This blog posts is an extension of the last one, which in turn was an extension of the one before it.  They're all connected, in a way.

On Wednesday I wore my U. sweater.  It's the thickest sweater I have, and it's perfect for cold winter days.  Now, Wednesday wasn't necessarily cold; in fact, I think daytime highs broke the freezing mark.  But just in case I wanted to walk to the lab without my trenchcoat, I would still feel toasty.

When I put it on, I told myself I have to remember one thing: Take it off before Father comes home.  On Saturday a somewhat confused Dad told me I should go back to school.  I didn't want to tempt fate and invite another lecture if seeing the U. logo emblazoned on my sweater triggered those thoughts again.

Also, have I told you my left headlight burned out?  Oh yeah, it burned out some time last week, I think.  I was leaving for the gym and I turned on my lights.  I was looking down, and I sensed this bright light right in front of me just for a millisecond.  When I looked up, the lights seemed normal.  But I had a funny feeling.  I turned them off and turned them back on again, and while I could see a light reflected off the garage door on the passenger side, all I saw in front of me was darkness.

I think, in screenwriting terms, this is called a plant.

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Anyway, so after work I called Father to see if he wanted me to take another shot at Walgreen's.  He said yes.  Good; I can go there for another reason besides trying to get back the American Express statement I left there the night before.  And on the way I can deposit my money ... need to shore up those funds with me having no money anymore and all.

So I park equidistant from the pharmacy and the bank, which is the lot for city hall.  When I go out, right in front of me is the entrance to the city.  And then I remembered something that I wanted to ask the city for a long time: How early in the day can I operate a lawnmower and snowblower?  It was a little bit before 4 o'clock, and this too was on the way to my other chores, and I don't know if I'd remember to ask ever again.  I had the opportunity, so what the hell, I marched into my City Hall to ask.

Well, information didn't know and sent me downstairs to the police station in the basement because it's a noise ordinance issue; on the way, another worker there asked me to let her know what the answer is when I came back up.  At the station I was met at the desk by a woman, protective glass between us.  I asked; she didn't know off the top of her head, so she went to the back to check the ordinance.  Uh-oh.

She got to the ordinance quickly.  Weekdays 7 to 9, weekends and holidays 9 to 9.  Great, thank you!  But ... they only specifically say lawnmowers in this.  She said that the law covers all outside operable equipment, but it mentioned a possible exception for snowblowers.  So she checked the book a little more.  Uh-oh.

She couldn't find any more information, so she assumed that snowblowers can only be turned on the same times as lawnmowers ... but, she wanted to make absolutely sure, so she immediately went to her phone and called up someone in the back.  "He's looking it up right now," she said.

I looked at the clock on a column behind her.  It was a bit past 4 now.  I enjoy walks, but the one to the bank, then the one to the pharmacy, then the one back to my car wasn't going to be quick.  Uh-oh.

I made a little small talk, then kind of said that if he couldn't find the info, that's alright.  So she went to the back, and I went to the desk for the Parks & Rec Department, which was on the other side of the basement hallway to see if there were any brochures that said the city had a fitness room.  If there's one that gives me remote control of the TV, I'll change because it'll be a lot closer to the gym I use now.  But the woman used the intercom to call me back.  As far as he could tell -- so I can't say rely on this with 100% certainty -- snowblowers can be used at any time, but that could be an exception in the ordinance only for city workers plowing the streets.  To me, just to be safe, don't plow before 7 weekdays and 9 weekends.  And when the parents are gone for Vegas in the winter and there's a snowstorm, if I want to operate the snowblower late at night, I can do it till 9.

I think I was there about 15 minutes, about five minutes more than I wanted to be there.  The snow and ensuing slush made it not easy to traverse the terrain by foot to the bank, and then to the pharmacy.  There, thankfully, the pharmacy front desk had my AmEx bill on the cash register.  Unfortunately, I still couldn't get Father's meds; get the card, I was told.

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It's 4:30 and I'm late to the coffeeshop; wanted to surf, wanted to write.  And in my rush to drop my bookbag and pick up my laptop, I forgot to change.  I was there maybe three minutes.  My Grandmother didn't even get up.  I checked her room; she was asleep.  She went to the dentist's, and I guess she was so wiped out she didn't even wake up.  I find it annoying whenever I come home and I hear her steps as she slowly checks what's going on in the foyer.  Yet if I make such a commotion and she still doesn't get up, I'm kind of concerned.  But I wasn't then.  I wanted coffee.

I enjoyed my joe for an hour.  When I rushed back home, I didn't see my parents' minivan.  They're not home?  But as I drove up the driveway, opened up the garage door and got out to scrape the snow underneath my car, I see Father bolt out the driveway.  He wanted me to pick up his meds now, and he came out to give me his health insurance card.  He was going to close the garage door for me, by the way.  So I go back in my car and drive down ... but not before I see him look at my headlights.  Oh, snap!  I never told him about the headlights because I didn't want him to see.  But shit, too fucking late.  Winter, your early darkness screwed me as much as your snow has.  And crap, he saw me with my U. sweater on.  Not another talk over going back to school again. ...

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I finally got the meds from Walgreen's (well, two of the three; for some fuckin' reason his doctor hadn't OK'd the third one, even though it's been, like, three days).  Turns out they punched his number in wrong.  Seriously, these guys are a fucking joke.

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No talk over school, so I'm glad I won't have to hear that shit until my birthday next month when I turn 35.  But the headlight ... I felt like I needed to head Father off at the pass about the burnt-out light.  So when I came back and saw Father slouching on a chair watching the national news while waiting for Mother to finish working out, I told him about the light.  He wasn't angry.

Now, fast forward to last night.  I leave my car outside because I planned to go to the Community Activity Center.  After dinner, he told me to use the minivan.  He didn't want me to get stopped and ticketed by police.  Father didn't know I was stopped, on Saturday.  (The police officer let me go with a warning.)  So I guess he believes that it burned out recently, like Tuesday night.

I thought, and I still think, it wasn't necessary.  I've seen cars without working headlights on the street, so I think I'm going to be fine.  But naturally I looked at what from this I could benefit from.  And, it's the gas.  At $3.50 a gallon he already barked at me last night about wasting gasoline by going everywhere.  Using their van is spending nothing of my money going to exercise.  The bad news is, I had to bring all my shit, my gym bag and my satellite radio, from my car to theirs.  And, I wanted to take out the trash bag My Father put in the minivan.  I didn't want to drive to the community center smelling trash.

Now I think I don't think Father noticed that my left headlight doesn't work anymore.  It's possible that if I didn't confess after going to Walgreen's, he wouldn't be the wiser, and he would've let me use my car to work out last night.  This is a problem because there will be a lot of tension if I go out in my car at night if I don't fix my headlight.  Which means I need to replace it ASAP, a lot sooner than I wanted to.

But I'm going to punt today; we have pork roasting in the oven and I need to write this.  I'm gunning for tomorrow, just in case I need to drive to the auto parts store and pick up a tool or something.  I've already replaced my right headlight, but I'm scared I'll screw this up.  Wish me luck!