The Towing of Coup

Yesterday, I had my car towed. Towed away to a land filled with other misfit cars. At least my car wasn't lonely. But I can only imagine how scared Coup was. That's my car's name... Coup. He looks like a Coup. He'd be very embarrassed if I put a picture of him up though, due to the fact that he is indeed fading... and broken. He asked me to keep his anonymity while writing this blog.

The only thing good about Coup being towed was he wasn't stolen! I thought he was stolen. I freaked out. I almost cried. I couldn't breathe. And what was I thinking about if my car had been stolen... how ALL of my notes were in my backpack in his trunk and finals are next week. Next thought, my Jennifer Lopez coat was in there too. The second part almost made me crawl up on the ground and cry. Don't tell Coup I was less worried about his safety. He will be heart broken!

In my maniacal freaking out, my friend had the good sense to call her management company (I was parked at her apartment) to see if they knew anything. Turns out... they had Coup towed!! I have been parking at her apartment for years. YEARS! Where do they want me to park when I am visiting her? There is virtually no other parking for blocks and there is no street parking. I guess from now on I will have to take my magical carpet and fly in to visit her. What the heck is this?

Apparently, there is a sign that says you can't park there during school hours because they don't want students who are going to campus to park there and not on campus. I am not one of these delinquent kids who evades the parking system by stealing parking from honest apartment owners. No. I only park there when I visit her. And on this particular day, I was visiting in a time of turmoil and was being a good friend. What do I get for being a good friend!? Coup gets towed. Not that I would not have visited her either way. Of course I would console her in her time of need. She is my awkward best friend that I have known since freshman year when I yelled at her for not speaking. I will have to tell you about the story of how we met. It really is quite fascinating that we are friends. But we are. And I heart her.

Ok out of the mushy friend business and back into the reason for this blog... the towing of my vehicle. So here I am at 4 pm... mind you the towing company closes at 5 pm. So the apartment management says they had my car towed. So I call the towing company... they tell me that it is going to cost $250 to get Coup back... and they only take cash. OK! Because obviously I just have hundreds of dollars just floating around my wallet. Let me just whip out those bills for you. Get freakin real. I am poor and I hate carrying cash. And I am flustered. Can you even imagine the embarrassment Coup must have felt as he was shamefully attached to another truck and brutally kidnapped... hauled through town... and locked away.

And, Coup probably isn't even worth the 250 buckaroos I am shelling out to release him from car jail. I am not even kidding you. He is a 10 year old pile of faded blue paint and broken insides. He gets horrible mileage and doesn't even offer cooling on those hot summer days. Additionally, he always gets hit or dented or people break into him. It's probably because he looks like a cholo gangster should be driving him and bumping the bass. You know what I am talking about. One of those super low cars playing their music so loud that it shakes all the other cars next to it. While the driver has his window down and one heavily tattooed arm hanging precariously out of the window. Yeah, that's what Coup reminds people of. Once again please refrain from telling Coup this. I'm pretty sure I would wake up tomorrow morning to find that he had ran away to a place where people appreciated him... probably a scrap yard. But in loyalty... and more for the fact that I have to get around... I paid the $250 dollars to get him back.

So now we have to trek it to the bank and head to the towing company... literally in the middle of freaking nowhere. Finally, we get there with the much needed help of Google Maps. As I hand over my wad of 20 dollar bills, the guy has to get change out form his own wallet. First off, what kind of legit company doesn't take credit. Also what kind of legit company doesn't take credit when they require so much money from you. Conclusion... the management at my friend's apartment hired a very sketchy, not even close to legit towing company that is currently stealing my money and there is nothing I can do about it!!

Then, he tells a younger guy to go fetch my car. I say I have my keys. The owner of the towing company looks at me as if he has never heard such words spoken in his presence before. "You have your keys!!??" Uhh... duh! It's my car! How in the world did you think I was going to pick it up and drive it home. What? Was I going to push it the 15 miles back to my house by hand. Are you dumb? Because I am thinking you are dumb sir. I am also thinking this doesn't lend well to your credibility as a legit service to the people of this city.

So, after much turmoil and a heavy hit to my wallet, Coup is back in my presence. He's slightly shaken and is currently upset with me that I would let such a horrible thing happen to him. I think he deserves a nice run through the car wash soon! That'll make him happy.

Shopping Remorse

I have a shopping problem. It's really more like I am a bi-polar shopper. This is because I LOVE to get new things but I HATE spending money. I am one of those people I would rather spend money on a good restaurant, a play, a vacation, or a show.

I love clothes... but I hate buying them and I am very frugal with my money... but not all the time. There are those few moments in a year when I just have to buy things. It's like I can't help myself. One of these days is Black Friday. I really don't need anything and this is what I told myself when I set out to go shopping with my mom on Black Friday. This used to be a big thing in our family. My sister, my mom, (sometimes my grandma and aunt if they were in town) would wake up at 3 in the morning and head to El Paso to go to Kohl's. Then we would get a Starbucks and a Burger King Breakfast, maybe go to the outlet mall and then make the 45 minute trip back to Las Cruces. Once we got older we extended the shopping enough to so we could go have lunch at PF Chang's because we don't have one in LC and it is so deliciously amazing.

