Friday, June 20, 2008

Hot melty brains

Today officially marks the first day of summer. In Arizona, its not always a good thing.

As my insides melt and turn to mush while my glass plugs burn my earlobes the second I step outside, I can't help but hate this state. And everyone in it.

As good as life is finally going for me, I get the displeasure of dealing with people from all walks of life in my second, less lucrative retail job. From the hair neophytes to leather skinned, melon chested women studying the zen of the middle age crisis. The heat makes me cranky.

Hearing comments like, "You're so pretty, why would you do that to yourself", in regards to my multiple accoutrements...to which I usually reply, "I think I'm still pretty". Or my favorite, "I'll pray for you." Why is it that only the ignorami seem to be the ones to talk to me?

Another undesirable side effect of the heat: I don't make much sense. Good luck trying to decipher this weeks ramblings.

Friday, June 06, 2008

When the other shoe drops

I have recently come under a string of bad luck. I'm not talking the I-lost-my-keys-and-couldn't-find-my-car kind of bad luck. I'm talking the my-car-got-towed-twice-in-a-two and a half-week-period-and-it-took-all-my-money-both-times kind of bad luck. You may now call me Bad Luck Betty. No, no, not Blow Job Betty, since I seem to have developed the plague and can't get laid by even my most dependable fuck buddy's, but Bad Luck Betty. As in this-year-so-far-sux-and-I-have-the-worst Bad Luck Betty.

Let's start with a week and a half ago. I'm not even going to start with the beginning of the year since it would take me 3 hours to finish writing this blahg. But I digress. The first time my car got towed was a week and a half ago. Or maybe it was two and a half weeks ago. Its getting hard for me to tell, bad luck does that to you. Let's just say a title loan (the car is not in my name) was taken out on my car to pay some bills and what not and the payment was late, so Buckeye Title loans saw it fit to take my car away, without warning. The genius was home sick after having vomited all over everything the night before, so I planned to go to the store for some chicken soup and a sprite. My car was gone. I stood in my now empty parking spot in disbelief for about 3 minutes as I spun as if each time I completed my tiny circle my car would magically appear. $1,000 and four days later, I got my car back.

Fast forward to this last Tuesday. As I lay in bed trying to get up the motivation to start getting ready for work mi madre asked if she could borrow my car for a few minutes. She left about 8:30 a.m. At 9:00 a.m. her Halloween Michael Myers theme song ring tone went off and I answered the phone. "I got pulled over", she responded to my hello in Spanish. I half laughed and wished her luck since my tags were expired. 9:15 a.m. the eerie music went off again, but before I could say "Hello" she quickly informed me that my car was being towed. All I could do was laugh. What are the chances? Apparently her license was suspended, only to later find out it was all because after she paid the ticket from almost a year ago she had not taken the driving class because the letter informing her of the class was sent to some address in Chandler. We have never lived in Chandler. Ever. $363, two and a half hours in a hot car, 3 days and $2.50 borrowed from a complete stranger since they raised the price from $60 at eight in the morning to $73 that same afternoon later, I have my car back. But not before someone left my headlights on the entire time it was impounded so my battery was dead and before my phone died I had to call my assistant manager who had just left me to go home after we closed the store to come and jump my battery after she had lent me $10 for gas since I'd used the last of my gas money for the nazi raise in price to get my car back. Her and her husband are currently my heroes.

The day after my car was taken for the second time (who does that happen to? ever?) I went to Jupes to enjoy a few cold ones with Clint and the other regulars. I got home a few hours and about 4 pitchers later I stumbled into my room and noticed the a/c was turned off so I made my way to the window to let the beautiful weathers' fresh air in. My window was stuck. I tugged and tugged to no avail. Finally I won my battle with the glass and it opened, but fate likes to play a little game called 'Up yours Mal' and in my drunkenness my hand involuntarily slammed the window towards the shut position and right onto my right hand middle finger. Ouchie! I screamed out silently as the tears sprung forth, making my way to my bed. Let me just say it was a good thing I was drunk because I immediately passed out and forgot all about my finger until I woke up the next morning and felt a throbbing. Better yet, I didn't even look at my finger until later that afternoon, only to notice a swollen, distorted and crooked digit. As well as a tiny blood blister on the other side. Figures.

Now I sit here trying to type while not using my middle finger. Turns out, I use that finger quite a bit.

That's my story. Mind you, this is just the clusterfuck that has been the last two and a half weeks. The earlier part of the year was not that great either, with the exception of witnessing some of my friends' happier moments and the release of my dad's book, of course. The sad thing is that the year isn't even close to being over. The good thing is, after the first repossession of my car, all I can do is laugh when something bad happens. I have a feeling I'll be laughing a lot.

So as I sit here waiting for my percocet to kick in to take away the pain in my finger and my overly stressed out back, I can't help but wonder...When both shoes have proverbially dropped, what will go next?

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

A funny thing happened on the way to my life

It seems life has been throwing me some curve balls lately. And try as I might, I'm striking out left and right.

The saying goes, when life throws you lemons, make lemonade. What if the lemons are spoiled? Between all the balls and lemons, I'm not really sure what to do anymore, but sit back and watch from my lemonade stand while I get pelted by balls. And I'm not talking about the fun ones.

As this new year has been pretty shitty, I find myself obsessively thinking about, well, everything. In particular, my kids. It all started with a gravity bong and the movie Knocked Up. Between freakouts of the beauty and ickiness that is the miracle of birth, I kept thinking about how I did that. I created life. Now I am bound to that life. At least until the 18th birthday, which has been deemed to be an "adult" age.

The more I see them grow and mature, the more it weirds me out that one day they'll be my age and doing the things (hopefully not) that I do. You'd think I'd be used to the fact that I have kids by now, being that its been ten and a half years, but I'm not. I fear I will never feel "normal" about the whole situation. Especially the more pivotal events become as they get older. The genius is already talking about getting married and having children. It was in jest due to my consternation at becoming a grandmother before I'm 35. He's such a smart ass...I wonder where he gets it from.

Then this weekend I attended and was a part of my good friend Jessica's wedding. I teared up when they said their vows. I cried a little when the speeches were given. I sobbed when they had their first dance as husband and wife. But the thing, the main thing that got me was the mother/son dance. I couldn't contain myself. I just kept thinking that that was going to be me one day. Dancing with my son at his wedding, assuming he chooses that path. At that point, the weirdness hit me again. To think, we do this everyday. Give birth. Nurture that baby to childhood, their teens and then adulthood. The gravity of life is surreal as it is to me, add that to developing a self-sufficient, independent person and you've got a weirded out Mal.

Now as I sit here at almost 2 in the morning not sleeping and probably not making any sense, I guess what I'm trying to say is the gratification of helping to develop an individual does not outweigh the oddity that is real life. Maybe I could have said that in fewer, less confusing words, but then I wouldn't be able to regale you with my many eccentricities.

When does the surreal end and the conscious awareness begin?