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Well, I did something incredibly stupid today. gonk I locked my keys in my car. After work this morning, I ran out to Kmart to pick up the new R.E.M. album, Around the Sun, ( heart heart heart The guys finally got it... this is the first album of theirs I've liked since Bill Berry retired in '99) and to raid the reduced-price Halloween videos (picked up both Evil Dead movies and Army of Darkness for four bucks each!). Then, after leaving Kmart, I stuck the new CD into my player and drove around for a while, just listening to what's probably the best R.E.M. album since New Adventures in Hi-Fi. I drove out past Hydralic Falls and was utterly stunned by the beauty of the day. I hadn't even realized how cloudless the sky was or how brilliantly orange and red the leaves are getting around here now. Not until I drove past the falls and saw the sky and the fall colors reflected in almost mirror-still water. It made me wish I had my camera with me. I cruised around the backroads near the falls and then headed back into town, jammin' with the new music from one of my favorite bands of all time. Life was good, I was sailing...I parked in front of my apartment, gathered up all my junk...hopped out of the car, hit the internal "lock" button by reflex...
...danced up the front walk, still humming the tune to "Outsiders"...
...and reached into my pocket for my keys while standing on my porch.
No keys.
I made a nervous little giggle, checked all the pockets in my cargo pants, then rummaged in my Kmart bag and checked the path through my front yard. Still no keys. "Oh, s**t." There they were, sitting dead center in my front seat, right where I'd set them down to gather my Kmart bag up, put the R.E.M. CD back in its case, etc. Right where I'd left them when I locked the door. gonk
So I ran next door to my neighbor, also my poor, put-upon maiden grand-step-aunt (poor Betty just can't handle a free-spirited, Heathen grand-neice who tends to have noisy sex at four in the morning about twice a month) and begged her for the spare set of keys so I could at least get into my apartment. I ran over to call my mother, since she's the only one with a spare set of keys for the CAR...and then remembered that Mom and my stepfather are out of town until Tuesday evening. crying
Exasperated, I knew I could ask Betty to drive me across town to pick my the spare set of keys from Mom's and she would wouldn't a second thought, but I looked outside, considered it (and the fact that the last time Betty and I were alone together, she gave me lots of cryptic comments about how "God is watching" and likeminded Christian nervousness) and then decided that it was a perfect, beautiful day to take a long walk. It's only about a mile from my house to Mom's and I don't have to be anywhere until 6 PM tonight (dinner with a whiny, lonely, codependant father...whee). So, I grabbed a jacket against the autumn wind, pulled my "Finlandia University" hat on over my grungy "I don't work with people today, so NYAH!" hair and headed off down the sidewalk with a content, pleasant expression on my face that reflected the feelings in my heart. It's a beautiful day.
It really is, too. Cloudless sky, just enough sunny warmth that the wind isn't bitter, almost perfect balance of humidity. The bite that comes with October's harvest is just barely evident in the air and everything feels almost golden.
Now, to put this in perspective, autumn is my least favorite time of year. I hate fall. I'm too forward-thinking to really enjoy what's happening right now, usually. When fall enters, I see the cold and the snow and the miserable lack of sunlight that comes with UP winters. I see the fact that I won't be able to keep my windows open and my apartment will start to feel tight and closed in, almost stale as the winter goes on. It was the same problem I had in the dorms at school, too. So...for me, fall just speaks of what winter's bringing down on my head in only a few more months. Winter itself is miserable, but not as bad as fall, actually. Because I can see that spring is still coming...though January and Feburary are definately the worst. Too bitterly cold for me to think much past running from the house to the car and huddling inside while the heater kicks in. Spring is my favorite season, personally...a time of rebirth and growth, new beginnings and warm, fertile freshness. Summer's too warm for my personal tastes, but it's also green and growing, the maturity of the year.
So for me to rave about how beautiful an autumn day is... means it's really an uncommonly beautiful autumn day. 3nodding
I think I'll go walk home now. Now that I've got my keys again. heart
 KijiLinn · Sat Oct 09, 2004 @ 08:53pm · 2 Comments |
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