God brought me to my knees

Well, apparently last Monday, God decided it was time to teach this arrogant child (me) a lesson.
I had my first accident on Monday morning in a Little Rock pharmacy parking lot, and the lady whose care I backed into was really really really furious and flipped out and called the police and gave me looks of death all the while. I understand that she was mad, but I obviously hadn't done it on purpose, and I mean, I went inside and paged her in the pharmacy so that we could work it out. So yeah. The policeman came and he was really nice, and when she started flipping out at me again, he was like, "It's ok, it was just an accident, there's no need to cause a scene." So yeah. I'd put a dent in the side of her car, and it wasn't any real damage, it just hurt her nice pretty car. And I thought my car was fine. Little did I know.

“Mrs. Gilbreth, you backed your car into a parked truck. It doesn’t take a doctor to tell you that you need a little rest.” (Belles on Their Toes)

Two hours later after speeding along the highway to Memphis I got off the interstate because Jenny was lost. As we were going through lights, and I was even more convinced that we were lost, a lady rolled down her window and yelled, “your bumper is coming off!”

So, I pulled off and, sure enough, my bumper was at a right angle to my car, and had obviously been dragging along the road for a significant amount of time. I had pulled of into a gas station parking lot, and parked right next to a police car. Anyways, so Jenny and I lifted up the sides, to see if maybe we could stick it back on somehow. . . .and the whole thing fell off. So I was standing in a parking lot, in a rather not-so-nice part of Memphis, looking at my bumper on the ground. I’d never actually wondered what was under my bumper. . .but now I know. Anyways, so this guy comes up. . .and he was kind of creepy, but anyways, he’s like, “Ma’am are you having some trouble?” I’m like, well, yeah, obviously. So he announces that he could fix it for me. I was like, well, how much would you charge? So then he starts talking about how he could get a new bumper by the next day. And I was like, no, I’m going to GA TODAY. So he wanted me to bring my car down to his HOUSE which was a few blocks down, apparently. I looked at Jenny and Theresa, and we didn’t really know what to do, but I was like, wellll, can’t you fix it right here? I wasn’t going anywhere. The police car sitting next to me made me feel much more secure, too. Anyways, so yeah. He started working on it, and I opened up my trunk so he could get to it and everything. And then he asked for wire or string, and I didn’t have either one. I didn’t even have any yarn with me! But this other guy comes up and says he has a coat hanger in his trunk, and so the guy helping us takes off with him and comes back with a wire coat hanger and a pair of wire cutters. So now my bumper is literally attached to my car with 2 screws and a coat hanger. I’m as kabili/hick as you get. I fit right in in Atlanta, though! I gave the guy 20 bucks, and we took off from there as fast as possible. Oh, and the guy who helped us hopped into a car with a California license plate (remember, we’re in Memphis, TN!) and drove off. And we were like, sooooo, he lived right down the road? Uh-huh. But yeah. We got back on the interstate, and eventually got to where we needed to be.

So I drove for another 5 hours and got back to Chattanooga. The whole trip from Little Rock to Chattanooga only actually took 7 hours. . .a new record for Little Jenny. I was driving a wee bit fast.

When I finally got back to my apartment, I had 15 minutes before James was picking me up to go watch X3. So, I started up my computer to check e-mail, since I didn’t have wireless or even cell phone reception for the past few days in Arkansas.
The screen had shiny lines all down it. And I could see nothing that I was supposed to. I tried rebooting a couple times. . .and I got the same thing. Anyways, then James got there, and so I just shut it down and set it to charging, hoping that it would magically fix itself while I was gone. So yeah. I made James get rid of a couple of large bugs for me. Then we left. The ENTIRE time we were out, he didn’t stop talking. . .about comic books, and the X-Men cartoon series, and he just went on and on and on. I was soooo bored.

But really, I was worrying about my car, and my computer, and I felt like my life was in shambles. I’d never hurt my car before, or anything. I was supposed to be a responsible grown up person. I felt like the whole day had been a failure. I felt like I was a failure. And I was. I’d gotten to the point in my life where I felt like I was independent and in control, and I was forgetting about God, and his importance and giving him the glory and honor. I’ve been glorifying myself instead of him. And that’s just stupid. I can’t do anything. I’m a pathetic excuse of a human being. It is only through his grace that I’ve been sanctified, redeemed, and made whole. He has given me everything that I have, and if he chooses to take it away, I can’t complain. He knows how to take care of me, and mold me towards himself. And he protects and takes care of me, even when I do stupid things like ram into other cars, and drop bumpers in parking lots.

Anyways, so by the time I got home at like 1 am, I was an emotional wreck. So I called Libby and left her a voice mail, and then I called Aaron, who listened to me and calmly and rationally told me to go get some sleep. Which I was in desperate need of. So instead, I went and took a shower, and when I got out, Libby called me! So I talked to her for an hour and went to bed at 3.

