Ticket (no) Dress (yes)

(but not in that order)

It started with the dead headlight. I knew the headlight was out. It had been out for about two weeks. I'd set aside time to get the headlight fixed (and oil changed) the next morning. And then, there I was, stopped at a stoplight Friday night, directly opposite a police cruiser. I hoped the officer had something more interesting to do than pull me over for having a bad headlight. No such luck. The police car made a slow u-turn, came up behind & the lights came on. I was caught.

I started pulling out my driver's license and hoping that my registration really was in the glove box where it's supposed to be. I rolled down my window while the officer pointed a halogen flashlight in my face.

Me: I know, I have a headlight out.
<pause>
Officer: I know you.

I looked again. She looked vaguely familar. But she said she knew me. We did the 'do you know game' and figured out that we both have season tickets to the San Jose Lasers about 4 rows apart from each other.

Well, she gave me a warning to get my headlight fixed and really, I had planned to get it changed the next morning.

So I did.

I started by calling Jiffy Lube to see if they change headlights. The location I called said yes, they do indeed change headlights. I looked at a map, drove to San Bruno, got lost, drove up and down El Camino, found Jiffy Lube, and signed up for oil change, new wiper blades and a new passenger side headlight.

Then I sat in the sun while they worked on my car. Eventually, one of the technicians came out to show me that my nearly new (3000 miles old) air filter did not need to be replaced. I reminded him about the headlight and the wiper blades.

technician: oh, you don't want the headlight fixed?
me: Yes, I do want it fixed. New headlight, passenger side.

I waited. Eventually, they asked for my credit card to complete the transaction. The check-out clerk ran through the list of what they'd done.

clerk: We topped off your power steering fluid.
me: Did you also add power steering?

(my car doesn't have power steering)

clerk: oh, they must have hit the wrong button.

Yes, this gives me confidence that what's on the screen is what actually happened to my car. Maybe the power steering fluid went into some other reservoir. Well, it's been a week & the car hasn't blown up yet so I'm guessing the power steering addition really was a keyboard error and not an introduction of power steering fluid to some other reservoir.

I asked about the headlight.

clerk: oh, we weren't able to do that.
me: That's the main reason I came. Can you change the headlight?
clerk: We couldn't change it.
me: Is there something wrong? Why wouldn't you change it?
clerk: We ran out of stock.

I'm feeling annoyed. Here I'd called ahead, asking specifically about headlight repair and now they couldn't fix it after all. I still had to get the headlight changed.

I drove down El Camino and found another oil change/quick service place that did not do headlights. I tried the Honda dealer and (no surprise here) they did have a headlight in stock which they quickly installed for me. Whew. No more illegal headlights for me. I now had two working headlights.

Next stop: find a dress.

I needed a dress to wear to my brother's wedding. The wedding was going to be formal so I was looking for something simple and black. The bad news is that I don't have a clue when it comes to clothes.

First step was to email my brother's fiance and ask what to wear. I had some simple questions. She wrote back with a list of what would/would not be OK. I thanked her and kept the list in mind as I floundered in the direction Macy's.

I felt completely lost as I wandered through the women's formal wear section at Macy's. I knew that I would never find the right dress.

It would be an ugly dress.

It wouldn't fit. I'd be uncomfortable.

It would be not formal enough.

I wouldn't have the right shoes.

I had no chance of success! I knew that I'd never find the right dress.

I was really working myself into a funk, getting very depressed about the impossibility of my mission to find a dress for the wedding.

(oh, and did I mention that Steve is both cute AND single?)

May 2, 1998