Bad Onely Activities: Unburying My Snow-and-Ice-Covered Car from a Busy Street February 2, 2009
Posted by Onely in Bad Onely Activities, Just Saying..Tags: ice is awful, ice-covered car, louisville, poor me!, shoveling snow
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OK, I’ve gotta admit: Sometimes, it sucks to be Onely. (But I must emphasize: ONLY sometimes!)
Like, when I have to unbury my car from underneath 6 or 7 inches layers of snow and ice, in the dark, on a busy one-way street, with no help from anyone.
Imagine this scene, except with a lone, petite female figure only visible thanks to the beams of the headlights of oncoming traffic.
In case you haven’t heard (like, if you’re living in a cave?), the state of Kentucky (and some other states, but mostly KY) got hit HARD last week by a massive snow-then-ice-then-more-snow-storm that lasted 36 hours or so. I have been powerless (disempowered?) since early Wednesday morning as a result, but thanks to some lucky (and generous) friends who managed to keep their power, I have not had to live in my cold apartment, at least.
Saturday was the first day we had temperatures above freezing, so I braved the streets and struck out to unbury my car. My friends dropped me off but were headed elsewhere, so it was just me, my shovel, and an ice scraper. One hour and one mangled ice scraper later (oh yeah, my brute force shattered it in three places!), I managed to unbury my car.
And let me tell you, it was a LONELY, MISERABLE process. I was sweaty (and you know sweaty is never good when it’s close to or below freezing temps), sore, and pissed off by the end. But I did it, damnit — and all alone.
Sometimes it sucks to be Onely. But this small success does, at least, prove to my self that I am truly the badass I always thought I was!
Readers, what else makes for a Bad Onely Activity?
— L
Onely.Org 
Moving. Any kind of moving:
Finding a great deal on a bed on craigslist and realizing that even if I can borrow someone’s truck, I still have to find someone to help me unload it. Calling the few female friends I have who aren’t too girly to move stuff and knowing that I am totally interrupting their plenty-busy day by asking them to help me.
Moving heavy furniture around the house. Cleaning out the fishtank (also very heavy). Hauling bricks in the trunk of my car.
Moving from one apartment to the next and having to hire my friend’s teenage daughter to help me.
Putting together furniture which requires more than two hands but somehow can be done with two hands and some strategically placed toes and a chin. Getting bruised when my chin-grip slips.
Driving over eight hours without stopping.
Ya, moving onelyly is an adventure- seven years ago in Houston, one Friday morning I packed a Ryder truck almost all by myself because everyone was already at a wedding rehearsal I was late getting to (5 hours away). I was nearly panicked but it got done with the help of the delivery guys at the futon shop next door. After the weekend wedding hoo-ha (my poor cat slept in the truck for two days because she was too drugged to move) I drove from east Texas to Reno, stopping two nights at the exit motels to sleep in Tucumcari, NM and Kingman, AZ. That was sketch, and it was rough haul (2,000+ miles) but I did it and without incident. After I got home and found a place to live, my family decided to leave for the weekend so I had to unload by myself; that is until the cute guy next door saw me struggling with a t.v. stand and helped me out with the big stuff.
Yes, that week taught me just how badass I am! Thanks for the reminder.
i did finally hear about the horrible ice storm, after i emerged from my las-vegas induced cave-like stupor. thanks to you, ms. lisa 😉
Lori and Singlutionary — OH, MOVING (in its various forms). Yes, it is always painful for me, but luckily I have been able to gather up enough friends each time I’ve moved that it isn’t as horrible of an experience as either of you have had!
When I moved to Louisville in July 2007, everyone who helped me move took off as soon as all the furniture was sitting in my apartment. To go to sleep that night, I had to build my bed, alone — not too horrible, but still difficult b/c it’s a queen-size bed and I am a petite person. The two worst pieces of furniture were my desk (which is a corner desk and therefore difficult to stand up without two people) and my futon. Putting my futon together made me cry.
Thanks for sharing!
— L
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