1:00 AM
I hit the sack

6:44 AM
Phone is ringing - I ignore it. My alarm hasn't rung and so I still have some more time to sleep!

6:45 AM
Alarm Rings - Time to get up!

6:48 AM
Get out of bed. Rush to the bathroom! Nature calls...

7:00 AM
All fresh and ready to get to work. Decide to return the phone call but it goes to voice mail. Call another person but I have the wrong number. Call another person and this one wants to eat dinner (in the US) so she can’t talk.

7:10 AM
No one is ready to talk to me and there is no real point to get to work so early as my computer at work had crashed, so I decide to clean the car. Get the hose out and do a real good job at cleaning it.

7:35 AM
Now that I am satisfied that the car is clean I decide I should start getting to work.

7:35 AM
Get together my clothes for the gym and find something to wear to work. Mind you I have a shower at work right after I go to the gym. Just putting that in here to let you know that I do take a shower!

7:44 AM
Get out of the house with my office bag and my gym clothes and place them in the car. Lock the house. Recently discovered that the grill for the house has a double lock so I go ahead and double lock it.

7:45 AM
Get into the car and put the house keys safely under the music deck. They are too big to carry around in my pocket. Drive the car outside the house. There is a school van in the way so I park it awkwardly three quarters across the street. Get out of the car to lock the gate.

7:46 AM
I hear my car lock itself! Realize at that point that I have central locking. Now I am locked out.

7:47 AM
Panic struck. Run from door to door checking to see if the central locking missed a door. It hadn't. Then ran to the house door and tried to open it. Unfortunately I had done a very good job of double locking it!

7:50 AM
Car is still running, the 'Matrix' soundtrack is blasting away to glory from inside. This is where there was some sort of divine intervention. I had the phone number of the helpline for my car model on my cell. Usually I wouldn't have something like this on my cell because it's easier to usually look it up. I had put that number in only 2 days ago when I called them to get my vehicle serviced! Phew!

7:51 AM
Call the guy up and ask him for help. He tells me the guy will be there in half an hour. Well in India we all know what half an hour means!

7:53 AM
A car comes by and gives me a dirty look for the way I have parked! I apologize to him and guide him around the car.

7:54 AM
The watchman of the adjacent apartment wants to know why I have parked so well!

7:56 AM
More people are interested in my parking style. So much so my dhobi is there to. All of them sympathizing with me and me trying to explain my situation in Tamil to them. God knows what was more ridiculous, my Tamil or my situation? At least I have people to talk to. Lots of cars pass by. People were just getting angry at me for being so stupid. The poor watchman. Had to explain to everyone from his apartment what went wrong!

8:10 AM
The people around me are getting impatient. They want to know why I am not getting help. I explained to them that I had already called for help. Then come these two guys. They offer to open it with a scale (ruler). I was not too happy with that and told them to hold back till the repair guy came. I was sure he would have a master key or something. Hey I don't want to scar my car!

8:11 AM
Being forced by these guys I call my repair guy again and he says the guy is only 5 or 10 minutes away. Well that's not bad right... Of course that isn't that bad provided he isn't lying. I then offer to tell him my address. He suddenly realized he didn't know my address! So I tell him it's the 4th Cross. All he had to do was look for a car that was parked across the street. Trust me at this point I was seeing the humor in this.

8:15 AM
More cars pass by. Am getting good at redirecting traffic and convincing them that a horrible part of the road isn't that bad at all. Also a good number of people on my street now know who I am, what car I own, and how well I park! Maybe I should add this as part of my strategies to get to know new people!

8:31 AM
A Tata Sumo arrives. He is the guy!!! Yipeee! And he came in 40 minutes. Not bad at all! So he parks right next to me and comes out of the vehicle with his tools in hand - one hand a screw driver and the other hand a scale!!! It's been forty minutes since I have been locked out of my car and so I don't really want to protest.

8:32 AM
Another school van shows up and I am right in the way! This puts pressure on my guy. However the school van driver really isn't as patient as I am. :D. He tried to get his vehicle through the small gap between my car and the other side of the road. Well he can try as long as he doesn't scratch my car! He ended up scratching his vehicle on the other side...

8:37 AM
My repair guy opens the door. Finally!!! I can use my car again! He gets my car out of the way so that the van can pass in peace. I then settle the bill. 200 bucks because I closed a door when I shouldn't have!

8:40 AM
On my way to work! No time to waste. Traffic is at its worst at this time.

9:00 AM
On a side note... Almost at office when my phone rings. Pick it up and start talking to this friend of mine. It's her birthday and she was sure I wouldn't remember. She had called to have some fun at my expense and take me for a nice ride. I didn't realize and the first thing I did was wish her!!! She was so mad that I remembered!!! I have weird friends!