okay folks, here it is. the promised update involving cars and elephants. after a week of fighting with the "upload photos" page on blogger, i have prevailed. enjoy.
scene: last week thursday, 8:30 a.m.
khadija, fuller and i left my apartment on our way to staff seminar in khadija's car.
8:57 a.m.: the "service engine soon" light came on. we began debating over how soon "soon" meant, as we were on our way to ligonier, still an hour's drive from our current locale. also, it was important that we arrive on time, as all three of us had meetings at 10:30. since we were too far to turn around and get fuller's car, we started making phone calls to switch cars with a benevolent friend in the city. we had convinced k-ho to do so, and had arranged to meet her in east liberty.
9:07 a.m.: we were nearing oakland when we discovered that the "soon" in "service engine soon" really meant "now." the car's engine starting revving and roaring angrily, and refused to shift. we were now travelling at a speed no greater than 26 mph on the highway, miles and miles from east lib and the promised car switching. we put on the flashers, which merely induced people to honk their horns furiously and give us horribly dirty looks.
9:12 a.m.: luckily, feffer, who lives just minutes from where we were, returned our call just then. he agreed to help us, and we headed over to his house.
9:18 a.m.: feffer's car was not up the challenge of driving to ligonier, due to a lack of sideview mirrors and questionable tires. however, he did agree to drive us over to kristin so we could take her car. so, we pulled all our suitcases out of d's car and huddled on the porch to get out of the rain. (it was raining. of course.) 9:20 a.m.: feffer informed us that before he could drive us to the east end, he'd have to change his tire. awesome.
9:32 a.m.: a coworker called and told us she was planning to leave the city for ligonier in an hour, and we were welcome to catch a ride with her. we made plans to meet her at our main office.
9:35 a.m.: feffer finished changing the tire. we loaded our things into the trunk of his car. as i slammed it shut, khadija decided to try to grab something out of the trunk, and it hit her squarely on the top of the head. she was not happy with me. but, we got in the car and drove to the office.
(i'm going to quit the play-by-play here. it's getting a little long, and honestly, the next part of the journey was successfully uneventful.)
12:22 a.m.: nearly four hours after leaving my apartment, we arrived at staff seminar. we were two hours late, effectively missing all our meetings.
9:45 p.m.: we decide to go out to joe's bar and taxidermy museum, a veritable wonder of small-town america. this place is exactly what it sounds like. it has been around for a long time, evidenced by the animals it contains that are quite illegal to hunt due to the modern-day poaching laws. it contains nearly every mammal you might find at a zoo, including, but not limited to, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my. there is also a rhinoceros, a giraffe, and heaven forbid, an elephant. if you don't believe me, see for yourself.
**bonus e-props to whoever can identify the mystery animal in the last photo. (not the jackalope, the other one.) hint: it is not bigfoot.