However, the last couple of years I opted out of the early morning shopping because quite frankly I valued my sleep way more then I will ever value a new computer, new shoes, or a new shirt. Sleep is very important to me. I can run on little sleep and I have done this for months at a time but if I can avoid it, I would like to. I can sleep any time, any where, and in any amounts of sunlight... though I much prefer a very dark cave like atmosphere which is why I have black curtains in my room and hardly ever open the blinds. So you can see, shopping is just not as high up on my list as sleeping. As a matter of fact I sleep so much that when I was little, I fell asleep at a wedding and my parents didn't want to leave so they put me on my Dad's jacket and shoved me under the present table where I slept, without waking, for the entire wedding. Awesome. I have also been known to reflexively take swings at my roommates when they would wake me up so they had to take to throwing pillows at me instead. But I think you get the picture. Shopping = stealing sleep... therefore I hate shopping.

Since my sister is gone to Pennsylvania, my mom was going to go shopping by herself... which I could just not allow. So we woke up when we woke up which for me is never much later than 8 and had our coffee and strolled out the door at a comfortable 10 am instead of the usual 3 am. This kind of shopping I could get used to.



As I mentioned above, I told myself I didn't really need anything. So how is it that I left Kohl's that morning spending ungodly amounts of money on 3 shirts, 1 jacket, earrings, a necklace, throw pillows... yes. throw pillows. a cupcake maker and a recipe book (an Xmas gift I bought myself from my sister). Three huge scarves. A big thing of 40 different shades of eye shadow.



Thank you Zoo York



A beautiful white watch that I am determined to wear. I am notorious for getting watches... wearing them for a couple weeks and never touching them again. But this one is amazing. It is digital AND analog. It's also a men's watch because lets face it, women's watches are ugly. I don't want diamonds or jewels or tiny little bands that look all dainty. Get real. I like something with substance. Something that I don't need to squint my eyes to see. Something that also tells me the date in big bold letters since I often have to ask multiple times a day. A women's watch just cannot do this. And if it does, it's purple or pink or something horrible.



I got to say I love Jennifer Lopez's new line at Kohl's. I also have her coat from there. Too bad it never gets cold enough here to wear it.



I also scored a black J-Lo clutch/wallet/small purse, sunglasses and some other little things. But even on this shopping spree... I'm pretty frugal. I pretty much refuse to spend over $25 on any clothing item EVER unless it is a jacket or a purse. Anything else I will most definitely pass it by until it goes on sale or I just live without it.

But lets truly think about this. Do I need 40 different shades of eye shadow... No. Do I really need another necklace or more earrings... No. I don't actually need any of this. But it is all so pretty! And any other time of the year I would get home feeling intense buyers remorse because that is just the kind of person I am. But good deals on Black Friday make me feel not so bad.

This would have been enough. But we proceed to go to the Helen of Troy Outlet where I was simply going to buy a hair dryer because mine is about to explode and often sucks my hair in the back and lights it on fire. Seeing as how a burning head of hair is not really a good thing, I rationalized my need to buy a hair dryer. But do you really think I left with just a hair dryer? Absolutely not. It started off with a gift set on sale with some brushes and a curling iron (also something I need). Then I saw a packaged set of a Revlon hairdryer WITH a flat iron AND another curling iron. I mean, can you honestly pass that up!? No, I think not.  But that isn't all. I had to buy the world's smallest flat iron I have ever seen. But to get that you had to buy all the other stuff that came with it. But it is the coolest flat iron ever. It is barely just bigger than my hand.

After also scooping up some OXO kitchen utensils we decided we were good and checked out where... ironically... we got a free hairdryer. The only thing I came in to buy... and they hand me a second one free. What the heck? I just spent all this money and now I have TWO hair dryers TWO flat irons and TWO curling irons. What am I supposed to do with all of this stuff? Looks like somebody is getting a hair dryer for Xmas. Speaking of... I just noticed I did not get a single thing for anybody else for Christmas. I am such a horrible shopper.

But here I am two days after Black Friday returning to my old ways of not spending money on certain items. My mom just showed me a picture of a digital camera. Something that I have been needing for a very long time because I have had mine since 2004. It's a beast. It also takes horrible pictures. But she came in excited about a camera that maybe she can buy me and it is on sale for $225... absolutely not mother. I am not letting anybody buy me a $225 camera. Get real. Do you know how many other things I can buy with that money. A lot. Even $125 is pretty steep for me.

Thus the bi-polar money spending ways continues from one big sale to the next. And I just spent all my money on this stuff and grad applications and I am not quite sure how I am going to manage to buy all the gifts I need for people for Xmas.