Floating Leaf

So... here I am, back home after the usual Christmas visit with my parents. Which was a bit longer this time, because my junk pile of a car decided to break down completely on Christmas Day, no less. Apparently the muffler incident was just a prelude. This time it made a dead stop in the middle of the road, about half-way between my parents' house and my apartment in the city. Luckily, I was just driving by a store, so I managed to make half a turn into the parking lot before the wheels stopped moving. I called my parents, told them where I was and then just sat there in the darkened car for about an hour, watching frost patterns appear on the windshield as the engine cooled down. Fortunately, my parents got there before my feet went completely numb. We pushed the car a bit more towards the curb and just left it there while they took me back home. They offered to drive me to my place, but if they'd done that, I would be stuck without a car - so I figured it made more sense to go back with them, since they have two cars and would let me use one if I needed it. Which I did, because I was able to arrange towing the next morning (yesterday) and had to meet the tow truck guy by my car and give him the keys (I should have left the keys in the car in the first place, since it wasn't likely to get stolen in its current immobile condition anyway - but I was too frazzled to think of that, and so were my parents). So I borrowed my dad's car and made the lengthy drive all over again. I might also add that it was snowing heavily this time, and the country roads in northwestern Chicagoland aren't plowed as often as they should be. So I was a little nervous, to say the least. Actually, nervous doesn't even begin to cover it - my whole back tensed up so badly it felt like my skin was stretched over an ironing board. And the fact that my cellphone battery was low, and I hadn't taken the charger with me to my parents' house, certainly didn't help. But somehow I made it home in one piece - both me and my dad's car, that is. I can use it for now, until I get mine back. But I won't find out when that might happen until tomorrow. It was towed on a Saturday afternoon, so the mechanic hasn't even looked at it yet. From what my dad suspects, it might be either the alternator (which would cost about $300) or the entire computer system (which could be anything from $600 to over a thousand). If the latter is the case, I might just as well say goodbye to any "safety margin" on my bank account balance (in other words, it will most likely hover around zero in between paychecks from now on). So... Merry Christmas to me.:/

Also, my dad is not feeling well and it's gonna be a few more weeks before we even find out what's wrong with him. He was barely able to enjoy the holidays - he can't eat my mom's heavy duty Christmas foods (after Christmas Eve supper he had severe stomach pains that kept him up most of the night), he's constantly tired, grumpy, out of sorts and just wants to be left by himself... which in turn makes my mom feel lonely, unappreciated and irritable. They keep stepping on each other's toes, and I just... it will sound horrible, especially considering all they have done for me this weekend - but I couldn't wait to get away and be on my own again.

So please forgive the lack of 'holiday spirit' in this post. There are brighter spots on this picture as well, but I needed to get the bad stuff off my chest first... and now I feel incredibly exhausted for some reason. Maybe it's all the tension finally seeping out of my system. Anyway... I'll be back with more news as soon as I am able. Now I gotta hit the pillows. *yawn*