running on empty

normally, my non-superhero life is very clark kent -- mild mannered, unassuming even. at work or at home when i seem to pull off my superhero routines of staying on top of this project, dodging that deadline, completing this task and jumping through hoops of fire to meet that one, i give the appearance of someone who is "one the ball".

if only appearances were exactly as they seem.

turns out this weekend revealed the bullets my wonder woman-like bracelets couldn't deflect. i paid the idiot tax because quite simply, that's what is required when you pull a bonehead of such magnitude.

i "kinda" knew i didn't have the new sticker for my license plate. it's not like i didn't remember to renew my vehicle registration -- i did, but what i forgot to do is remove the friggin' little sticker from the envelope to put it on my car. and this is where penndot has gone wrong -- big envelope, little card and even smaller sticker that isn't really even in the main part of the envelope, it sort of hovers in its own separate-but-equal slot in the envelope never sharing the larger space afforded to the actual registration card.

hence the reason why i have thrown the fcuking thing out in the trash. for the second time. arrggghhh.

but before you think it's a simple blonde moment -- and i have lots of those -- this goes deeper than simply being too rushed in filing the trash where it belongs. nope, this time i sinned far greater. i forgot to get my car inspected, too.

oy. when my subconscious finally broke through the clutter (that phrase is worth 5-points in buzz word bingo) to alert me, "hey shithead, you forgot sumthin' over here" i think i was ready to acknowledge my mistake.

the trouble was, it broke through at 4 am saturday (or was it sunday?) morning, creating another sleepless night for me. mentally, i trolled my internal calendar to see when in the last four months i would have taken my car into the shop for inspection. the giveaway for me that i hadn't was that i needed an oil change. and i have needed one for the last 6 months. (okay shut up, i take the train everyday and still have barely broken 10k miles on my car.) i am the queen of multitasking, had i gotten my car inspected, i would have surely gotten the oil changed at the same time. i am my own personal if-then statement.

what was even more troubling to me was the fact i couldn't remember when i had forgotten to do it. damn that new car! with my old little putt-putt car, i knew exactly when things were due -- when to change the oil, when to put on new tires, when to get it inspected. like clockwork, reliable and settled. i love my new car, but it's still different -- different buttons, different timetables, things i realize i should know but hadn't really given a damn about until i realized that i did need to give one.

so i do what wonder woman would do when digging out from the mess, i dig out one spoonful and fighting each boneheaded mistake at a time.

even when they are your own.