I didn't notice anything after that, but two days later, we stopped at a store to get some change for Angus's lunch. When John put it in gear afterwards, it didn't want to move, but suddenly did with a clunk. The noise was back accompanying by a grinding sound. He took me to work, but then it quit on the way home and he had to have it towed back to the mechanic.

We didn't hear what was wrong Friday afternoon, but today we found out the transmission is completely gone. At first he said it would be up to $1200 to get a new one (too expensive to fix) but then he found a reconditioned one for $700. So, a lot less, but still more than we have.

We're looking into a loan. Might as well pay everything off at once.

Yay for debt.

Pheww. I got up half an hour earlier, filled out all of Angus's forms from his first day packet so he could return them, and still was barely on time getting him to school. Didn't have time to put a lunch together for either of us, so he got lunch money instead of using his new Yugi-oh! lunch box. A couple other parents arrived the same time I did, so I didn't feel so bad. I noticed the kids in his class are now lining up outside the cafeteria, and Mr. C. was about to lead them back to the room, so he just got in line with them.

( Trooper woes... )

And my neck still hurts, probably more after walking home because I was getting tense. Well, I'm at work now, must get August fishing report out.

Grrr! What is the deal with you people who have to lean on the horn the instant the light turns green?! Chill, man, you're gonna have a heart attack if you're in that much of a hurry to get everywhere.

My inbox at work this morning contained 5 messages with the Netsky virus, 1 that I'm assuming is the Bagel virus becasue it wants to try to download (fortunately blocked), and one message saying, "you sent us a virus and it was deleted" (I didn't) and 2 legitimate e-mails. This is getting ridiculous. This is decent-sized government agency - isn't there some way they can block these things? Until then, I've been just deleting anything with a address inside "<>" and no name. Aha, PH just came by and showed me how to filter them out myself, thank goodness. That'll cut down a few of them anyway.

Thank you to the lady at the Bolsa Chica and Heil ARCO station the other day for giving me a chance to practice my meditation techniques. While I was waiting (politely, I thought) for other vehicles to clear the single lane of space between the car at the gas island and building so I could exit, you pulled up in your gigantic convertible Cadillac and just parked there.

You hopped out and went into the AM/PM (probably for the most expensive mineral water in their limited selection), heedless of the fact that you effectively blocked the way for anyone else to get through. Never mind that there was a row of parking spaces at the back of the building, probably placed in that location because the area around the gas islands is very narrow and cramped, with not much extra room for maneuvering vehicles. It might have put too much wear and tear on your expensive Nordstrom's sandals. Or the afternoon breeze might have put your carefully coiffed hair into disarray, or disarranged your little mini sundress (which btw, exposed your leathery shanks and shoulders and appeared to have been designed for someone forty years your junior).

I silently repeat to myself, I am calm, I am cool, I am collected, I will not take my lunch leftovers and smear them all over your windshield, I will not dump the curdled contents of my daughter's formula bottle that was forgotten in the back seat yesterday all over your front seat or into your air conditioner intake, I will not use my bigger SUV (don't flame me - my husband insisted on it) and just shove the ostentatious car your executive husband bought you (or that you got in the divorce settlement along with the house and the means of living to which you have become accustomed) out of the way or better yet, just drive on OVER it, leaving you to hoof it back to Huntington Harbor.

Deep Breaths. Count to ten. My calm, cool and collected self made a U-turn by laborious increments, drove back around the gas station, exited onto the street and continued home.

Bitch.

Ok - think I've gotten it out of my system now. Yes, I should have at least honked, but actually I was too blind with rage to remember where the horn button was.

As I was driving home earlier this week, I noticed I was behing the exact same pickup truck that I was behind on the way that morning! Same band stickers, same Uncle Sam saying "I want you Bin Laden" sticker, same two bald rednecks yucking it up. How likely is that , here in suburban Los Angeles?