Dwarf Planet in Purple

I guess the universe didn't want me to go to Highland River Melees, because my car was just sitting out there in the condo parking lot with its right rear tire all flat. Ah, well. Now the bicycle tire is in that space, and tomorrow after church I'll have to go tire shopping.

All the tires on my car are old -- IIRC, last time I bought any was in October 2005 -- so this is no big surprise. Still, I'm glad I didn't go somewhere distant today and stayed home to do some cleaning, rather than have this thing go flat in the middle of nowhere.

But still ... I am really, really jonesing to go to an SCA event! It's been two months since my last one. *sigh* Oh, well, I am under no illusions that I am going to win the Pearl Passport Promenade.

At least I am getting rid of some clutter. Today I got rid of some old cosmetics and potions that I'd forgotten I'd had, and put more stuff in a donation bag. The Lupus Foundation will be making a pickup at my house next Wednesday.

What do they say about no good deed going unpunished?

Anyhow, I didn't think I should stay for feast, because while Bright Hills has awesome cooks, SCA feasts tend to get long in terms of time, and I have this freelance deadline thing. So I borrowed Mistress Fevronia's phone to call the boy toy, and he asked me to pick up a pack of cigarettes for him on the way home and he'd pay me back. I hate doing this, but as long as he reimburses me...

So I filled up the gas tank at the Sheetz there in Manchester (Maryland, not New Hampshire!) and got myself some coffee and a small bag of chips. The drive home was uneventful, although there was a stretch along MD Route 30 (in both directions) where the GPS system started giving wonky directions, insisting I make a left turn where there was none. I wonder what kind of strange geophysical anomaly lurks in Carroll County.

I got off the parkway at my usual exit, which is actually pretty close to my house, and stopped at the gas station right at the end of the exit ramp. I bought the cigarettes (yecch), got in my car, and drove off.

Well, right at the next corner the car ... went ... and ... gave ... up. It just pooped out and I steered it as far as I could to the side of the right-turn lane before it stopped moving. The engine would turn over, but once it would "catch" it would run out of gas, so to speak, and stop running. Yeah, 50 miles past the most recent fill-up.

Officer Friendly pulled up behind me to tell me that I couldn't leave the car there. Well, duh, I live right around the corner and I drive through that intersection practically every day! At least he put out some flares while I walked back to the gas station ... remember, I forgot to bring my cell phone with me. So I called AAA, and I emphasized that my car had expired in a bad place and I needed it moved ASAP (as opposed to the time, years ago, when I had waited FIVE HOURS for AAA in a Metro parking lot). A second set of flares from the police officer later, and the tow truck came and picked me up and brought my car back to the service station where I had bought the cigarettes in the first place. Then the tow truck driver brought me home.

I'm sure I was quite a sight for the tow-truck driver ... though my winter jacket covered most of my garb, my House Corvus Decameron pouch with its bright white tassels dangled from below the jacket, and I pulled my white haversack, my tablet-weaving loom and the boy toy's Dirt Devil out of the car to take with me.

Needless to say, I was not up for writing much by the time I got home. After finally eating supper, I lay down on the bed to watch "SNL" and didn't keep my eyes open past the opening monologue.

Today I found out from the gas station that my car's fuel pump is shot. I'm pretty sure it's the original fuel pump, so it lasted almost 15 years and 148,200-plus miles. The station gave me an estimate of $825. I'm pulling some cash out of the reserves, but I think I can do better on the price. (I rather HAVE to...) Maugorn is already hatching a plan to get the repair done for much less $$$.

But first, I have this deadline tomorrow... a long article with lots of words for which I can charge actual $$$....