05.120.2003
jon's landlord called him yesterday to let him know that a guy would be coming today at 11:00am to check the fire coding in the apartment and that she (the landlord) would be coming earlier to make sure that she had the key to the apartment.
the dilemma? we brought sumi with us to kona and pets are not allowed in the apartment, so sumi and i would need to be out of the house for the time that the landlord and the fire-guy were there, an estimated time of five hours. to be safe, we figured his landlord would show up between 10:00 and 11:00. the fire-guy was supposed to come at 11:00. we didn't know how long he was going to take. if he was just going to look at jon's apartment or the entire building, so we decided that he should be done by at least 1:00.
the solution? i would wake up with jon, go with him to work, bring sumi and her cat-stuff with me, take the car and cruise for five hours. fortunately, we arranged for me to stay at one of jon's friend's house for the time being. considering that i don't know how to drive, i didn't want to be out on the road for that long.
i did fairly okay driving, considering that t was the first time i've driven by myslef and that jon's car is standard. there were a few bumps along the way. like the unanticipated merge lane. not wanting to just cut in front of someone (for fear of judging the timing wrong) i ended up slowing down a lot and waiting for all the cars to pass before i merged. yeah. i know you're not supposed to slow down, but i have a problem with keeping the wheel straight when i do my head checks.
and then i kept passing jon's friend's house and had to turn around three times. the road he lives on is narrow and winding with little to no shoulders. i didn't want to pull into someone's driveway and have to reverse on to the road, so i kept an eye out for one of the few wide shoulders. i found one, but had a really hard time getting back on to the road, because the shoulder dropped off the road a little more than expected. the car actually rolled backwards while i tried to climb back on to the road and i missed hitting a mailbox by inches. it also didn't help that sumi kept on trying to crawl on to my lap. i finally got back on to the road by reversing and continued my search for another (and better) shoulder to turn around on.
i found one at the komo store. it really wasn't the best place, with bends in the road coming and going, but it was still one of the better places. i pulled over, cut the wheel, and checked my mirrors and began to inch forward. and then i heard the blaring of a horn. =:o i had pulled out in front of another car. the guy driving was very understanding and let me go with a "just don't forget to check your mirrors". he drove around me and i continued my u-turn. not wanting to misjudge the turn and end up hitting the stone wall on the other side, i took it slow and stalled, blocking both lanes ... twice. not the best place to stall, at all. nope.
i finally reached jon's friend's house safely. and spent an hour in the extra bedroom trying to catch up on some sleep in between sumi's incessant meowing before jon's landlord called and informed us that the fire-guy was sick and wouldn't be coming until next tuesday. x|
the drive back to the apartment went smooth. i didn't stall at all. even at the intersections. of course, driving to pick up jon at 4:30 was a different story. following a car that was turning off the road, i hoped he'd make the turn before i had to come to a stop, but he didn't and i stalled pulling out of first ... twice. fortunately, the person behind me was patient. and then i *accidently* spun the tires pulling out from another stop. but hey. at least i didn't stall. i reached mazda uneventfully, only to stall at the entrance, but made it up the hill without any more incidences.
the drive home was the best part of the day, since jon drove, leaving me to relax, destress, and revel in the delight and relief of returning to my role as passenger.