STORY TIME!!!!

Today hasn't been a good day. First I was pissed off about failing my math test (even with the 10% curve) and second I was pissed that I had to play 'da horn at a horn choir concert at the Manor House in Toledo. Here's where the story comes into play.

I get back from stupid math class at 5 pissed about the test (75% of the class failed too) and had to get ready and look a nice a dressed up for the concert. I had to leave here at 6 to walk to the CMA, get my horn and stuff and walk out to my car. So I got dressed up. Most of the time I don't mind so much, but with a sunburn, dress clothes aren't exactly comfortable. It's a good thing I wore dress pants, because that aids in what happens later.

I leave here at 6, everything is fine and dandy, I get my stuff from the CMA, everything is fine and dandy, and I walk out to my car. It's now 6:15, everything is going great, I have to be at the Manor House by 7 for warm-up pre-concert stuff, etc. I hop in my little escort station wagon, and decide that I don't want to drive on I-75, and I'll catch I-475 on a back road off of Rt. 25. It's a good thing I did. Everything was fine and dandy until I got to the Airport Highway exit on 475. One exit south of the exit I needed and one exit north of Rt. 24 (familiar to all you Indiana people). That's when my car makes a funny noise, AKA tire exploding and I watch my hubcap roll into the median between North and South 475. Lucky me, I'm in the left lane, so I pull over, and it happened to be my front drivers side tire. This also happened to be the one time that I didn't take my cell phone with me while driving somewhere.

So here I am, on the side of 475, without a cell phone and supposed to be somewhere in 15 minutes. What is there to do but walk a 1/4 mile to the BP and call Gimp and have her call one of the horn players to tell them what was up. Alas, she didn't answer the phone. So I walk back to my car, and start pulling out the jack, spare, and tire iron. Thank God that my hubcap flew off, or I would have been SOL. My hubcaps are not easy to get off for some reason. So, I jack up the car, (which seemed to take forever) after loosening the lug nuts. All of them came off easily except for one. I was just short of standing on the damn lug wrench before it loosened. All in all I had the tire changed between 10 and 12 minutes.

As soon as I start throwing the shit back in my car, the Smokies show up. They asked me if everything was OK, and I told them I just fixed a flat and needed to get on my way. I thanked them for coming out, got back in my car and was on my merry way, donut and all.

At this time it's 7:20. Concert starts in 10 minutes, I'm still 3 miles from the exit and can't drive as fast as I would like to, due to the donut. I arrived at the Manor House at 7:26. 4 minutes to spare! I walked in, and no one had gotten the message about what happened. Brian showed me where the bathroom was to wash may hands because they were covered with rust and grease and brake dust. While I was washing my hands, Brian got my horn out for me. Just my luck that the first 2 pieces of the concert were the ones I had to play in. I hadn't played today at all, and hadn't warmed up. Honestly, I think it went pretty well, considering the amount of adrenaline running through my body at the time. There was so much adrenaline that my sunburn didn't hurt at all. Right now it hurts like hell, and my muscle are starting to complain after using them to loosen the lug nuts.

Now I'm sitting here relaxing with the aloe letting the adrenaline rush subside.

I also learned a few things from this experience...

1.) I would like to thank my Dad for making me learn how to change a tire, there are people I know who couldn't do it if their life depended on it
2.) I really am as laid back as most people tell me I am. It does no good to panic and freak out. That's another thanks to my Dad.
3.) ALWAYS bring the cell phone with you, even when you think you won't need it.
4.) Flat tires are always happen when you're on a time restriction, it's rainy and chilly and you're dressed up in nice clothes. They can't happen when you're on the way to the mall for the hell of it and you're wearing jeans and a t shirt.
5.)Crossing the interstate is scary
6.) The Highway Patrol officers are nice guys, even if they are a few minutes late. Unless they make you late by giving you a ticket.
7.) Adrenaline rushes are cool.
8.) When you call the parents and tell them, expect to get laughed at. That's what my Dad did to me.

Also, I mutilated my tire, it's not just some little hole, it's DESTROYED! Here are some pictures, they don't do it justice though. There's pretty much 2 huge holes with a giant slit 1/4 a way around the tire.

Pic 1
Pic 2

This post is long. I'm done now.