SPEAKING OF DOWNS...

(SOURCE: flickr daylessday)

I had the worst night.  after em went to bed, my mom and I decided to go to target.  I asked marc if I could borrow his car because I need to fill gas in mine.  when we were almost there, I noticed the brakes started to feel funny-- like I could press it all the way down and the car wouldn't really slow down.  when we got to a stoplight near target, I really could not stop the car and had to run the red.  luckily there were not too many cars around, and it was a hill so the car could naturally slow down and I pulled on the side to pump the brakes.  we were able to make it to the parking lot using the "pump brakes" method.

marc said he would come to pick us up, when my dad got home from work (he works swing shift).  I finally realized that the reason this happened was because I did not put the hand brake all the way down.  I felt so stupid.  my only excuse is that I am so not used to his car and my car has foot brakes--but really that is not an excuse--totally my fault.  I felt soooo bad.  I kept myself from crying while shopping, but as soon as we got home I burst into tears, and cried for a good 45 minutes. seriously.  I don't think marc could even understand me when I was mumbling about how careless it was, and now we have to get it fixed, and it's inconvenient, and it's that much less money we have when we have a big mortgage now, etc, etc...

marc was good about it.  I knew he was steaming, but he just told me it was an accident and it was okay--as long as I don't do it again.  he and my dad drove back to target when the lot was empty and drove it around.  apparently my dad said the brakes were probably overheated from friction and needed to cool down because he drove it back home and it was completely fine.  thank goodness!

then the big joke after was that marc told me when we left that I could use his car as long as I don't go down the curb when backing out of our driveway (our driveway is on a curve) because he knows I always do that.  but in reality I ended up doing something way worse.

oh boy.  at least I got a good cry out of it.  you need a good cry every now and them. and I haven't cried like that in ages... my dad-- he was standing there not knowing whether to hug me or leave me alone...

my lesson-- do not leave the parking brake even halfway up when driving, and pay attention to the indicator lights on the dashboard.  sheesh.