So I'll start by admitting that I am, more or less, blessed. As blessed as someone who doesn't believe in a higher power can be, and who is a twenty-something still working in a retail environment, struggling through school. But! I have my health (more or less, damn you high BP!), and I have a roof over my head, food, and a car that (for the time being) works. My loved ones are all still alive, and I haven't suffered any crushing losses in my life, and for that I am grateful. My unfortunate events are of the superficial variety, which doesn't necessarily make them less stressful, but it makes them a lot more hilarious. For me at least. And for a lot of my friends. And often enough, the random passerby.
My first example is going to be from awhile back. I think it gives the best example of the type of things that happen all too often to me. You see, it's never just one thing that happens, it's a slew of them. All of the possible variables being the worst ones, which lead to a perfect storm of horribleness that's almost farcical in nature.
The last summer that I was in Texas was hot. And humid, as are most summers in Austin. I believe the temperature hit around 107 that day. Huzzah August! I got a text around noon from my roommate that said as she was leaving for a date, the neighbor told her that my car had a flat. I went outside and yes, I did have a flat. My first flat in this car which was impressive for me, having the car for about 4 years at the time. This wasn't too big of a deal, it was a slow leak flat, which meant that it could be patched easily, and I was a pro at changing tires. I had all the various accouterments for changing tires and I had done it tons of times. It was hot, but I was parked in the shade and no one was around me. It would be easy. I could get it changed and have time to shower and dress before the symphony that was I was going to later that afternoon.
As I had predicted, the tire change went swiftly. I got the spare on, tightened the lug nuts, and then released the jack. Down went my car, and flat went my spare. I don't have the words for what I felt when that spare went flat, it felt like something inside me was breaking. But such is the way of life. I jacked my car back up.
I never use cash, so I rarely have change. I spent about 20 minutes digging around my car and around the laundry machines looking for quarters. I hadn't put air in tires in a long while, but I seemed to remember that air cost about $0.50. I grabbed three quarters for good measure and started rolling my flat tire to the gas station that was about a quarter mile down the road from my apartments. I lived off an older highway, so this was a quarter of mile on a shoulder, not a sidewalk, and a shoulder that wasn't in the best state of repair.
I did mention that it was 107 out, right?
So I make it to the gas station, I'm hot, sweaty, and not in a very good mood. I roll my tire up to the air compressor, and it's $1.00 for air. Thievery, I know, but that's what it was. I go into gas station and ask the attendant if I could pay with my card and have her turn it on, or if she could make an exception, and I'm told they don't own it so she can't do anything for it. They're not set up for cash back, and she "wasn't in the business of charity", so she wouldn't give me the $0.25 I needed. The person behind me, however, gave me a quarter. They got a pleased smile and a thank you, the woman, not so much.
So I got to fill up my tire, roll it all the way home, and finally get my car back together. I even got to shower before the symphony, if just barely.
The pleasure was short lived, because within the next two months, I got 3 more flats because of screws and nails left in the road from construction, and my serpentine belt snapped. After that, I was driving to work one day and heard an odd flapping all of sudden. I had time to ask my roommate, "Do you hear that?" and then a cosmetic piece of my bumper came off. But that's just how things go with my car.
