It’s the little things

Today, I woke up when my 7:30 alarm went off. Normally this isn’t a big deal. However, today is a “move the car” day. I was parked on a Tuesday side, which means that I had set a calendar entry to wake me up at 7 this morning, so that I could have enough time to find a spot on the “Monday, Thursday” side of the street during the window between 7 and 7:30 when people are abandoning their spots to drive to work. This also leaves me enough time to walk home (if I have to park far away) and still get ready in time to get to work at a reasonable hour. For those of you familiar with this little dance that occurs every morning (except Wednesdays, when there are no sweepers), you will probably also know that after 7:30, beginning around 7:45ish, the chances of finding a spot become very slim. So this morning, when I woke up at 7:30 and realized what was going on, I had a minor panic attack (kind of like those dreams where you sleep in and miss a final exam). I’m still not sure if the alarm just didn’t sound, or if I slept through it. I have still been struggling with the daylight savings thing. I get up at the new time, but I’m still going to bed at the old time (old time= extra late at night), so it is possible that I just slept right through the 7:00 alarm. Anyway, as I was shutting off the Caribbean tune that plays at 7:30, I was like, “wait, what happened to the 7:00 alarm?” I jumped out of bed, and tried to convince Reagan to just drive to work today, as I was putting on my pants/tripping towards my jacket. She was just like “what’s going on?” I could see that conversation wasn’t going to work, plus, I didn’t have a minute to lose. I grabbed the keys on the way out the door and descended the stairs, taking 2 at a time. When I turned down the street where Bebe was parked, I saw an open spot directly across the street from her. I was trying to remember if there was a hydrant there. Hmmm, I don’t think that there is. I looked back over my shoulder and saw another car at the top of the street, slowly making his way toward me, clearly also looking for a Monday/Thursday spot. I sprinted to Bebe and started her up. It seemed like 10 minutes would lapese each time I had to shift into reverse for the 3 point turn exiting my current spot. I was checking the mirror the whole time. By now, that other car was getting close enough to see the spot also. I motored across the street, burning the clutch a little. Victorious! I was in position. I had secured the spot. So, I know that this is a really retarded story about a pretty mundane detail in an self-imposed overcomplicated thing that I like to call my life, but little things like finding a spot when I slept through the alarm, can totally make my day. Woohoo.