Elvis is Dead (and that isn't even the bad news)

Well, I had decided to write a blog today about the fact that "The King" would have turned 74 today. It is a sad thought, maybe sadder than the fact that he did not. I cannot imagine a 74 year old Elvis. 

None of that matters, however, because I also signed over my car to the insurance company today and picked up my 16 year old Cutlass from the shop... over $900. That, in itself, is unremarkable until you factor in the fact that I left work early so I could get there before the shop closed at 5, left my perfectly good (yet, still totaled) car there to be towed away tomorrow to the crusher and made it approximately 1/3 of the way home.

First, there was a shuddering, then a clacking noise; then, as I rolled up to a red light, it cut off. Hmmm. Curious. I started it up, dropped it in gear, it cut off. Fast forward, three or four more times and I 'roll' in to the mall parking lot. Now, here I feel I should mention the enormous similarity to the events that led up to the car sitting for over a year and being in the shop to begin with. 

So, brief recap...  two weeks in the shop (holiday), $900+, and I don't expect to make it to work tomorrow. Happy New Year!!!

What's Next

Well, naturally, my first instinct, is to punch a hole in the gas tank with a screwdriver and drive through the shop. Of course, this assumes it will make it back that far. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do. I suppose it should involve getting up much earlier and wearing comfortable shoes.  Have you ever wondered what you could have done to cause the cosmic forces of the entire universe to conspire against you? - Is that just me?

You know, I want to be pissed off. I should be pissed off. Everyone expects me to be pissed off, (most of the time I think). But I just don't have the energy. I think my give-a-damn is broken. What's worse - I expected this. I joked about it at work with an underlying sense of foreboding and a niggling little voice in my head that said "yeah, that sounds about right".

Greatest Hits

OK. It is still Elvis' birthday. He is still the king. I am still his subject, so in honor of the "King of Rock 'n Roll's" birthday, I am going to sum up my 2009 (thus far) using just a few of his #1 hits...

Now and Then, There's a Fool Such as I. I keep struggling just to keep my head above water but I find myself sinking Way Down. Occasionally, I feel like Crying (in the Chapel). I need a Good Luck Charm but if I had a rabbit's foot, it would just attract wolves. It all seems like Too Much and I just want to Surrender. I want to scream at people (mechanics, insurance agents, bad drivers and bosses, mostly), "You're the Devil in Disguise" and "Don't Be Cruel". I just want to plead, "Don't". It's got me All Shook Up and I want to tell them that I don't have a Wooden Heart. I would love, just One Night, to come home without feeling like a Hound Dog that belongs to Michael Vick. 

Days like today make me just a tiny bit more sympathetic to those living in a Heartbreak Hotel or doing the Jailhouse Rock and I wonder just what separates us. What makes me different from someone else who just had enough - maybe In the Ghetto, or even a former child star, who just snaps? I understand Suspicious Minds and civil disobedience. Where is that fine line? How close am I to it? Which side of it am I on?

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Happy Birthday, Elvis. 

Happy Birthday, Katie. 

Happy New Year, all. (Can't we start over?)