vitriol: the expression of bitter deep-seated ill will; rancor [syn: vituperation, invective]
That is what I had lots of yesterday. It grew and grew. It began at 4:30 a.m. when I had to wake up and than wake up Josh so we could go to Houston from my brother's house. He is halfway between here and Houston you see. My sister-in-law Amanda had prepared the coffee-maker to go so I turned it on and got ready to leave. Not having travel mugs, and my older brother not having any to spare, I found styrofoam cups and left Josh to prepare them, thinking he would only fill them half-way to prevent spillage. He didn't. He filled them to the almost-top. I not thinking clearly enough didn't make the suggestion of putting some of the coffee back into the pot so the cups were less full/more empty. So, we got into the car and Josh steadied the cups for the rough stuff between my bro's house and the main road. A bit of coffee was spilled. We got going and the main road was a little rougher than we thought. Coffee spilled; mostly on Josh. About 45 minutes into the drive, we hit fog. serious fog with low low visibility. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, sipped on coffee, and focused on the road. The coffee wasn't that good. It was IHOP quality. Josh was noting the strange-colored stains on shorts and shirt. The wipers and defrost with the car were sucky and I finally had to pull off so we could clear the windshield better. We had already tossed the coffee out the window, minus the cups and ditched the cups when Josh washed the windshield. We continued on our way, the fog getting a little bit better and not having coffee to deal with--only the complaints of Josh who was bitter about the stains of bitter coffee. A little while after merging onto I-45, I pulled over to let Josh drive upcoming traffic. The coffee had gotten him pretty good I noted in the increasing light. I sat back and dozed until we reached downtown Houston and my navigation skills were needed.
Traffic wasn't too terrible except for one or two parts and we managed to get into the medical tower without any major problems. The office didn't open for a half-hour and my appointment was 45 minutes after that, so we sat down in the cafe and had a little bit to eat and recuperate. Than we headed up to the comfort of the waiting room and for Josh to change his shirt and sponge out his shorts. I managed to get called into a little room inside the office at 830. I waited. they came and took my blood pressure. another 15 minutes passed. the nurse asked questions. twenty minutes passed. another nurse ran an EKG. twenty more minutes passed. I was moved to a different room. and yet more time passed and the doctor came in and spent time looking through my ever-expanding file. we talked a bit. he sat there, confused as normal. we finally reached the conclusion to wait some more time and I'd call if anything changed (Fainting=change). He wants to see me again in three months. We'll see about that. They finally let me go at about 10:45. two hours after I had even entered the doctor office. I was seething rage at the long wait while being thankful I had a good long book to read with me. Josh took me to Chipotle for lunch. I just wanted to get out of downtown Houston away from the madness of the medical system.
After some food, I was feeling a bit better so we got into the car and drove out of town to find our way to the San Jacinto Monument and Battleship Texas. We drove over the big bridge on Beltway 8 for two dollars. Having a limited amount of time, we decided to stick with the ship and the battlefield and save the rest for another day. We wandered around all of the ship that we were allowed, took pictures and had a generally good time. Being tired, and noting that it was about to rain, we decided to head back to Longview. I figured I'd drive the first half and let him drive the rest. We decided to see how long the free ferry took for getting out of the area. It didn't take long at all. I thought I-10 to Beltway-8 to 59 was the best way out. It started to pour rain like crazy just before the exit and I exited just barely too soon for the beltway, I made an illegal right turn from the left lane onto the frontage road and got on that way. It wasn't horrible, but the freeway ended and I was left with a not so good road and stoplights and slow people. It took awhile to get out of Houston, but I managed to get on 59 and get us out of there. Josh leaned back to take a nap. It started raining madly again. Nobody had there lights on it seemed. People were speeding. A blue-pick-up cut in front of me. He didn't use a turn-signal. He didn't have his lights. If I'd slammed on my brakes, there would have been chaos because it was still raining madly, the wind was blowing, and the roads were very wet and slick. I was seething and needed to vent. I really wanted a stress-ball. I hit Josh's leg and he woke up and kept me company with the madness until the rain let up. A little bit later, it started raining like crazy again and people were zipping on, without lights, by while I was noting that the car's traction wasn't as good as I'd like it and I was having trouble spotting cars without lights in front of me, so I pulled off in Livingston at a burger king to wait it out. We sat in the car. Ran in for caffeine and sugar. And got back on the road. Josh went back to sleep. It started raining again, but I figured I'd be okay. It let up eventually again. Things looked like they would stay dry. We got gas and I didn't really want to move from the driver's seat so I figured I'd keep on driving and let Josh continue napping. Two vehicles crossed traffic in front of me and I had to slam on my brakes not to hit them. I missed the turn towards Nacodoches for that. Than a semi was taking it's time turned to go the other direction form our two lanes so traffic was stopped. I didn't have enought stopping distance so I pulled onto the shoulder while decelerating and got past a few cars there. I decided that I just wanted to get back into Longview and off the roads, but now, people were going below the speed limit on the dry roads in the clearing weather. Josh napped on. I shook my fists at a few other people.
We finally got into Longview. I was seething. But then, I calmed down and called my mom and sister, chatted with them and laughed at my sister who has her hands full with my 18-month old nephew who is approaching the terrible-twos at full speed. In three months, she'll have another little one and life will be crazy.
I crashed in bed last night after chatting with Sunny who left this morning. I slept until a little before one, got up and took a shower and than sorted out the health insurance mess. Ran errands with Josh. Had a good mocha and bought a book from Barron's. Came back, read in the library and watched the wind and rain. Made dinner. Read in Tyler lobby. and now, I am sitting here and contemplating going to bed soon so that I may attend class with Scholl and Wheeler to watch Schindler's List because I've never seen it. And there you have my post for now.
Posted by Anna at May 11, 2004 11:47 PM | TrackBack