The next day I managed to make my computer work again (but it still cuts in and out sometimes—I think it may be overheating or something, I don’t know). I also told my dad about the broken bumper. And life moves on.

never planning on being a single mom

I have determined, for once and for all, that I cannot and will not be a single mom. Well, ok, I guess I've determined that I COULD be. . .but I WON'T!! There are supposed to be two people to watch a child that requires constant attention. At any rate. I'm in Alabama, and I've determined that I HATE Huntsville. It's vile and evil, and road signs aren't marked, which is obviously the mark of the devil. Anyways. I've driven around it a lot today. I'm only here because I'm taking care of my niece during a wedding that her parents are both in. And right now they're at the rehearsal dinner, so I've had the little one for the past 3 hours. . .most of which I've spent driving, oddly enough. And she's been great--singing and happy and talking in her carseat. She didn't much want to go to bed though. She screamed at me, but I finally got her to fall asleep on my shoulder. . .eventually. So she's happy and sleeping now. Hopefully for a very looooong time.

today

so. . .today I helped my mother pack, played with my cranky niece, went with mom to the airport (which lasted 3 hours), then came home and consoled myself, not with ice cream, but by shopping online, and buying a book (which i was told i ought to buy), and Season 1 of Will and Grace. So there.

random quotes that attracted my appreciation

Some rainy winter Sundays when there's a little boredom, you should always carry a gun. Not to shoot yourself, but to know exactly that you're always making a choice.
Lina Wertmuller

I fell asleep reading a dull book and dreamed I kept on reading, so I awoke from sheer boredom.
Heinrich Heine
German critic & poet (1797 - 1856)

(I actually did that this afternoon. . .except I dreamed myself into the book, made it more exciting, and then woke up, because it was STILL stupid and dull!)

Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid.
Heinrich Heine (1797 - 1856)

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
Hunter S. Thompson (1939 - 2005)

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
Rita Mae Brown

(I think my three best friends are fairly normal. . .oh crap)

The Romans would never have found time to conquer the world if they had been obliged first to learn Latin.
Heinrich Heine

There are more fools in the world than there are people.
Heinrich Heine

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams (1957 - )

Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Unknown, Hanlon's Razor

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.
Clifton Fadiman (1904 - )

(how is this guy not dead yet?? Creeeepy)

Travel is only glamorous in retrospect.
Paul Theroux (1941 - ), in The Washington Post

Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch.
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Mansfield Park

Time cools, time clarifies; no mood can be maintained quite unaltered through the course of hours.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

So little time and so little to do.
Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)

Doing a thing well is often a waste of time.
Robert Byrne

What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
Scottish Proverb

Being a woman is of special interest to aspiring male transexuals. To actual women it is simply a good excuse not to play football.
Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

(so so true)

Mayonnaise: One of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

Common sense and sense of humor are the same thing moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
Clive Jones

Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.
American Proverb

EMBALM, v.i. To cheat vegetation by locking up the gases upon which it feeds. By embalming their dead and thereby deranging the natural balance between animal and vegetable life, the Egyptians made their once fertile and populous country barren and incapable of supporting more than a meagre crew. The modern metallic burial casket is a step in the same direction, and many a dead man who ought now to be ornamenting his neighbor's lawn as a tree, or enriching his table as a bunch of radishes, is doomed to a long inutility. We shall get him after awhile if we are spared, but in the meantime the violet and rose are languishing for a nibble at his _glutoeus maximus_.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don't know.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

To be positive: To be mistaken at the top of one's voice.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Childhood, n. The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary

Cynic, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary


http://www.quotationspage.com/

My life. . .dull

Well, this morning I e-mailed my little brother, summing up the highlights of my life. Here it is. . .now you'll understand just how bored I really am.

I'm up super super early with the small one--well, it's not actually that early any more, but she woke me up at 6:30 or so. She is currently on the floor of the computer room, because I had to banish her from my lap after she decided that my wireless card was a fun toy. Oops, now she's standing next to me blowing kisses at me, hoping that she's cute enough to grab my computer. She's not. Especially because she wants to push the power button. Well, she danced to my music for a minute, but now she's pretending to leave the room and waving goodbye. She has this new thing of sticking out her tongue and spitting. I think it's adorable, but Ruth is rather disturbed, and smacks me for encouraging it. She ought to be just about ready for a nap. She's been tired and kind of cuddly all morning, until she got hungry, so I had to feed her breakfast. Nobody else is up yet. . .except Jeremy, who's already gone to work. Anjuli actually tried to escape into Mom's room when I closed my eyes for a minute. . .but I suddenly noticed that it was entirely too quiet in the living room, so I went after her. See, this is how interesting my life is. Ooh, now she's trying to come back into the room, but she's not sure how to go down the step, without doing a head dive. So she's looking cute, hoping I'll help out. And she's talking to me, telling me all about her dilemma. Now she's on my lap. She was cute enough. But so far she's being very good. Just staring longingly at the keyboard. Shall I let her type you a message? Here you go.

tfedrfgbyh7n jukn498011155555558555555 0S D3333333NK4M 9POI222OK3 H

All right, she starteD vbc vbnvvvvvvvvvbvcvvgffvjk oiiikm

She's back on the floor now, being tempted by the computer cord. But she got a severe NO, so she's not touching it. She's now learning that the computer chair is a great merry-go-round. And now she's dancing to my Arabic music. She likes the beat. She's cute. Don't you wish you were here? :)

Gradumitation

Well--I have definitely officially gradumitated. It was the happiest day ever. The next day I cried every hour. . .but that's beside the point. I'm all grown up and ready for the next stage of my existence. . .well, as soon as my mother returns to her home in Yemen.

On a lighter note, the season finale of Gilmore Girls--SUCKED!! And I am wearing a virtual black ribbon for the leaving of the producers Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband. What are they THINKING!!!!! This is tragic!