onion hands, car repair

ONION HANDS! I have them. I woke up wondering why the neighbors would be grilling so early in the morning, only to realize that I was smelling MY OWN HANDS. I must've caught late-onset time-released onion hands after cooking last night. I washed my hands many times, but if you don't get it in those critical onion-oils moments it's often too late.

Anyway. I've tried all the tricks I know, including washing my hands with salt and using the martha stewart anti onion-hand device, which is a stainless steel thing shaped like a bar of soap. Too little, too late! But my onion hands are very soft now. I hope the rest of it wears away in a couple of hours.

Maybe onion hand is enhanced by nervousness. I had to take my car into the mechanic this morning - I do it so rarely it makes me nervous. Why? I ignore routine maintenance and am embarrassed that I let things get to a point where I have to say "I can't remember when I last changed the oil and the car smells like gas, which seems bad…" The garage guy, after listening to me nervously rabbit on about the obvious, took pity on me and agreed that a gas smell was something worth investigating. Probably to get me to stop talking, but that's okay! I was looking for a reason!

The plus side to this adventure is that 1) I won't have to worry about my car exploding and my last thought being "I thought it smelled like gas!" and 2) it feels good to take care of a problem that has been bothering me for a long time. (this would be the routine maintenance part) It feels even better because it's been something I didn't want to do, and now I've done the hard part! I just have to carry my phone around with me at work (I usually leave it in my bag) so I don't miss the call telling me how many dollars it will cost to get rid of the gas smell, etc.

September seems extra neurotic for me - not sure what's up with that.