jennings rampage

Where’s my mug shot? I want my mug shot!

Here’s my driving log for yesterday, 28 Feb 2003:

What a splendid six days I had in my once and future home! Three performances, nine shows, a crashed class, a rehearsal, a few movies, two parties, two crashed apartments, a couple museums, plenty of walking and fresh air, an omelette, a few carafes of the house red. A good time was had by me, even if my date with Marlena was totally crashed.

But of course, he who swoops in must also swoop out, so after a Harold and a drink with The Syndicate, it was back to Zohar’s to cram my stuff into my bags and catch a cab to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, in plenty of time for the 10pm bus back to Norfolk. I can’t read or write (headaches) or sleep (I’m a pretty pretty princess) on a bus, so I donned the music headphones and rocked out as much as possible.

We hit snow halfway down the Turnpike, which was pretty sticky through Delaware, so we were a bit behind schedule. We finally had a meal break, which was welcome because I was starving (you were right). A bag of peanuts and a bottle of water was enough to get me a little sleep, thankfully right through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which I still inexplicably despise. We pulled into Norfolk at 6:15am, a full thirty minutes late.

Jeff was there waiting for me, which was good because I could have described a dozen different scenarios where he would have given up and left, because he just can’t be late for quarters at 7am. So this was the plan: he drives to the base, I drive his car home, he catches a ride after work. My trial-by-fire-driving-education continues!

I reminded Jeff that I was working on maybe an hour’s sleep, but there wasn’t much choice at this point. So we fight the military traffic, brandish our IDs, and soon enough we were across the street from the USS Iwo Jima, and I was behind the wheel of the Purpulator. I couldn’t drive off the base the same way I drove on, so Jeff pointed in a different direction and left it to me to figure it out from there.

My innate sense of direction saved me again, and I made it out of the base with no problem. Right turn onto Hampton Blvd, absolutely no traffic. I decided to take Little Creek Road rather than the interstate, since I saw little point in fighting highway traffic in the morning, and the roads around the base headed in the opposite direction are absolutely empty. I had a bus ride my ass part of the way, but there was flashing blue so I wasn’t about to do a fraction over 35 mph. But once the lights were gone, I cut left and took off. Very well executed.

This morning’s driving excursion saw two milestones. First, I managed to change the CD in the car stereo while I was still driving, which was a big step for me, but necessary to get rid of the really terrible Charleston band with which my brother is infatuated. Second, I performed a lawful stop for a school bus on Chesapeake Blvd. Good for me!

I park the car, haul my bags upstairs, and then remember that I had given my house key to Jason since he thought he was staying with us until they put him back on restriction last Sunday. Shit. It’s about 7:15am, I have no interest in or money for breakfast, there’s no way for me to get back onto the base to get my key, and it looks like I’m going to be killing time in the Purpulator until the rental office opens at 9. Sucks for me!

So I fire up a little Jethro Tull, read the copy of Pipe Up that Shannon Manning gave me, and then suddenly realize that I probably have the apartment complex’s emergency maintenance number somewhere in my giant man-purse-of-crap. That got me inside at 8:15am, and after sorting some e-mail and making a couple phone calls and petting my cat and remembering to go back to using Norfolk channel numbers, I was out.

Poor Jeff didn’t get the e-mail I sent to let him know that I got his car home safely, so the poor dear was worried (about his car) all day. But all was well when he got home around 3pm, and Jeff reclaimed the helm of his car for errands and dinner and whatnot.

Future planned excursions include a trip to Jackson Hewitt in the morning and another trip back from the base on Sunday morning so I can help Jeff load a drum set onto his ship and keep the car while he’s on duty. I probably won’t use the car at all on Sunday, but it’ll be nice to have the option.

Until then, happy motoring!