Today was very interesting. It was a soap-opera day, like the kind that I felt like I experienced every day last semester. Today had nothing to do with my relationship with Paul, though, although I do have to point out that had things not changed last August, today would have been our wedding date. *sad sigh*

Let me give you a little background info for the events of today. Yesterday I got a new cell phone, getting onto a family plan with Paul (mobile to mobile minutes with Cingular! call me :-)). I’m super excited about that – I got a nice LG L1400 which is a camera phone too (it was inexpensive after rebate). I got Paul one of the free Nokia phones, because his one request was to not have a flip phone. I also upgraded my plan to include the multimedia – text messaging and picture sending.

The other thing you need to know is that I am pursing getting an apartment at my third but favorite option, even though it’s a bit of a wait. Yesterday they called me and said “I have to talk to you”, but I didn’t get the voicemail until after the office was closed. So today I called the leasing agent to find out what was up.

She told me that the people in the apartment I was planning on moving into are suddenly being indecisive about whether they want to actually move or not. This throws a damper in my plans, because the only other apartment available before mid-May is on a walk-in level. So now I’m unsure of what to do.

Meanwhile, when Paul and I had talked last night about the cell phone, he said he was willing to pay the extra $20 and get the camera phone even though it was a flip phone. So I drove over to the Cingular store to exchange his phone today – only to find out that they’re sold out. I also found out that the multimedia upgrade only works for my phone, not his too. I wasn’t not sure what to do, and right now Paul is almost incommunicado until he receives the cell phone I am going to mail to him on Monday.

After Cingular I drove to the apartment to talk to the leasing agent in person, and the situation hadn’t improved at all. I told her I was ready to pay the deposit and give her my application, and she said that she’d try to reach them tomorrow and let me know. So we’ll see.

After leaving, I called my mom and asked, “What should I do now?” My mom suggested that I continue to search for an apartment. I asked her if she thought it would be okay to have a walk-in level, but we’re both skeptical – about my safety, about the ease of breaking into ground floor windows and also about Peeping Toms. As I drive around, I am getting more and more frustrated because I can’t find anything in a good neighborhood for the price I can afford to pay, and because I have to worry about things like Peeping Toms because i’m a young single girl living by myself.

Finally I decided to head home, but first I stopped in Walmart to pick up a map of Atlanta. I wandered around there for a while, kind of in a daze. At one point I called my mom and asked her what I was supposed to buy again because I’d forgotten (I really wasn’t feeling my best). After I left I was driving on the interstate and my car started running funny. I looked at my gas gage, and it’s barely on empty… but I knew that’s what was wrong. I got off at the next exit (which of course was a residential area and not a gas station in sight). At the top of the exit ramp, my car died. The funny thing is there was a car broken down in the lane next to me. Fortunately (for all the people behind us) I was at the top of a hill so I was able to turn right and coast all the way down. The hill went back up again and my breaks finally worked (they weren’t breaking my coast at all which scared me). I called Roadside Assistance and got a towtruck on the way. A policeman came up and asked me to get out of the street, so I put the car in neutral and backed down the hill and into a driveway. At this point I completely broke down into tears. The owner of the where I was parked came out and told me her husband’s coming home and I needed to get out of the way. I apologized for being in her driveway, and explained the situation, and asked her if she had any ideas.

While I was standing there, this guy pulls up – at first i think it’s her husband, but it was a man asking “is this the residence of ___” (didn’t catch the name – Beth Z. called at that minute and so I dealt with that). The lady said, “How can I help you?” (not very kindly which kind of surprised me). Then I overheard the man say something about “warrant for his arrest” and “you tell your husband…”. He was really obnoxious/threatening and she just shouted, “Go away! Save it for court!” As he left, she asked me to get his license plate number which I did.

She went inside (to write it down I presume) and then came back, and we decided for me to put the car in neutral again and coast to the grass across the street (I’m on a hill, remember). Oh yeah, the tow truck had called to say he’s on his way. I moved my car and was sitting there… I was a little worried because it was almost 7 and getting dark. The lady’s husband came home (she had sat outside watching me the whole time – I don’t think she trusted me, but after the strange man who threatened her I don’t blame her). Her husband came over with a gas container and poured it in my gas tank even though I told him the tow truck was supposed to be there any minute (like I said, I don’t think they were comfortable with me sitting there – I wasn’t sensing that they were doing it out of compassion although they were nice to me). I decided to drive away – he put 5 gallons in, so I knew I could make it to the next exit… I called the roadside assistance and cancelled the tow truck.

I drove to the next exit and found a gas station. I saw about 15-20 men just standing around there (later I found out that they wait at that corner looking for day labor jobs). I was super nervous about getting gas because I hate gas stations already, and to have so many guys just standing around didn’t help, but everything was fine and I got back on the highway. My cell phone rang; it was the tow truck guy and right as I answered it – my phone battery (which had been going) died. I felt really bad because he was probably wondering where I was, but I had no way to reach him.

I finally made it home and spend the evening relaxing (nice long bath!) and trying to figure out how to download AIM onto this computer (doesn’t work – neither does GAIM – I went with Trillian).

I hope tomorrow is less eventful, and from now on – just because it hasn’t reached “empty” yet doesn’t mean there’s gas to be had.

Status of taxe: Federal-waiting on a document from parents; Indiana-started, can’t finish till federal is done; Florida-don’t have to worry about it, no florida state income tax!! yay :-)