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July has always brought bad things. A partial list of things that have happened in past Julies:
My father died; my car was broken into; my place was robbed; a darling cat died of a rare and untreatable disease; another darling cat died from injuries received from his previous owners; my car was impounded (that was my fault, but still!); the only time I receive traffic tickets (non-moving violations) is in July; my timing gears went out in July. Some of these things happen in the same July, like the week my father died, my place was robbed and someone broke a window out of my car trying to steal it.
Usually July makes me wait before it unleashes its fury on me, but this year, it started right out. On the first day, I was found to have a new kidney infection and 1/4 inch kidney stone lodged in the renal pelvis. Monday I got lost coming home from classes and had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge four times at night with heavy fog (and I'm extremely acrophobic) after missing my exit and somehow ending up on 101 N. That was nothing compared to what Tuesday had for me: during a CT with contrast, a vein in my arm blew out, causing massive swelling and the dye settling into my arm. The arm is so injured I don't have much hot/cold sensation in it, so I gave myself 2nd degree frostbite with an icepack (in July, in California!) which is an extremely bad thing to have with a vein injury. Wednesday came along and made the previous days seem like a vacation: while driving to class, my car started steaming whilst crossing that damnable bridge, and once I was able to safely pull it over, it decided it was time to shut down. An hour later, it was able to start and pull my out of the valley I had pulled into and onto the exit, where a kindhearted person lent me her cellphone to call AAA. It was towed into the closest town, where the mechanic there told first I needed a new and; then said I had a cracked head (not likely; it's cast iron); then said I blew a head gasket. There was no where to rent a car, so I ended up missing the first class of one my expensive training, and had to have my car towed 50 miles back home. AAA covered the hookup and first 5 miles; I had to cover the rest.
Just shoot me now. I'm having my car towed to the shop tomorrow; undoubtedly that will bring more unwanted news, such as the car needs such extensive, expensive repairs than makes sense to put into it. I'm trying to come to terms with that; not only can I not afford another car now, I really, really like my big, comfy 18-year-old car.
On the positive side, I did encounter some cool people: Crystal, the wonderful woman who stopped to help and let me sit in her warm, dry car while I called AAA (it was raining by then); Bill, the tow-truck driver, who let me smoke on the long way home and was in all ways very kind; Johnnie from where I'm taking classes who called to make sure I got hoime safely and my instructor, who will tutor me privately before my next class to get me caught up; and everyone at the car rental here in town, where they found me car, had it washed and tuned to the local NPR affiliate on their own, and my rental agent who is also an avid reader.
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