what's it to you?

so i had something that could have been a bad day yesterday. only it wasn’t.

it started out with putting on my dress shoes, and breaking a shoelace.

and then driving my car to work, i noticed that the steering was noticeably wobbly, quite unlike the normal tight control of my miata. but being late for an appointment, i figured i’d just check it when i got there. but still noticing that something was definitely wrong. and then i started hearing a brump brump brump brump sound. and then feeling a brump brump brump brump sound. and then smelling burning rubber (thank goodness i had the top down), which is never a good smell. so i pull over to the slow lane, and get off at the next exit, and find my rear left tire completely flat and shredded.

so i’m screwed, and i can’t make my meeting.

disaster, right? well, i dunno. i called and told people i couldn’t make it, but was going to dial in instead. i called aaa to come change my tire (ok, i could have done it myself, but if i’m paying for auto club, i should use it if i need it, otherwise what am i paying for?), and then called the local wheel works to see if they had the proper tires to replace my rear ones, which were admittedly on their last legs. they had them in stock, and so i drove over there on the spare, and they threw them on in less than 45 minutes, most of which i spent dialed into the meeting. i already knew i had to replace those rear tires soon anyway, so it wasn’t some big financial surprise.

and the broken shoelace? well, i just put on my other pair of shoes.

my point being that these events could have justified a terrible terrible day, but it just wasn’t. it wasn’t a big deal. maybe it’s just how you take it. or your attitude towards everything. you can make things be really horrible, or you can make things be not so bad.

a lot of times, it’s just up to you.

Posted at January 22, 2004 8:01 AM