Some people may have been wondering why, after an entry where I promised to write more, I disappeared for two weeks. Well .....

Last Tuesday, my car was stolen.

(I'll give you a minute to do the shocked double-take I've been getting from everyone I say that to.)

I did get it back this week -- after a very convoluted, frustrated amount of phone calls and running around Westchester county -- but it is still in the shop waiting for the steering column to be fixed. Meanwhile, I have been walking everywhere. This Tuesday, which was the day I finally managed to get the car from the Greenburgh Police Impound Lot to my mechanic, I walked somewhere between 10-12 miles. Generally in 2-3 mile increments, but still ... And a normal trip to school is almost 4 miles round trip. (Not to gross out my male readers, but the day I walked 10 miles I was also having serious cramps and all the fun stuff that goes along with that.)

And just because it must have seemed like my life needed to be complicated further, the day after my car was stolen, my phone line went out. This meant that I couldn't get on the internet from my apartment for almost a week. And since I had to walk 4 miles to get to the computers at school ... well you can see why time on Xanga was pretty low on my priority list.

Plus, this all happened precisely as I am supposed to be doing the final revisions on the things that are going in my thesis. (Thankfully, I turned in my last workshop story only hours before all this happened ... or I'd be in an even bigger mess.)

Since I am such a control freak, having so many things go out of my control for an entire week was very unpleasant, to say the least. It is not fun to be a crime victim, especially when you start to find out all the expenses and hassles you have to go through because someone else decided to help themselves to your property. (To be itemized later, once the final repair bills are in.)

Why do people do things like that? This wasn't even about taking my car and stripping it for parts, which at least would have been for money. This was akin to vandalism ... taking something and messing around with it just because they f*&@* felt like it. (Oh, and I haven't mentioned that we were having a massive thunderstorm when I discovered the car was gone and had to walk all the way up a very steep hill with water gushing down at me. It took my shoes 3 days to dry.) I'm glad that they didn't take it for parts and I got it back, but .... sometimes I just don't get people.

Not exactly a statement you want to be making if you're a writer.

But the worst is over now, I hope. (I have been making extra backups of my thesis files just in case a crashing computer is the next crisis.) I should have my car back by the middle of next week -- just in time to pay 2.00/gal for gas -- and at least the phone line is working again.

Hmmm.... good things that happened this week:
1.My boss said there's a possibility they might hire me to work full time for the summer.
2. The Cardinals swept first-place Houston in Houston (including a 2-1 12 inning nailbiter last night).
3.My fantasy baseball team is in third place and gaining.
4.I hung out with Laura last Saturday and I get to hang out with her again tomorrow.

OK, I feel better now.