Back in KC
I finally made it back to Kansas City on Thursday—a week and a half late, but with my new car. I spent three hours detailing it this weekend; it was a salvage car, so it was pretty dirty. I still need to vacuum the interior, touch up a few spots, and get the A/C fixed, but I’ve been enjoying tooling around KC in it. I have named the car Maximus—Max for short, naturally.
Right now Max and Bessie (my old car) are sitting together in my apartment’s parking lot. It’s odd having two cars, even temporarily. I feel like one of those people who strolls out to the garage in unspeakably expensive clothes, fiddles with a $2,000 handbag, and murmurs, “Let’s see, shall I take the Lamborghini today or the Ferrarri? Perhaps the Audi, as its aura of understated wealth suits my mood.”
(Only, you know, my cars are a little rustier than theirs.)
I don’t even want to think about going to the DMV. After all the troubles I had with paperwork on the Minnesota end, who knows what Missouri holds in store for me? You can bet I’ll be praying in tongues under my breath whenever I muster up the courage to go make Max official.
I have also jumped back into the world of work. I’ve left the Marketing department and transferred back to Forerunner Publishing (we changed the name; a good thing, as people always thought I worked in the Forerunner Bookstore instead of Forerunner Books) and have been editing like a crazy person. And when I say “like a crazy person,” I mean “like a crazy person who is physically fused to her keyboard and uses the Chicago Manual of Style as a pillow to absorb its knowledge by osmosis at night so she doesn’t have to stop editing to look up when compound modifiers take a hyphen.”
(The answer: usually before the noun. But it depends.)
So I am officially back. My girls and I went out for Starbucks and cooked a spaghetti dinner yesterday, and I am hoping to set up some dates with other friends in between the editing craziness. I had a wonderful summer vacation (except for the car debacle, but at least it ended well). The fall’s going to be insane and awesome at the same time. Looking forward to it.
Since you are an editor, care to share your thoughts on the Oxford Comma? (sorry, the mention of hyphenating compound modifiers set me off; I’ll have myself checked for psychosis at the first available opportunity.)
Personally, I’m in favor of the Oxford comma/serial comma, and in certain situations it’s definitely necessary for clarity’s sake. However, I can see the other side of it–removing the comma can make the page look cleaner (and save space).
Furthermore, congrats on having a working car!
I’m a well-rounded individual who’s very much into hyphenated modifiers. In fact, you sound like you’re having a rip-roarin’ good time with your fun-loving friends. Also, your two-car situation won’t be for long. Enjoy it while you can, and what’s up with the A/C? Thought that was fine. Were you referring to the broken fan switch?
I realized that I should get the under-performing low settings, because I’m going to get tired of always blasting the A/C full strength. I also need to get the windshield fixed before that crack widens. Just haven’t had any time lately to get repairs (or to go to the DMV)–I’ve been chained to my computer editing things.
Jenn- go to the dmv in belton, it’s small, but the people are super nice, and we’ve never had to wait in line. Seriously.
Also, we need to hang out, seriously.
Awesome, I’ll check it out. And yes, we need to get together! When are you free?