Thursday, November 3rd I was scheduled to attend the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas. I didn’t attend.

Thursday, unfortunately, SEMA wasn’t the most important thing on my mind. Here’s the tale:

First thing Thursday, I went outside to meet my gentleman friend who came over to check on the pool deck project he was doing. I was hardly very welcoming because wow, the outside weather was cold and overcast. I said a quick hello and ran back inside. Would the outdoor displays at SEMA be this uncomfortable?

Also, I had a hair appointment Thursday morning before the convention trip–an appointment I try not to miss. (Mature ladies sometimes have their hair washed and poofed once a week–and then don’t wash and set their hair until the next appointment. I’m told mature ladies’ thinning hair isn’t so oily, so they can get away with the once-a-week appointment–that’s me.). I grabbed a coat and an umbrella, just in case.

When I started the car, I got a car text that wouldn’t go away. I looked and the text was telling me that one of my tires needed air. Oh great. I know how to conjugate a verb, but I’ve never done anything with tires, so I called my gentleman friend; he has an air pump and promised to come over later. I have tires that can go 50 miles even when air is needed, so I made it to the appointment.

As I sat having my aging hair strands bulked up, I kept thinking about that tire and other inconveniences. And then the hairdresser told me her own issue. Appointments were down this week and next, even though she has a large clientele. She wondered if people were buying groceries instead of having hair appointments. We agreed the upcoming holidays should beef up appointments.

So what was so important, other than my flattening tire and the hairdresser’s appointments? It’s my pool, currently turning a lovely brownish yellow and filled with little leaves. My former pool maintenance company was not performing properly (not showing up!); I actually fired them three days earlier, and I have been looking for a new pool company. I’ve found through frantic phone calls that in these times when EVERYBODY seems to be looking for employees, pool companies have so much business that many I contacted are reluctant to take on someone new, even someone as charming and wonderful as yours truly and her three dogs. And how much do pool companies charge these days with chemical prices increasing and demand so high? Maybe I should just drain the pool and buy a cover. Should I move? Oh my…..

So amid this stress and my own lack of va-va-voom, I decided to skip the SEMA Show. Instead, on Thursday, I’m going to welcome my gentleman friend who comes to fix the tire, I’m going to keep calling pool companies, I’m watching the stock market plunge again and I’m medicating myself with ice cream. Oh yes, and I’m going to vote, after all those damned text and phone reminders and flyers, I better vote.

I like the plan.

And SEMA? It continues on without me. Incidentally, for those who care, SEMA announced the best new vehicles for customization. They were:

Car of the Year………. Dodge Challenger
Sport Conpact of the Year……….Toyota GR86
4×4/SV of the Year……………..Jeep Wrangler
Full-size SUV of the Year……….Jeep Wrangler
Full-Sized kTruck of the Year……Jeep Gladiator
Electric Vehicle of the Year…….Volkswagen ID4

After-market manufacturers who exhibited at the show offer products for “enhancing the performance, styling, functionality, comfort, convenience and/or safety” for these vehicles. The products are far too complicated for me. Have you ever bought a “Pneumatic Straight Gate 50 Butterfly Style External Wastegate”? Me neither. But it was available at the show.

Note: If there are after-market companies offering enhanced performance, styling and functionality for over-the-hill writers, I’d be at THAT show, first in line.

Postscript: One of the pool companies that had no room for me passed my information on to another company and a very nice young man named Adam came out and agreed to maintain my pool for a reasonable price. Whoopee!