Sensitivity sensitivity

It occurred to me at a party the other night that the only thing that someone can say to me, that will get under my skin and raise my ire, is to call me sensitive.  

Turn About is Fair Play

Some of the beauty of Gelnaw's law is that on rare occasion, it actually works to one's advantage.  

This last week, work finally started on the project that I've been waiting on in Central Utah.  I have little doubt that it started merely because my supervisors and I got tired of waiting around and instead had me go back to Vernal.  The night before I left to go back to Vernal, I had spoken with several people in charge of the project, who all regrettably told me that it would not be going ahead the next day and that, as usual, the day after was uncertain.  

Therefore, bright and early, I pack up my things and did the 2.5 hour drive back to Vernal.  Within an hour of getting there however, I got the call from the foreman that they were in fact going to be starting excavation right away.  Not in a couple of days, not tomorrow, but that very minute!  Very well, I hopped back into the Jeep and drove another 2.5 hours back in the direction in which I'd come.  I am certain that if I had not left, then I'd still be waiting for the project to get underway.

Trouble Avoided

My van has a really bad problem of breaking down when I'm far from home.  For once at least, I've managed to avoid that by breaking down only 15 miles from the house.  When I've joked that the exterior of the van is the only thing that is old, that all of the internal working parts are practically brand new, apparently I forgot about the ignition system.  The starter is new, but the actual ignition is now 13 years old.  The problem that I had today was that the key has stopped turning all the way to the start position, thereby keeping me from starting the van.   The radio will turn on, but the engine is beyond my reach.  After jiggling the key and turning it with varying forces, I did manage to get the engine started and get back home.  

The irony here (beyond the fact that I only got it started within the gaze of the tow truck driver) is that I had originally planned to be in Quartzite, AZ today, at the main event rock show.  If the key had stopped working when I was camping out there, then the only directions that I would have been able to give a tow truck would have been GPS coordinates.  Thankfully, my parents had some urgent work that they were told would be coming in today and they told me that they needed me to stick around to do it.  The work did not come in after all, but even if it does come in tomorrow, I won't be able to do it, unless I somehow get my ignition system fixed by 10am.  Oh well, Gelnaw's law may not be universal, but it affects my life at every turn.