So. First day of my internship. I've got to wake up and drive 45 miles to Sherman Oaks and start learning about what I want to do for the rest of my life. I'm not going to make any mistakes. I'm going to give myself two hours to drive there. I wake up on time and shower. I eat breakfast, brush my teeth, and even have a brief moment for a prayer before I go. I need to make more time for prayer. I fire up my engine at 7:32 AM. It sputters a bit, but starts up just fine, like it always does. I've got two hours to drive 45 miles. I could get there driving 25 miles per hour. Speed limit? 65. We're good. I've got this day under control. An hour and a half later. I have been driving an average of 10 miles per hour. Am I worried? Well...yes, but even if I'm just a little late, I can always just blame my tardiness on bad traffic. It's not even a lie. In fact, it's the honest to goodness truth. I've still got this under control. The battery light goes on. Eh, it's been doing that a lot lately. No big deal. The engine light goes on. Okay. I think I've just found some time for some prayer. The car's electrical systems shut down. More time for prayer. Maybe I should pull over. The car starts slowing down. I didn't let up on the gas. Okay, this is bad news. I turn on the emergency flashers. They don't work. More bad news. I turn off at the next exit, and my car dies on the driveway of a Chevron station. I'm pushing my car towards a parking space, where I can make a call, when a man gomes out of the adjacent garage and asks me if I need someone to work on my car. My savior! Perfect. He helps me push it into the garage, and starts to look at it. I thank God for my post LAUP budget, which will allow me to pay for this without any trouble. All I have to do is transfer some funds from my savings account. I reach for my wallet. Forgot it at home. I say a couple of words that rhyme with bad luck, and inform the man working on the car that I have no way to pay him. He looks confused. I tell him that I forgot my wallet. He asks me why I came if I didn't have any money. I explain that I didn't actually mean to come here, but that my car died and I was pushing it out of the road. He doesn't get it. He asks me if I have anyone I can call. I call my Mom. She doesn't pick up. I call my dad. He says he can give his credit card number over the phone. Perfect. The man says that they can't take credit card numbers over the phone. Dad wants to talk to him. Three minutes later, the man hands me back the phone. Dad says that the man didn't sound very intelligent. I tell him that the man doesn't look very intelligent either. I think I'm on plan "D" or "F" by now. I call HyounJun and see if he can get me my wallet somehow. I tell him where I'm at, and he says that he can. I give the man the OK to fix my car. HyounJun calls me back. He says he can't help me because he has class at ten. Thank you HyounJun. Or something else-you HyounJun. I can't remember which. He has passed the torch along to Greg. Not that I'm too happy that he thinks going to class is a good idea when I'm destitute on the side of the road, but at least he found someone else to help me. It's about 9:00 now, so I think I should call Lisa, my boss, and let her know that I'll be late for my first day. I call her. "Hi Lisa, this is Stephen." "Stephen who?" Great. This is the rest of my life. After explaining who I am, I explain my situation. "No worries," she says. "Come when you can. Bye." No worries? That was ironic. I think I'm going to annoy her. It's cold outside, and I'm shivering as I write this. I hope this guy can fix my car. I hope Greg doesn't get lost. I hope I made the right choice, coming to Sherman Oaks over Long Beach. But I already made that choice, and no amount of hoping is going to change the situation I am in. I don't know if I really "learned" anything from all this, but it is kind of funny. Or, at least it will be. Like, tomorrow.
Update: It is now several hours since I worte the above entry, and as I was typing it, I laughed. So I guess it's funny already. I missed the first day of my internship, but Thursday is looking like as good a day as any to give it another shot. Also, I think I did learn something. I can try as hard as I want to be perfect, but I'm never going to be. God gets to do what he wants with me. I'm just lucky enough to get to follow him.
"And if I didn't have you as my guide
I'd still wander
Lost in Sainai
And counting the plates
Of cars from out of state
Oh, how I'd jump in their path as they hurry along
And you surround me
You're pretty but you're all that I can see
Like a thick fog.
If there was no way into God
I would never have laid in this grave of a body for so long."
-Mewithoutyou
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