I decided it was time to wash my car for the second time yesterday. It was such a disaster from all of the trips to Maine and the daily commute to Malden. I went to our local car wash and got about five dollars in quarters for the vacuum cleaner. I started by pulling out all of the floor mats and beating them against a cement pole in the parking lot. The vacuuming took forever, I must have sucked up ten pounds of dirt from the inside of my car. Using the vacuum at the car wash is so frustrating because you never really know how much time you will need. I started by putting in six minutes worth of quarters and did the typical rush job in case time ran out, the thing started beeping and I wasn’t even finished the front seat, so I added a couple more minutes to the total and continued my rushed vacuuming. It is so annoying to have to battle with the countdown timer. Eventually the time ran out and I put the mats back in and headed for the next great timer battle with the manual car wash. Most of you are wondering why I would subject myself to the manual car wash and the reason is the ski rack doesn’t really get along well with the automatic car wash. So I pulled into the bay and got more quarters and loaded up the machine with six minutes of car washing fun time. Now the washing is much worse than the vacuuming, because not only do you have to race against the clock there are several different activities you have to partake in from the pre-soak to the final rinse. They have about seven different stages you are supposed to go through including the tire wash, final wax and engine degreaser, but I think it would take about twenty dollars worth of quarters to successfully get through all of them. I can just barely clean off the soap before the timer runs out. So let the battle begin, I start off with what I think is the pre-soak, but since one of the two lights in the bay is out it turns out I was just spraying degreaser and tire cleaner all over the car. Once realizing my error I switch to pre-soak and run around the car trying to spray every inch of it. Next comes the soap from the high pressure hose, it takes a while for the soap to actually come out, but this stage is easy compared to the foam brush which is now sitting in the on deck circle. I switch the dial over to foam and grab the brush, now the tricky part begins. It is not hard to use the brush, but I am very anal about the hose banging up against the car and possibly scratching it. So I am forced to use odd tactics, such as holding the hose and trying to use the brush. Just as I finish doing the passenger side the timer beeps and I have to run over and put more quarters in, otherwise I would have been forced to drive around with a foam covered car. I rush and try my best to get every inch of the car, because since it is dark and only one light is on in the bay I can’t really tell how I did. Finally, I turn the dial to the rinse cycle and once again grab the high pressure hose and begin rinsing. The process takes a couple minutes and I actually end up with the dreaded extra couple minutes of time and instead of wasting the minutes I continued to spray the car down. Once the water stopped I left the bay with a giant smile on my face because I was happy to be driving around in a clean car for a change. My happiness only lasted until I got out of my car and checked out my work. I did a horrible job and missed some of the hood and much of the bottom on the passenger side. I can’t wait for the warm weather so I can wash my car with a sponge and get every single inch of it. So that’s my story.

Now my novel is finished and I must get back to work. l8r sk8r!!

I seem caught in time
My head leaves me behind
Body falls cold
And I see heaven
-David John Matthews
Lyrics and Audio to Rhyme and Reason.