A Serbian Proverb

Isn't that just an amazing thought? 

Last Friday Night...

On Friday night I was the designated driver when a friend and I went to a show at the Monkey’s Tail in Broadripple.  For those of you who may not know, there is a back alley sort of place where you can occasionally find parking.  I had turned into it and was going to drive down but was stopped by another vehicle that had pulled halfway into the third spot.  This was supremely annoying so I decided to honk my horn.

REWIND

A couple weeks ago my dad and grandma came down to visit and to exchange my old car for my brother’s old car.  His is a few years newer than mine and has better tires so it will better get me through the winter.  Additionally, it had been taken away from him because of his refusal to join the rest of us in being functional members of society so it was not really being used.  That said, I now drive a new car.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

I push the center of the steering wheel but nothing happens.  I try again to no avail.  My friend suggests that there might be a button as opposed to it just being in the center of the wheel.  I turn on a light to look and see that no, the horn is exactly where it should be, it’s just not working.  At this point there are more cars behind me and I really need to make this other vehicle move.  I decide I will try hitting the panic button once and then turn it off really quickly.  Before I can even do that though my car explodes with noise.  The horn is going off and I’m not even touching anything.  And the best part, I can’t make it stop!  It just keeps going, a loud and unfaltering blast of horn.

On the plus side the car finally pulls up and I’m able to get around them.  I pull up into a bank lot and turn off my car.  The horn doesn’t stop.  I re-start the car.  The horn doesn’t stop.  I turn it off again.  THE HORN WILL NOT STOP.

My friend is basically worse than useless at this point because she is absolutely losing it.  In her defense, it was somewhat hysterical.  In another fit of desperation I think of the panic button.  “Maybe,” I think, “If I push the panic button then it will start going off and the horn will have to stop and then I can turn off the panic!”  But once more, before I can even touch the button the horn stops.  Then everything was quiet.  I kind of imagine that’s what it feels like after a tornado goes by your house and then everything just gets still.  Then I panic.

“Oh my gosh,” I say, “I’ve got to go back and apologize to those people!”

I jump out of the car and run back to where the people had parked hoping against hope that they are not some giant Italian mob men or something.  I get there and two women are getting out of their vehicle.

“I’m so sorry!” I say, “It was my brother’s car and I’d never used the horn and it was just supposed to be a short honk but it got stuck and I’m sorry and it wouldn’t stop!”  All of this said half laughing.  And while I’m saying this they’re saying “Oh my god, we were like ‘We’re moving! We’re moving! Ahh!’ (with exaggerated hand motions) Thanks for coming back to tell us, that’s hilarious.”

I get back to my car and my friend is still laughing somewhat uncontrollably.  I put the car in drive and start pulling out of the bank.  “So," I say "Remember that one time when my horn went off for like a full minute?”

My Inbound 2012 / Boston Experience

So I did the post of select quotes from my first business trip, but I never really said how it went.  For those of you who may not know, last week work sent me to Boston for a few days for the Inbound 2012 marketing conference.  It was a 3 day event where I got to meet a ton of other marketing people, attend some workshops about how to improve my company’s marketing efforts, and see Cyndi Lauper sing the blues (she’s quite good, actually).

My first flight left on Monday afternoon and took me to DC where I was supposed to have a short layover.  I got to see the Washington Monument from the sky when we landed which was absolutely amazing!  Sadly I was so flabbergasted by it that I didn’t think to take a photo.  We got in about 15 minutes late and I was kind of concerned about missing my next flight.

               

Aside: I urge you to keep in mind that this was only the second time I had ever flown in my life and the first time I’d ever done so alone.  I was pretty nervous about the whole thing honestly.

Luckily for me, my next flight ended up being about two hours late.  No but really, two hours.  That’s not the best part though, the kicker was that they literally had us change gates six times.  We went back and forth between gates 38 and 44 six times!  It was moderately absurd.

I did eventually get to Boston though.  For the first two days I basically stayed in the hotel / conference center.  The second day I met a girl who was about my age and ended up getting dinner with her, it was great because I didn’t have to be that awkward kid eating alone out at a restaurant. Win!  What was most interesting though was that she talked even faster than I do (which is pretty impressive, honestly).

My third night in town I got to explore with a friend of mine who lives in Boston.  I didn’t have time to see much, but I did get to walk through the public gardens and see the statue of Paul Revere and the iconic swan boats.  We also got to go get a super meal (work paid for mine, more winning) and walk around the area.

The trip home was not quite so traumatic, although there was an irate older guy getting off of a plane in Philadelphia, like seriously, like he was yelling at people and refused to calm down, it was insane.  All in all it was a good first trip of my adult / working life.     

Things Happening in September (About Which I’m Very Excited)

1. Fall weather! The ability to wear sweaters and tights and amazing fall clothes!  Like this skirt that I just got, it's orange and makes me smile! 

2. The new Killers album, Battle Born, due out on September 18^th.

3. The movie version of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, September 21^st!

4. A large percentage of my favorite shows starting up again!

            4a. How I Met Your Mother – September 24^th.

            4b. 2 Broke Girls – September 24^th.

            4c. The Big Bang Theory – September 27^th.

            4d. Criminal Minds – September 26^th.

            4e. Once Upon A Time – September 30^th.

5. The New J.K. Rowling book, The Casual Vacancy, out September 27^th.

6. The movie The Words, September 7^th, it looks kind of awesome.

7. Bruce Willis , Joseph Gordon-Levitt , and Emily Blunt starring in a movie about time travel.  Brought to us from the same filmmaker mind responsible for The Brothers Bloom, Looper, September 28^th.

I'm excited, it should be a good month!  Although it's mostly focused around the end of the month... What can you do? 

**UPDATE 9-7**

8. Libba Bray also has a new book coming out on the 18^th of this month!