Two things gave me nice little “Oh…fuck…” moments this weekend, but for once, luck was actually on my side.
First, I dropped my ATM card at Benihana’s. I’d gone for a friend’s birthday, and dropped my wallet as I was getting ready to leave.
I didn’t realize the debit card was gone until we got to the post-Benihana bar, and I went to pay for drinks and found a horrifyingly empty slot. I walked back, fearing I’d have to go through the colossal pain in the ass of canceling it and getting a new one.
Thankfully, they found it immediately. The card was gone for only 15 minutes, and my bank’s online system seems to indicate that nobody used it in the meantime to pay for their awesome teriyaki steak.
The second almost-oh-fuck came today. I decided to bike down to the beach, but I hadn’t used my bike in some time, so I decided to pump up the tires with my little cigarette-lighter-port powered pump from my car’s roadside assistance kit.
I didn’t turn the car all the way on, I just turned the key so the battery would power the pump. When I finished, I put the pump away and then rode down to the beach. A few miles down, I went to stop, lock my bike, and walk down to the water.
Except I didn’t have my keys. I suddenly realized, “Oh fuck, they’re still in the damn ignition. And the power is still on.” So of course, when I got back to my apartment, an hour and a half after turning on the car, the battery was dead. Part of me was just glad the car was actually still there.
Thankfully, again, I found one of my neighbors that I’m friends with and got him to give me a jump. After a quick drive around, I stopped for gas on the theory that if it didn’t start, at least at a gas station I’d have a better chance at another jump to get home.
Even more luckily, the car turned over like nothing had happened. The short time it took the battery to run down indicates I probably need a new one, but still. Better to have it work for another few weeks until my 120k overhaul (THAT should be a fun use of my economic stimulus check) than be totally stranded.
And that’s how my weekend seemed like it was doomed twice, but it turned out to be pretty much fine.