I'm with stupid, or How I almost died last night

So I must admit that I am blond. I feel I am not the typical blond, but I do have blond moments. These moments I am never very proud of.

Last night, Gawain and I bought a car! A new(er) car! Our first new(er) car! I wish that was what this post is about but its not.

Gawain was VERY nice and let me drive the new(er) car home from the dealership. Halfway home the dealership called and said "Wait you didn't give us a down payment!" Everyone was very excited when we left so both they and I totally forgot! I said I would turn around and come pay it right then.

When I got back in the car after paying the down payment, it was completely dark and I felt a little nervous because I was downtown, in an area I'm not very familiar with, and I am terrified of driving up hills in a stick, especially a new(er) car stick. But i decided I could do it, I would do it, and I would make it without getting lost!

It started to rain on the way home (typical) and I figured out how to work the wipers. This new(er) car was so fancy! I even programed my fav. radio stations and was rocking out to the music. Our old car had had the radio stolen from it so for the past 3 years I usually just drove around in silence. This was AWESOME!!! I only wished that the buttons were lit up better so I could tell what was the volume knob and what was the station knob.

The first 20 min of the drive home were uneventful. I went the normal way, going down a tiny freeway and through a darker industrial part of town. As I turned onto a street closer to ours, a car pulled out right in front of me and started acting all weird. It got in the lane next to mine and slowed down. I figured it wanted to admire my new(er) car in all of its awesomeness. As it kept acting this weird way and slowing down and speeding up next to me, all the way down the road, I started a very tiny freak out. We had opted not to get the security system, rationalizing that we could definitely find one cheaper than $700. What if this car was trying to follow me home to steal my precious new(er) car!?

I turned on my street, thankfully without being pursued, and got to my house. As I turned up my driveway, I noticed how terribly dark it was tonight. I was glad the neighbor we shared our driveway with wasn't home so I didn't have to maneuver too fancifully around her car with my new(er) car. As I got closer to our garage, I realized, with horror, that I should definitely have died at some point on my longish way home, and perhaps worse, wrecked the new(er) car!

I didn't have my lights on for the whole 10 mile journey from downtown to my house.

I just sat in the car for a second, thinking how completely stupid I was, trying to make up excuses for why I hadn't turned the lights on. I know I had been anxious about driving alone, downtown, at night, in the rain, where I might have to drive up hills in a stick, but still, that was NO EXCUSE for not turning the lights on. No wonder that car was acting so weird. The new(er) car is black so it was probably hard for him to see and that's why he turned out in front of me! I felt very embarrassed, too embarrassed to share my stupidity with Gawain, so hopefully he still loves me and wants to talk to me after reading this.

I hate how you learn things from making mistakes. I hate to make mistakes. But I'm glad in a very weird and shameful way that I made that mistake, so I NEVER forget to turn the lights on ever again!!!