adventures in suburbia

good morning all,

so it's cold here in texas. cold to us, at any rate. when i woke up to take my little sister to school this morning, it was 28 degrees outside (2 degrees Celsius, for you European readers). that's cold to me.

so normally, i roll out of bed, brush my teeth, and drive my lil' sis to school in my pajamas. then i come home and get ready. today was the same. kitten-eyed and barely functioning, i went outside to start the car. it wouldn't start. the battery came to life, but the engine wouldn't turn over, and then i saw the flashing-gas-tank-of-doom symbol on the instrument panel. blast.

now i know full good and well that i was not out of gas. low, yes. but out, no. but for some reason - maybe the cold? i'm only guessing here - the gas that remained wasn't getting to the engine. houston was supposed to be at school in 20 minutes. no gas can that i could see in the garage. so we decided to run across the street to buy a gas can. luckily we live very close to a chevron.

so we went outside again, and houston decided we should ride her bike - together. seemed faster. so i climbed on the back and she stood on the pedals in front of me and began pumping us to chevron. oh, yes. this actually happened. it was like some sort of bizarre e.t. in mckinney experience. imagine you are having your morning coffee and you look out your bay window to see a small-for-her-age 14 year old, dressed and clean and ready for school, riding a bike with a not-yet-awake 24 year old, still in pajamas, hair unbrushed, clinging to her back and laughing maniacally. the older girl's feet are sticking straight out the air (no pegs on the back wheel) and her pajama pants are blowing about in the frigid morning air. both of the girls have tears running down their faces because the wind is so fierce and sharp. they aren't actually moving that fast - probably it would have been just as fast to run - but the sun is shining, they are laughing, and by golly, looks like fun to you, sitting inside there, all warm in your robe, drinking your coffee and waking up slowly. lucky you.

thank god chevron is only a few blocks away. however, they are out of small gas cans. of course. luckily, the owner was kind enough to let us borrow his personal gas can. we tried to fill it but the nozzle was too large for the tube and we mostly got gas all over the pavement. once we had a 1/2 gallon in there, we headed across the street again - houston on the bike, and me running alongside her in my pajamas, wearing loafers (the closest shoes to the door when we ran out), holding a gas can that was trailing a small trickle of gas, due to the fact that we got more on the sides and the pavement than we actually got in the can.

driveway. vanessa and houston are unable to get the gas cap off the car because our hands are frozen and no longer function. mine are also covered in gas. finally, we wrench it loose and slosh our measly 1/2 gallon in the car. hands are washed, backpacks and homework are grabbed off the kitchen table, and we are off, my little car sputtering angrily to life as we shuttle back to the chevron to drop off the gas can and fill up the car - which, by the way, couldn't have been empty, since i only put in 10 gallons, and i have a 13 gallon tank. chi sa?

so that has been my morning. i'm sitting here, impatient for my album to arrive from italy. it should have come yesterday (the guys paid $45 to send it global express, for all the good that did). if it doesn't come today i'm calling my mafia contacts. oh yes. our smoke alarm in the house must have some sort of short, and taking out the battery hasn't worked. every 10-15 minutes it shrieks for about 5 seconds then goes off again. this has been happening since 7 am. maybe it's still monday.....

off to say a prayer for the postal service. lots of love and remember to be kind to your local gas station owner, so that you may borrow gas cans in times of need.
vanessa