BEDJ 1: Your Luck Has Been Completely Changed Today

Talk about a bad day.

First and foremost, I had an extremely pleasant time with Leslie during the non-stressful parts of my Philadelphia trip. We walked around the city, we talked, we checked out art work, saw a homeless guy peeing in the middle of the sidewalk, and hung out on the lawn in front of Independence Hall. Good times. Unfortunately, the horrible parts were also the most influential parts.

I've already told this story about 300 different times now, and I am sick and tired of reliving the new found anger and hate I have for Philadelphia. I'll try to keep this as short as possible so the possibility of me wanting to gouge my eyes out is less.

I left at 9 a.m. Thursday from my house in order to meet Leslie at the 30th Street Station in the city of brotherly love. What should have taken me three hours took me seven hours. About 15 minutes away from my destination, BOOM, I hit traffic, and my car overheated. This was not a new experience for me. I would normally just arrive at my destination, leave the car alone for awhile to cool down, and everything would be fine-and-dandy when I came back. I had no reason to think this would be any different.

Except... it was...

My car shut down four times. Many of those times were in the middle of traffic. On a busy four-lane highway during a strange Thursday lunchtime rush hour. However, all three times I stopped, there was a heaven-sent Stranger there to help to provide water bottles to cool my car down and even a ride to the gas station and back to put coolant in the radiator. The last time my car stopped, a PennDOT worker, who I originally thought was there to two my car away, helped me take it away from the exit and into the Target parking lot.

I should have told my parents to come get me then, but it was almost 4 p.m. and they wouldn't be able to leave until 8 p.m. So I figured I might as well journey into the city by cab, hang out with Leslie, come back to my car at 8, and determine whether it was properly working. Sounds good, right?

Wrong.

Four hours later, when Leslie and I stepped out of the cab at Target, I realized about 20 seconds too late that I forget my camera bag (which contained not only my recently-purchased-I-haven't-even-paid-the-damn-thing-off-yet camcorder, my camera, my GPS, and a pack of gum) sitting on the floor of the cab. For the next  three hours, we called every single possible person in order to get that cab guy back to Target.

Apparently (and this skewers my brain,), the cab company has no idea where their cab drivers are at any given time and has no way of knowing which cab just dropped me off to send the driver back. If I had a receipt, the customer service lady said, she could send a message to the cab, but guess what, I wasn't offered a receipt and I didn't think to ask because I wasn't expecting to call them back.

While all the phone calls (did I mention my phone died as well and I had to buy a car charger?) were taking place, I drove Leslie back to the train station, thinking my car was working fine, until it decided to shit on me and die at a busy redlight in the city. At which time (about 9 p.m.), I asked my parents to come get me, and Leslie left at 10:45.

No cops came to help even though I called 911 (by the way, the police hassled me later for sitting in the train station for so long). No customer service cab person could (or would) help even though we called numerous times (we were told a message was sent out to the cabbies, but I talked to a few cabbies, and that message never came).

At 1 a.m., my parents arrived. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting when I called for their help and they said they would tow my car back to Northumberland, but the ghetto-rigged tow job my dad did was definitely not it. He tied a piece of rope between his truck and my car, and expected me to keep my car in neutral, steer the five feet behind him, and keep my foot on the brake to stop when he stopped.

For four hours. On the Turnpike.

For 60 minutes, it was the most terrifying thing I've ever been a part of. I was praying with tears coming down my cheeks that we wouldn't die. Several times, I had my hand on the phone to call the cops and report our situation just so it would stop, but I didn't know where we were, and I was too petrified to take my hands off the wheel for longer than five seconds. When we stopped for a break, I told my parents I couldn't handle it after all the stress of the past 12 hours. My dad switched places, begrudgingly, and my mom drove the truck.

We got home at 6 a.m.

Friday was only slightly better. Phone calls yielded no results for my lost possessions and I'm forced to accept I lost $800 dollars worth of equipment. My radiator needed replaced, and fortunately only cost $40 for the part and $10 for labor since my brother-in-law knew what he was doing.

When I ate dinner today, I opened my fortune cookie and it read: "Your luck has been completely changed today."


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VEDJ: Vegetable Stir Fry
          : Green Tea
          : Apple Juice
          : A slice of cheese pizza
EEDJ: An hour of step-ups, crunches, leg lifts, and running in place... while watching Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. What? Is there any other way to exercise?