My timing was off for my morning errands, so it looks like I'll have afternoon errands. If it gets close to 11, the lunch crowds in my area come out, and then the traffic on the main road becomes a nightmare, there are lines at the gas station pumps and the grocery store and Target turn into zoos full of long lines and unruly customers. I think I was about fifteen minutes too late today. I absolutely had to get gas because my warning light came on when I was on my way to choir practice Wednesday. My car seems to go quite abruptly from looking like there's nearly a quarter of a tank to the "Oh no! We're out of gas! We're all going to die!" light coming on. (Though that is possibly my interpretation of the light. The intended meaning may be "You're running low on fuel, so when you get a chance, you might want to fill up," but I can't stop myself from panicking when a warning light comes on.) Of course, the light only comes on at night when I'm on my way somewhere and don't have extra time, and when I'm in a place where there are no gas stations at all between me and my destination. The needle wasn't yet that close to "E," so I just came home after choir and figured I'd fill up the next time I went out.
The closest, most convenient gas station, the one in front of the grocery store, seems to stay in this scary "every man for himself" demolition derby mode straight out of Mad Max, with lines at the pump and people jockeying for position. I nearly got hit three times just trying to escape after giving up and deciding to try another station. You'd think there was no other fuel for miles rather than just no fuel without making an unprotected left a block away. I got my cookie-baking supplies to be ready for tomorrow's choir dress rehearsal and managed to get to a gas station before my car died (I don't think I was actually in danger, but warning light!), then decided it would probably be best to go home and catch my breath after my ordeal before venturing out again after the lunch crowds die down. On errand day, I should get into the habit of going out before I do my usual Internet reading/tea drinking so I can be home before the mobs emerge. Or else get hood-mounted weaponry (if you're gonna play Mad Max, you may as well go all the way).
This has been a spectacularly unproductive week, in part because of fighting the last remnants of the cold/allergies and in part because I was anticipating getting something I'd need to work on from someone else, so there was no point in getting too deep into anything else, only the delivery estimate seems to keep slipping and I'm still waiting (just watch, I'll get it right before the deadline, at the worst possible time, then have to kill myself to get it done on time after all this waiting). So, today I'm just going to catch up on errands, check out the Half-Price Books warehouse sale (like I need books, but it's practically in my neighborhood, and I'm always on the lookout for oddball reference books), and then bake cookies. The cookies are for lunch at a choir rehearsal, but I suppose I should taste them for quality control. There's a new law in Texas that allows people to sell baked goods made in their homes. You no longer have to use a commercial/industrial kitchen. I do good cookies. Maybe that's something I can look into if this writing thing doesn't work out, or a possible source of bonus income between books. Maybe someone would want to outsource their holiday baking. Unfortunately, I don't really do "pretty" cookies, unless I'm using the cookie press. I'm not a fan of icing, so I don't do the traditional decorating.
Oh, and go Texas Rangers! Winning a World Series would be really cool (especially the same year the Mavericks won the NBA).
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