Unconditional Inconvenience

My parent's flight was at 3:00PM today not 1:00PM like I originally thought. Smack in the middle of the freaking day. I'd planned on unloading them at about 10:00AM which would allow me time to get home, regroup and head into the city so that I could earn some coin. I got expensive habits you know. But no, I was picking them up at 12:00 to drop them off at JFK.

Hip-Hip-Fucking-Hooray.

Work was not going to happen and I wasn't going to stress myself about it. It does mean one less robot or a few less games this month though. Sigh. My manager was understanding. He'd call me if he needed me.

With the day's schedule in shambles, I slept late. Woke up, dusted off the home workout equipment and got a quick pump while listening to Susan Morabito's Party Groove V3: Blue Ball CD. Cleaned myself up and headed out about 11:15.

AutoLove, my 2004 VW Passat, was a mess. Last night's rain left a layer of grime on him/her (Still not clear on the sex of my car). No time to deal with this now, got to move.

My parents were fairly together when I arrived. My cousin was there and she proceeded to exclaim how big I'd grown, how handsome I was and how much skinnier I was than my younger brother. It's a chinese thing that they do this. Personally, I'd have liked to see her dental hygiene challenged brother, so that he could see how big I've grown and know that I could crush his face in a heartbeat. I've got a bone to pick with him.

Of course, my cousin would have to comment, why wasn't my car washed? GRRRRR.

Leaving on time, the traffic on the Belt Parkway was moving. It was a beautiful day for a drive. Everything ground to a slow crawl around the Rockaway Parkway exit but picked up immediately after.

I got them to the airport, in a half an hour. No thank you, just goodbyes, "take care" and "don't work to hard." Sigh. Unconditional love. In the absence of any affection whatsoever, that's pretty much all I got.

The ride home was significantly more fun. I don't get to drive AutoLove much, but I like to open it up when I can. The Belt was faster moving on the way back. 80 mph is fun, but I wasn't driving recklessly, takes greater skill to drive fast without driving like a maniac. Renaissance - The Masters Series by Hernán Cattáneo was pumping through the sound system and moving me along with beats. Good stuff.

Before heading home, I'd stopped at the Hand Wash Car Wash to provide some cleansing love and TLC for AutoLove. Nothing like a bunch of Mexican's rubbing you down. She's sparkly and new. Yes, I think I'll stick to the nautical tradition of treating one's vehicle as a female.

I've got one more errand to run, AutoLove needs to be inspected. Guess I'm spending the day with AutoLove. I don't mind. Today, I'm just a boy and his ride.

Update: AutoLove is street legal for another year. Yippee. Vroom. ;-)