Cars, Cthulhu, and Cookies

Okay, here’s yet another entry, which, I think, is likely to be what most of my entries are typically like.
At the moment, the big thing going on in my life is my car.
On Saturday night, on my way home from work (I work weekends, obviously), I found myself at a red light opposite my boss. He and I made eye contact, and made jokingly indicated our intention to race each other.
Little did I know that one of my co-workers, who, along with his fiancé, who also works with us, was right behind me, was contacting our boss via the direct connect feature of their Nextel phones and egging him on ("You can take him!").
So when the light changed, my boss, much to my surprise, actually did gun it. I made a half-hearted attempt at catching up, but I had been quite thoroughly dusted.
Within their little Nextel circle, the three of them had a good laugh at my expense, and, again, unbeknownst to me, my boss suggested that, due to car trouble brought on by this impromptu drag race, I wouldn’t be making it in to work the next morning.
A few minutes later I took my exit, and headed for the toll booth. As I pushed the clutch in to shift down into first, I felt the pedal stop resisting me and go all the way to the floor, and I heard the sound of gears grinding.
I was dead in the water, unable to bring my car out of neutral.
I threw my hazards on and got out, assuring the woman who was stopping to help that I had a phone and that I’d be okay. As I was pushing the car off to the side, I was surprised to discover that my co-workers had decided to take the same route I take home, and so they were there to help me move my car, wait with me for the tow truck to arrive, and bring me home.
They told me about the whole Nextel exchange at that time, and I had to admit that it was pretty funny.
The nearest dealership available to provide warranty service was, of course, closed for the weekend, and so my car was towed off to storage until Monday morning, at which time, I was told, I simply needed to call the dealership and let them know that the car was on its way, and why.
On Monday I did this, and then waited for a response. Early in the afternoon I called again to see if the car had arrived. It hadn’t yet, but the girl working there assured me that she would call as soon as it did.
Before I knew it, it was after 5, and I hadn’t heard anything.
Tuesday morning I called the dealership and found that my car still hadn’t been brought in.
I contacted roadside assistance, who contacted the towing service.
She informed me that the tow truck driver had failed to document the fact that the wrecker’s lot was not my car’s final destination, and that the car was still sitting there.
I was amused by the roadside assistance operator’s assessment of this situation: “Hel-LO! Like you’re NOT going to want your car brought somewhere else to get fixed.”
In any case, my car was finally brought to the dealership on Tuesday, where it was determined that the clutch needs to be replaced.
Thanks to the holiday weekend, this will take more than a week to resolve.
The only “good” news to come out of this is that it will be covered by my warranty. I was a bit concerned, as I had read online that some people who’d needed their clutches replaced were dismayed to find that this problem was considered “normal wear.”
However, as the girl at the dealership said, in my case, with fewer than 10,000 miles on the car, it can hardly be considered “normal” for a clutch to blow out.
Unfortunately, in the meantime, I am car-less, as my warranty doesn’t cover a rental. I could pay for my own, but as my co-workers are willing to bring me in to work this weekend, I have no social life whatsoever, and there’s a grocery store right across the street from where I live, it’s possible for me to get by without a car for a week.
So renting a car would be something of a pointless expense.
Beyond that there is little in my life that’s new or exciting.
Well, I did submit a story for publication last week.
I haven’t actually submitted a story in almost nine years, so it’s sort of significant, I guess.I think it’s a good story, and I’m hoping that, at long last, I will finally get published.
What sort of story is it, you ask? Well, it’s sort of a fantasy story, but it has a lot of elements of humor, and it’s kind of built off of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.
Is that typical fare, for me? Not really. Back in the day, I used to write a lot of fantasy (Sword & Sorcery), and Science Fiction. After a while, I started also writing a lot of straightforward fiction that was semi-autobiographical.
In the last eight years or so, though, I sort of stopped writing entirely. I’d start things and almost never finish them.
In the last two years or so I’ve started doing a little more writing, and actually finishing a couple of stories. Again, they tend to be primarily straightforward fiction and Science Fiction. This is the first one, though, that I felt was ready for publication.
Not being a big fan of rejection, I’ve been very reluctant to submit anything, but I’m hopeful about this one. If it doesn’t get published it won’t be too big of a deal, as at the very least I’ve taken that first step (again).
You know, there are probably some metaphorical ties to my romantic life in there somewhere, but that’s another story entirely, and one I don’t feel like writing just now…
The real excitement for today, though, stems from the fact that I made peanut butter cookies. I never realized just how easy they are to make. I mean, I never figured them to be incredibly complex, but I figured that at the very least they had more than three ingredients (peanut butter, egg, and sugar).
In case you’re wondering, they turned out very well.
Cooking and baking are two recently-discovered talents of mine, and what I find more surprising than the fact that I’m good at them is the fact that I enjoy them.
In any case, I think this is a sufficient entry for the time being.