Car Trouble

So last night was quite interesting. After work I went to the Downtown Bar & Grill on Court St. right near my office. I really just wanted to have a drink and relax until my friend came to pick me up again and bring me to the tow pound. I was still in disbelief that my car had been towed again. On my way to the bar, I was walking down the street and began laughing. Earlier I had been crying like a baby, but now I was just straight up laughing. I felt like a mad woman. I was thinking about how in an hour or so my friend and I would be standing on line at the tow pound for the second night in a row. It was like deja-vu, or as my friend Jane and I would say—fucking ground hog day. I went into the bar and ordered a Captain Morgan and diet coke and jalapeno poppers. They were delicious. The bar tender was a really cool guy and we got to talking. I told him my situation and we talked about this city of survival—New York. He had just moved here four months ago to work at this bar/restaurant with his brother. He lived in an apartment upstairs. He is so lucky to be living in Cobble Hill (as long as he doesn’t have a car). Cobble Hill is such a nice area, unlike Bushwick where I live. Bushwick is still cool though and it’s right next to Williamsburg so I really cannot complain. Well anyway, I believe the bartenders name was Paul (I am so bad with names). He was telling me about how he moved here from Miami and it’s difficult for him to adjust to the cold. I really don’t blame him because it has been freezing lately!

So we talked and I also ordered some onion rings and a beer. I wasn’t sure what type of beer to order because they had such a long selection to choose from. I decided to go with a Brooklyn beer because I hadn’t had one yet. Paul let me taste it first and it was pretty good. I drank my beer and ate my onion rings and talked to my friend Maggie on the phone and told her my story of whoa. After I got off the phone I sent my friend a text to see when he would be here because it was 7:30 and I knew the place closed at 9:00. He sent me back a text saying he had gotten pulled over while speeding to come get me. I felt really bad. I decided to just remain calm and relax.

By the time I had finished my beer I had started talking to an older man who was sitting next to me and had overheard me telling my situation to the bar tender. His name was Chris and he was a manager for the college division of Barnes and Noble bookstore. We got to talking and he bought me a Belgium beer that was very tasty. We talked about literature and I told him how I was an English major in college and was planning to be a teacher until I decided I wanted to follow my true passion of writing. I told him all about how I’d love to be a magazine editor, which is why I moved to Brooklyn and am working an internship for a magazine. We also talked about the possibilities of being a travel writer and how awesome it would be. He travels a lot and he told me a little bit about some of the places he has been. I was enjoying our friendly conversation but then I knew when he was telling me that my friend won’t make it here and I should just forget about my car and stay at the bar with him—that he was flirting and trying to pick me up. I really hate when you can’t just have a friendly conversation with a guy without them trying to bring you home.

Well, my friend finally made it to come pick me up and I had to rush out of the bar so we could get to the towing company on time. I gave the older guy my number since he bought me a beer and planned on never seeing him again. I don’t even know why I bother to give my number because this usually results in a guy trying to contact me for four months until they finally get the hint. Well, this time it was a blessing in disguise because shortly after I left the bar, I got a phone call from him, saying that I had left my laptop on the chair! Ugh, how foolish of me. Well my friend and I went to the towing company and got my car for the second night in a row. I explained my story of whoa to everyone else online since I was a little tipsy now and thoroughly enjoying the ridiculous situation. After we left we had to go back to get my laptop and my friend decided to come too. When we got to the bar, Chris was still there and so was my laptop, safe and sound. He had even saved my beer that I had left half full on the bar so I finished that and was feeling tired (and not wanting this guy to make any moves) so I decided to go home. My friend tried to convince me not to drive since I had been drinking but I DID NOT want to leave my car in Cobble Hill again. If my car got towed for a third night in a row then I would have to send a proposal into the Guinness Book of World Records.

So, to make a long story short I did end up leaving my car there. Apparently I was way more tipsy then I thought because I got into my car while my friend was still standing on the sidewalk trying to convince me not to drive… I turned the key in the ignition and threw my car into reverse with the door still open, in an effort to look smooth and reverse back to where my friend was standing and tell him he was being silly and overreacting… I forgot there was a tree right behind me so as I went backwards my door hit the tree and almost got ripped off the hinges. UNBELIEVABLE. Now my door is a little weird when you open and close it. Ahh.. story of my life.

When we got back to my apartment, my friend sat me down and told me he was worried about me and that I need to be more careful. I really didn’t feel like hearing it because by this point I was just so stressed and wanted to go to bed. I guess I’ve learned a very expensive and exhausting lesson to never drive my car in downtown Brooklyn ever again (or at least until I learn to not be such an idiot).