As some of you may know, my life has the tendency to take a turn for the absurd. This tendency is generally manifested in sudden outbreaks of what is commonly known as bad luck. Apparently, I am not alone in this, and it seems to stem from my mother's side of the family.
In any case, this past weekend I made to travel home to Gainesville to pick up new glasses. The pair that I had been wearing had lasted me throughout most of college, and had recently developed a series of annoying scratches and blemishes in the lenses, that necessitated replacement. Between Christmas break and two weeks prior, I had taken the necessary steps (eye exam, selection of frames) to replace the glasses.
All that remained was to pick them up.
I set out on Friday morning, a little bit after 9 A.M. It's a cold day, very cloudy. We've got an ice and sleet storm coming in, but I'm not worried about it, as it's not scheduled to start till eleven P.M.
My first stop is at the bank, as a long awaited check had finally arrived two days prior. This was somewhat fortuitous, as I realized something in leaving the bank.
I had left the Allegra-D (yes, one of THOSE again) in my medicine cabinet. Okay, no problem, apartment is just down the road a piece, shouldn't put me out more than five minutes.
I get back on C_______ Road, and maneuver into the left hand lane, so I can be in position to turn onto the road that houses my apartment complex.
Traffic begins to build up in the lane next to me.
I look ahead: the cars in front of me are stopped, and moving slowly past a redlight. I look for the head of the line.
Backhoe. Going five MPH. Wonderful. I can't get over to go past him; there is too much traffic in the right lane! So we creep along. Minute stacks upon minute; I grumble and mutter, and turn up the volume on the CD player.
Some blast rap; I blast "The Phantom of the Opera". Counter-culture, eat your heart your.
Anyway, back to the story. By the time I CAN get over, the backhoe is trudging right next to the turn lane. Were I to try and go past him, I would then be unable to actually get into the turn lane that leads to my apartment. So I wait, at five MPH, until I can get into the turn lane. I do so, proceed to the apartment, and collect the medicine. Departure is smooth, as I am able to go around the backhoe on my way to the Interstate.
Trip to Gainesville goes well, and I cross the county line a little bit after 10:30. Bypass home (everyone is out anyway), and head directly for the eye doctor's office.
The office is located just off of one of the major thoroughfares. To get to this office, I have to make a left turn at a red-light, onto another street, and then another left turn into the parking lot.
There is a semi-truck with trailer running perpindicular to the parking lot entrance. This was mild as I simply drove forward a bit more and cut through the parking lot of a real estate firm.
Park the car, walk into the office. See the glasses person; he goes into the back to find the order. Comes out with a look on his face.
Both pair has actually arrived a few days prior. Both pair had problems in the lenses. One of the lenses in the sunglasses (prescription) had it's axis off, which would have produced an interesting 3-D effect. One of the lenses in the regular glasses had some kind of flaw in that would have caused any light viewed at night or in the dark to flare sunburst-like in the lense. Both of these issues were bad things, and thus necessitated the return of the glasses to be fixed.
So, my intended quest did not succeed as planned. The glasses will have to wait until this saturday, when I return home again (gas prices are gonna kill me, "war for oil" my wallet)for my cousin's wedding.
No jokes, I don't live in Alabama any more.
I'm gonna break here for tonight; I want to watch the State of the Union address. More to come tomorrow.
