A Series of Spectacular Events...

Apparently inspired by Ashley's recent rebelliousness I called out of work yesterday. Ok, maybe not so much inspired by that but by my little 10-year old cousin has sickle cell anemia and is currently enduring a most uncomfortable hospital stay with a high fever. I spent the afternoon with him and when his mother arrived from work I was to depart to a book reading at Politics & Prose (P&P). THAT is where the trouble began.

SCHEDULE: book reading @ 7:00pm.

PLAN: leave the hospital when his mother arrived (sometime around 5 - 5:30), drop my car at home and take the metro to P&P.


Now I do have to mention several fundamental facts:

1. I am absolutely NO GOOD at driving in DC. I get lost as soon as I turn my key and the pistons start pumping.

2. Getting in and out of Children's Hospital is near impossible: it's a maze of streets with no actual indication as to how one is to escape.

3. I have a penchant for luck beyond my comprehension.

So she was running late and didn't get to the hospital until about 6:05pm. In my mind I was attempting to figure out how I intended to get directly to P&P since there was no time at all to drive back home at this point. I couldn't think of anything...I really had no clue how I could or should go about driving and what direction to go. In classic "Ron" fashion I left the hospital and figured that if I attempted to drive back the same way I came I could at the very least get to a major road and just kind of drive in the direction of P&P until I found a recognizable street....


6:09pm - Out of the hospital parking lot and confused...I came in a different way...new plan = drive until I saw the street that I came from.

6:12pm - Nothing yet. Oh! A metro bus has a marquee that reads "H2 - Van Ness / UDC" (P&P is 10 blocks from that location)...thought runs past my mind to follow the bus...oh how foolish! Come now, time is being wasted...must find the road where I came from!

6:25pm - Back at the hospital! I drove around in a big circle (how?!)...getting desperate and short on time...what to do?

6:30pm - Salvation! Another H2 bus ahead...but wait, where is it going? Nothing on the marquee to indicate this...is it heading in the same route or back along to the opposite direction? No time (or way) to find out...new plan = follow that bus!

6:40pm - Cars honking at me as I slow down and pull behind the bus every once in a while...DC can be so mean during rush hour!

6:45pm - Bus flies through an orange light and I get stopped at red! I crane my neck to follow the bus with my eyes...whew...bus gets stopped immediately at next light!

6:50pm - Bus takes several detours through neighborhoods...am I even going in the right direction??

6:55pm - Success! Connecticut Ave! Wave goodbye to my guide and drive along Conn. - just about 10 blocks away...

6:56pm - Reality creeps in...where am I going to find parking?! There is only street parking available and that is ALWAYS full...what a bittersweet ending this is going to have!

6:59pm - One block away...wait...what is that ahead? A car parked right in front of P&P leaving?? My eyes salvate and they dart left and right to make sure there are no other cars attempting to nab my parking spot...I graciously allow the car to enter the street as I take the only spot available on the both sides of the street.

7:00pm - With amazement at the events that just transpired I take the key out and walk into P&P right on time.

Yeah, so that's my life...


Also the book reading / signing was for The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander. I was really excited to meet him and I had read his collection of short stories a while ago so I was excited to hear he was coming out with a full length novel. It should be a good read!