Pocket Lint

With football season and cooler weather upon us, I am delighted to have begun celebrating the arrival of fall.  As it is one of my favorite times of the year, aside from Christmas of course, I have anxiously awaited this continued decrease in temperature as well as the customary pumpkin carvings, the haunted houses and Halloween costumes, and the many days and nights spent outdoors.

For my “kickoff” of this fabulous season, I was lucky enough to have a month full of visitors here in the big D.  From a good friend (recently engaged), to my sister and childhood friend, I have now been named a bridesmaid and made a happy camper.  It’s always nice to have people around who already know your story; skipping the personal character explanation left a lot of time for good, honest fun.

Aside from shopping overload and countless laughs, there were further benefits to having friends and family in town.  While unfamiliar cities and untried things tend to create uncommon problems, a sister is the best person to recruit while in search of any solution.  Therefore, upon my sister’s arrival in Dallas, I mentioned that my dryer just wasn’t working properly.  “Did you try cleaning out the lint filter?” she asked.  The lint filter, I had thought of, but the problem was that I couldn’t seem to locate it anywhere on the dryer.  Stackable washers and dryers are not my specialty.

After our 15-minute search for the lint filter, it was finally discovered – in the back of the dryer appearing as if it would break the appliance if removed.  Surprised by its location, and somewhat embarrassed by our naive moment, we were unprepared for what would come.  The collection of lint in the filter was large, to say the least.  The thick, grey mass was quite possibly the size of a small cat, or a large guinea pig.  Although we were tremendously disgusted, we made sure to take a series of photos in order to provide further proof of our comical breakthrough in the dryer mystery.

Of course, even in great company, no good streak can go uninterrupted.  The constant cover of clouds and rain brought much more than the cooler weather, which I’m sure many auto insurance bills, including my own, have reflected.  My trusty old Honda – as a result of my very first hydroplaning adventure – now lies beaten, bruised, and malformed at some impound lot here in Texas.

In an attempt to ignore my adverse luck, however, my sister, friend and I decided to improve our conditions with more shopping and a little delectable dining.  During lunch, thrilled to eat my fortune cookie, I grabbed at the closest one and ripped the wrapper opened.  With a clean break of the cookie, I hastily pulled out my fortune, feeling disbelief at what I found.  “Be careful…” my fortune read, “bees with honey in their mouths have venom in their stingers.”  Be careful?  I laughed at the irony of the fact that, well, I would have preferred it had my fortune warned me to be cautious a bit earlier in my weekend.

At the end of my long, but enthralling month, sad to see the last of my visitors depart, I headed out for a concert to pick my spirits up.  Doctors across the world should prescribe Jason Mraz as the substitute to anti-depressants.  He is unmistakably the most upbeat performer I have witnessed, and there is no doubt he loves what he does.  With the personal atmosphere of the Nokia theatre and Jason’s upbeat attitude, I had picked up Mraz’s blissful feelings and moved forward.