Christmas update -- Part I

Alright, so I'm doing this for you Casey..... don't you go forgetting this now.

I guess there have been a few updates that need to be posted in my life for this blog but I don't want it to take forever so I'll just highlight a few.

Christmas was in December and I have had incredible car trouble over the last few years. I had a Mercedes that I had to replace the transmission in it on 3 separate occassions. After the 3 time I figured it was time to get a new vehicle. The search hasn't exactly gone as planned and I am now driving my grandma's 89 Crown Victoria (I must say that it is quite a different vehicle than the Mercedes). To make a long story short, I started having issues with her cars and it was in the shop over Christmas. So I am working on the 24th until 4:30 PM and I need to catch the bus downtown at 5:30. The trick is I have to get home and then pack first. I convinced Len to let me go at 3:45 so that I can take the bus home so that I have some time to take a cab downtown. I get home and get packed and it is around 4:35 pm at this time. I use a cell phone and my home phone to call 2 cab companies to see which one I get first. Eventually I get Comfort Cabs and they tell me that the cab will be around right away. 10 minutes pass and I phone them back and they say that it will be right away in a blue intrepid. 15 more minutes pass and I call them back and he says that he will send one right away. Finally around 5:20 the cab shows up at my place and I ask him if he can get downtown in 10 minutes in all the ice and snow that is on the street. He says no and I tell him that I don't need him.

After the whole taxi debacle I am very pissed off because the next bus to North Battleford doesn't leave until midnight. So I call my mom telling her the bad news and she is very disappointed because she wants her son home for Christmas. So to kill time I call my buddy Johnny and ask him if he wants to go out for a Christmas drink and the following exchange occurs:

"Hey man, what's up?"
Johnny: "Just driving home, you?"
"Well, I just missed my ******* bus cause Comfort Cabs doesn't know how to book a ******* cab."
Johnny: "You sound a little upset?
"You think? Wanna go for some Christmas cheer, I have to kill 6 hours before the next bus leaves?"
Johnny: "That sucks, well how about I just drive you home and then I'll drive back here."
"What do you mean, I'm already home?"
Johnny: "I mean home to North Battleford."
"Are you serious? Don't you have Christmas plans? I don't want you driving me back all the way home on Christmas Eve."
Johnny: "No man, Alysha is working til 11 anyway so I have to wait for her. There's only one thing..."
"What's that?"
Johnny: "I'll need you to pay for gas"
"Not a problem."

So he drove me back to North Battleford and we had quite the talk in our 1 and half trip. It had been quite some time since we hung out so it was nice. As we were approaching home I told him that we should play a joke on my mom. What we did is I told Johnny to pull up to my mom's house, knock on the door and ask if her son's were home yet, I stood outside hiding and heard her say that I wasn't going to be home until later and then she invited him inside as it was -30 at the time. After they went in the house I snuck in and was in the middle of the hall when my mom came around the kitchen mid conversation and stopped stunned looking at me. She then gave Johnny a big hug for bringing me home. Soon my brother arrived and we enjoyed some supper and a couple drinks. The 3 of us then enjoyed a Cuban cigar outside in the freezing cold before Johnny had to go home.

It was probably one of the best presents that I had received for Christmas.