Taking off from my previous blog post, another thing that has brought me face-to-face with my lavish lifestyle was my drive to see the North Star Roller Girls at the Minneapolis Convention Center Saturday night.
I knew my ticket was in my day planner, and because I didn't want to bring my bookbag to the coffeehouse that afternoon, I put my day planner in my laptop bag. But after I woke up from my early evening nap, I bolted out of the house with just my bookbag. I realized my ticket was all the way back at home just before I thought I found a parking spot a few blocks from the bout.
I actually got out of the car and checked the bookbag in my trunk just to be sure. I actually should've done that before I left the driveway. So I was faced with a choice: Just fuckin' find a spot, go in there and buy a ticket for two bucks more than I paid for the advance ticket, or drive all the way back home to get it. Paying a ticket at the box office is $12, and I was going to roller derby, so this was one of the few times where I didn't really agonize over my choice: I started driving back home.
And I was pissed off, at myself. Fortunately, that's all it went to. That's why I like being alone: My failures are my own, not further burdened by the shame and disappointment in letting down others. If I was with My Fucking Father, Buddha help me recover from the verbal and non-verbal onslaught that son-of-a-bitch would come at me with for forgetting a ticket.
Anyway, the obvious downside to that is that I had to use up gas -- 20 more miles' worth, in fact. I had been at about 1/4 tank, but I thought I could make it to Monday at least. With my fuck-up, however, I felt sure that I'd need to do it the next day, Sunday.
But actually, I didn't. Driving back home late Saturday for good, the low fuel light came on. Damn, did I drive that much? I always think with a quarter tank I'd be able to do a day's worth of driving, but always I'm surprised at how much gas I go through, at least according to the tank.
And this is where I get stubborn. I'm approaching $500 on my Visa bill, and I don't want to go over that. I know I'll be at that point once I fill up all the way, but I don't want it to be so soon because I think -- maybe unrealistic -- that I'll have to just fill up my car again before I leave for vacation. But I don't want to get stuck on the side of the highway because I have absolutely no gas left. Moreover, creeping back into my mind is the thought of my fuel pump. I hear that you should always keep your gas tank at least a 1/4 full (some say 1/2 to be sure) because it starts the pump starts to overheat if there isn't enough fuel coarsing through it. I regularly flout that rule. Because I'm a lazy badass like that.
I didn't feel that badass driving around my neck of the woods Sunday, however -- I felt pig-headed. I found this coupon for getting gas at this place I usually go to, but I suspected that even with the discount, the gas I was going to pay there was more expensive than elsewhere. In fact, while running an errand for My Mother, I ran across an area close to my place that seemed to have a collection of gas stations quoting prices several cents lower than the ones closest to my house. And these were places close enough to make the hike worth it -- at least I think.
The last time I gassed up I actually went to one of those places because I couldn't find a coupon for the place I usually patronize. Just to check I went back to that gas station, whose coupons usually get me five cents off per gallon. Their price at the time was five cents more than the place I actually got my gas, It didn't really matter where I got my gas -- then.
Even armed with a coupon I decided to go to this new place, then drive back to my old place. I wanted to be fuckin' done with it, but ... something else just compelled me not to charge my credit card Sunday, not yet. My excuse was something that my brain kind of conjured up just to prevent me from filling up my tank: What happens if the price of gas drops Monday or Tuesday? It's been at around $2.60 for some time now -- isn't that an indication that prices are going to go down? Hey, didn't I hear that the benchmark price for crude has been going down? That means the price of gas is going down too, right?
Sunday, my gas station has a price that's only, like, three cents more than the other place, so if I used the coupon, I'd save two cents. But because I psyched myself out, I decide that I'm going to time the market and save money when the price of gas falls. But I do need some gas, so I make this even more elaborate by going to a third gas station, probably the one closest to my house, to put exactly six bucks in my tank because I know that lately this gas station has had the lowest prices. I need to maximize the bang for my buck!
Except that I didn't. After Sunday Dinner I went to the gym, then downtown to see this group whose lead singer is an ex-stripper whose pussy I've seen. I have a crush. Anyway, the low fuel light went back on again as I was finding a spot downtown on the way to the club. I did the same kind of trip tonight and I measured the total at about 35 miles. So you mean to tell me that six bucks won't get me 35 miles?? I thought it did.
Anyhoo, today I put in seven bucks. I fear that the price won't go down, that in fact it'll go up, but I just can't get my Visa above $500 yet, please, not yet. And guess what? It still wasn't enough to get me to where I was going today! So after work and coffee, I went to the third gas station, the one with the lowest prices (by, like, two cents, in case you need to know) and wanted to put in eight bucks, but I stopped the pump at $8.03, so what the hell, I rounded it up to $9, then went home. That should keep my car alright for tomorrow -- right?
Man, I've just fried my fuel pump by not refueling the past several days, haven't I?
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