Why run with the crowd when you can run around in circles?

Monday, November 12, 2007

Chasing my tail


The car shook and vibrated down the road. It sounded as though it had a sore throat. But I made it, all the way to the west coast of Florida, in one long day, running from the north before it got too frigid, and before I had to witness that horror of white stuff falling out of the sky. News leaked out that I had escaped south, and I was offered a job on the east coast, which is not where I was or where I was planning to be. Well, okay, it was instant, fun work, a little more than a three hour drive away, and I could stay aboard the rather luxurious boat I would be working on. Good deal, except that foolishly, I didn’t check the weather before driving east across the state in my still wheezing jalopy. I arrived at the coast at the same time as screaming winds and drowning downpours, all spinning off from that tropical thingy blowing up the Bahamas. After two days of trying to keep my balance as the boat bounced up and down in the slip, I gave up and fled back to the calm west coast. While waiting for the east coast weather to clear, I decided to start the job hunting process on the west coast. About 8 seconds after I started looking for work, I had a job that I could start right away, just around the corner! Well great, except that I still had to meet my east coast work commitment. So I tried out the new west coast job for a day, sticking my finger into the moving parts of a sewing machine to impress my new boss. Duh, maybe I’d better head back east now. I spent a week on the boat on the east coast, trying to keep the neighbor’s boat cat away while I painted. White 2-part epoxy cat foot prints look really flash on a nicely varnished rail.
And here I am again, back on the west coast of FL. Are you with me so far? Me neither. I still don’t know whether I’m coming or going, where I’m supposed to be living or working or what I’m supposed to be doing. So today, to clear my head, I spent my day off unbolting and unfastening bits of a dead marine diesel engine scheduled for removal and replacement. Do I know how to have a good time or what?
Sometimes I wonder. I never was a normal girl.
Salon? Pedicure? You must be kidding. Pass the tool box and get out of my way.