I had to go to Jackson for work today. This isn’t that big a deal normally. I had one of the fleet vehicles. Got up earlier than normal, picked up the Suburban and left. Well I got halfway out of town before I realized that I’d left one of the things I needed, so I had to turn back around and go back to work. It was, of course, peak traffic by the time I left again. I had just hit the highway when I realized that the piece of shit Suburban didn’t have cruise control. Greeeeeeat. A 2 hour drive without cruise. Or a CD or tape player. Just a radio. There’s no decent radio signal between Starkville and Jackson, in case you wanted to know. Well, I fell in with a line of traffic to try and keep at a regular speed. About ten miles from Jackson, just when I thought I was going to make it to my 10 o’clock meeting on time, I get pulled over for speeding. Me. Not any of the 3 cars in front of me who were going as fast as I was. Breaks a 5 year ticket-free streak. So yeah, that did a great deal for my mood. I make it to my exit for downtown Jackson right at 10, and I think Oh, I’ll only be a few minutes late. What everyone neglected to tell me is that there is no parking in downtown Jackson! I drove around and around the block trying to find both the building I needed and a parking space. I finally called a friend who works in the area to ask where I should park, and he directed me to a parking garage. So I FINALLY make it to my meeting (with the help of a nice pedestrian who took pity on me when I looked lost–one of the numbers to the address of the building had fallen off) half an hour late. Well after my meeting and after lunch with my friend, I go back to the parking garage to retrieve the Suburban and go to my next meeting. I get to the tollbooth.
“Six dollars,” says the apathetic employee.
I check my wallet. “Do y’all take cards or checks?”
“No.”
“I only have $4.”
“Do you wanna back up and go look for the rest of it?”
“I didn’t lose it. I just only have $4.”
“It’s $6.”
“Well what am I supposed to do?”
What I was forced to do, was to get the 2 cars behind me to back up far enough to let me back the big ass Suburban up, go park again, then hike in the 105 degree heat to find an ATM, which–of course– wasn’t my bank. Then went back to the parking garage. I wound up going the wrong way, getting a score of ugly looks from a security guard and some other personnel. I finally made it out of the parking garage and try to make my way back to the interstate. Miss my turn, because there are not enough freaking signs! I finally make it back to the interstate and head to my next meeting. Well I got lost again because there are not enough freaking signs! Was half an hour late to that meeting. The remainder of the afternoon was, thankfully, uneventful. I required ice cream therapy. Oh, I forgot, I got a phone call from my husband on the way home letting me know that it will be $1,000 to repair the A/C in our Durango. Geez.
In other news, the day wasn’t a total loss. I got 686 words written before I left this morning–so evidently this whole morning thing is getting progressively better.
AND…Drumroll Please!
I figured out the end to Houses of Cards! I was in a seminar on HIV at the time and looking at really graphic pictures of diseased genitalia (exactly what I didn’t want to be looking at right before lunch), so it seemed a good time to go somewhere else in my head. Anyway, this means I can move right along and finish in the next week or so! WOO! So at least the end to the day wasn’t terrible, horrible, no good, or very bad.
One thought on “The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day…”
Wow, that sucked immeasurably. I would have been crying over the ticket alone. Glad something good came of the day.