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I had to drive to work three times this week. I hated every minute of it.

On Wednesday, I had a MRI at 7:30 in the morning. It was supposed to be for my knee, and eventually was, however getting to that point was difficult. Since it's a work injury, So And So has to call Someone Else who has to call me to set up an appointment for The Third Guy, but only after What's Her Name sends over the paperwork and approval for whatever I need. As you can imagine, there was a breakdown in communication. Someone Else called me to set up an appointment to do an MRI of my shoulder. Twice. My shoulder is just fine, thank you very much. My knee is not. The MRI turned out to be not such a big deal, thankfully. They set up the appointment for the morning after they called to set up the appointment. As I was doing some reading on their website, sometimes the patient needs an IV to inject some stuff that makes things show up better. I'm not really sure what this stuff is. I have a pretty strong needle phobia, and allergies to latex, and several drugs. I had no one to ask questions about what would happen, etc, so needless to say the last thing on my mind was being stuffed into a tube. As it turns out, the place I went to had an MRI machine that was like a donut with a table. I went in feet first, no IV, and got to listen to Foghat. That machine was really freakin' noisy. It all worked out well. May I never have to do that again.

On Thursday, I had to go to the DMV. There is a special place in Hell reserved for all those who work at the DMV. That's all I'll say about that.

This morning, I had my first physical therapy appointment. I'll go twice weekly, which means I'll have to drive to work on those days. Dammit. PT was good. I'm in the capable hands of Stephanie. As she was showing me some of the exercises I have to do, she asked me to roll over onto my other side to compare the flexibility in both knees. As I am rolling over, I nearly fell off the table. She had to catch me. I am so cool. Seriously, like ballerina graceful.

I hate to drive. I really hate to drive. A lot.

Relieved? Yes. And no.

In the past months that I have been riding the bus, I've missed out on fuel shortages, $4.25 a gallon, and a lot of stress. I have met some really cool people and I have also learned to problem solve, in a way. For example, I am learning that this is the time of the year that makes my neighborhood both a good and bad place to live. What I mean by that is there is tons going on, road races, parades, etc. This also means that the streets are blocked off for the better part of the weekend day and there's no bus service. If I need to go someplace outside walking or biking distance, say Whole Foods, I need to work out where else I can go to get the same thing or how else I can get there. I have to say the past many months sans auto have been, well, fun.

I had to get work done on my car. It's not the only reason why I've been riding the bus, but it was certainly a big factor. My car was just sitting. I was okay with that. I took it to Whitewall Auto here in town on the recommendation of a friend. They were great, honest, they fixed my car in a day because they had all the parts either on hand or easily accessible and charged me about half what I was expecting. They also let me pay over the phone and left the keys for me. They trust me, ergo I trust them. If you find yourself in the area and in need of service, I whole-heartedly suggest you go see them. Finding a good mechanic is possibly higher on my list than finding a good hairdresser and probably equal to finding a good gynecologist. (Who's with me on this?)

On my way home from work, I called that friend to thank her for the recommendation. She said, "that must be a big relief for you." My reaction...meh. I mean, yes, it's a relief I found a good mechanic, they were reasonably priced and super fast. Yes, she's right. But at the same time, I wish I didn't have a car. Yes, it's convenient to have a car if I need to run to the drug store at 10:30 on a rainy night. I am hoping it will not become too convenient. Between my apartment and this friend's new house lies a huge hill. It's a bitch to bike up. It will be nice to drive over. I don't want to get back in the habit of "running quickly" to the market. I hope that I continue on this path I am currently on. Certainly, I will take the bus to work. Traffic around here during evening rush hour in particular is a Nightmare. I will do my best to not drive. When I moved into my apartment, I decided to allow myself to drive once a week. I am now amending my decision to next to never.

To be honest here, I also have a small anxiety about driving. Since owning a car, two actually, over the past 15 years, I have had 9 accidents. Before you freak out, let me finish... None of these accidents were my fault. In most of them, I wasn't even moving. My anxiety about driving? I'm tired of being hit. Wouldn't you be?