Everybody has one of those friends that has stories of weirdness that only seem to happen to them. You know the people I'm talking about - the ones who find themselves in strange situations they didn't bring upon themselves. They just have that cosmic 'luck' and seem to perpetually piss off the gods enough to get into weird things.

I've decided, at least to some of my friends, I must be one of those people.

Two things happened this week to make me believe this. On Wednesday, I was driving to work, minding my own business and talking to my friend Gurnal on the phone when I realize there's a horrible burning smell coming from my car. Then I see the smoke. LOTS of it, pouring out from under the hood. (There is no part of "smoke under the hood" that can ever be good, you know?) I get off the phone and pray I can get into the gate at work and park before the car erupts into flames and scorches me, my stuff and my iPod. (By the way, I will pass along a tip: It does tend to alarm your friends when you end the conversation with an abrupt "OMIGODSMOKEUNDERTHEHOODIHAVETOGO!!!!". Just thought you might need to know this.)
Anyway, after a AAA call, car towing, and look-see by a mechanic, the problem was located. I had somehow driven over a plastic bag (No, Jess, NOT the most beautiful thing!) and it had gotten sucked up into the catalytic converter and promptly was set on fire, melding it to the private parts of my car. Hence the godawful smell and the smoke. I had a good laugh, was thankful it wasn't anything more expensive (to my budget or my pride) and went to class, inundated with the smell of 'burned-plastic-Dixie-cup' that would emanate from my vehicle for two more days. ("Naw, there's nothing we can do to get that off there. You'll just have to drive it around and the smell'll go away." Thank you, sir, please may I have another?)

My car has now been renamed the "Hoovermobile" for its vacuum capacity.

As if the Great Flaming Plastic Bag story wasn't enough, today another thing happened to drive the whole "weirdness" point home.
Under the "I-couldn't-do-this-again-if-my-life-depended-on-it" category, I somehow managed to knock my cell phone off my couch and straight down into 16 oz. of milk in a large cup sitting on the floor. I swear, this stuff can only happen to me.

Do you have ANY idea just how strangely people react when you say the sentence "I'm having trouble with my phone since I dropped it in the milk"? Let me just say, it results in gales of laughter and bewilderment, normally followed by the question "How in the HELL did you do that??"

Any sane person would think I was making this up.

Thankfully, my friends know me better. :-)

(All rights reserved - Copyright 2005)