in the distance

Last Sunday was family dinner, as usual. I picked up my mother, sister and sister's boyfriend and we were headed to meet my father for dinner in SF. On the way there, my car started making a funny noise, a repetitive "glug glug glug" sound. As we're cruising along 101, an identical black Jetta pulls up alongside and tries to get my attention. "You have a flat tire!" the front passenger mouths. I give him a friendly wave of thanks, and pull over to the right shoulder, just before an exit. Sister's bf and I exit the car and sure enough -- rear passenger tire is flat. My car has no jack. A call to AAA says they'll be there in about 30 minutes. 30 minutes come and go, and I get a call from one of their dispatchers saying it'll be another 10 minutes or so. An hour and a half passes before I call them back again and get a nasty woman on the phone: "Since you're not in an accident, you're not a priority." Yeah, bitch, but I'm on a freeway exit ramp and it's almost completely dark, how's about hurrying it up some?! Three highway patrol cars passed us over the course of the hour-and-a-half before one finally stopped to see what the issue was. The (cute) officer promised he'd figure out what was keeping AAA and that they'd be there soon. Minutes later, the AAA driver showed up and changed the tire. I dunno if his timing was a coincidence, since the highway patrol officer had called them, but after waiting 2 hours, we were grateful to see him. The two-hour wait on the side of the freeway meant we missed our dinner reservation, which was pushed back twice to accommodate our tardiness, so we ended up an Italian restaurant that my parents had eaten at earlier in the week. I dunno how they did it twice in one week, cause once was enough for me.

So anyway. Monday afternoon had me going to get a new tire, and while I was there I had the alignment done. The whole shebang set me back $183 (ouch!).

Fast forward to Saturday, as in two days ago. The plan: dad meets me at restaurant #2 to help me change light bulbs in our 25-foot ceilings, then comes over to my condo and changes out some light fixtures. First stop: Home Depot to rent a ladder tall enough to access the ceilings. I bought compact fluorescent bulbs earlier in the week so we'd be set to go once we got the ladder, but lo and behold, once pops climbs the ladder, the socket requires a special bulb. We head over to OSH, where they have 12 of the 20 bulbs we needed. We go and change out those 12 before heading to a different OSH, where they have zero of the bulbs we need. A quick stop for lunch, and we're on our way to yet a third OSH, where, miracle of miracles, they have exactly 8 bulbs. We're on our way back to the restaurant to finish the job when I hear a familiar "glug glug glug" sound coming from the truck.

B: Dad, I think we have a flat tire.
Dad: No, just keep going.
B: Dad, I really think there is a flat tire...
Dad: Nah, seems fine to me.
B: Daaaad...
Dad (looks in side view mirror): Huh. Welp, I guess we do have a flat tire. Pull off over there.

Fortunately, AAA showed up in about 30 minutes this go 'round, something about putting us on the priority list as we were (yet again) on the side of the freeway.

Who does this happen to?! Two flat tires in one week, on two different vehicles, different stretch of the same freeway, the same tire.

*cue "Twilight Zone" music*