by Jo Anne-Patricia Piccarillo

Created on: June 22, 2008

Being a smoker and the owner of a Durango, it is becoming very hard not to get depressed over the sudden attack on my bank account. It is becoming more and more blatant that in order to maintain my normal lifestyle, I need a minium of $20.00 to drive to the corner store and purchase a pack of cigs!

I must admit, although I have slowed down on the smoking, the gas prices have left me no choice but to decrease the amount of drives I take along the Jones Beach Parkway just to enjoy the sunset as I clear my head. They have made me walk a lot more places, which isn't so bad, due to the fact that I have learned of a lot more stores in my neighborhood that I never knew existed driving by them!

My 15 minute drive to work has turned into an hour and a half trip consisting of 3 buses and walking 4 blocks! But to my astonishment, I saved almost $80.00 last week alone. So it is worth adding the extra 3 unpaid hours to my workday!

The weekends are just not the same anymore either. Everyone who used to just come and watch movies at my house on those rainy nights, now wants me to drive to theirs. Not happening. I refuse to drive to someone elses house in my Durango while their Honda sits comfortably in their driveway. Ahh, and then there's the road trip issue. It never was an issue before because everyone in my car always threw me a simple $5.00 each for gas. Now, that $5.00 does nothing but get us out of town before I find myself being entertained by that musical beeping of the gas tank as it tells me it's empty again!

Ah, the days of $.99 gas are long gone. I remember how angry I was when my permit turned into a license and the gas prices rised to $1.25. Who would have thought the day would come when gas might be $10.00 a gallon?!?!?

The only thing that keeps me sane, is the fact that while I'm here walking to work, there are people my age and younger in Iraq dying over the same fight! So who am I to complain about quenching the ongoing thirst of my Durango?

Who knows, maybe, hopefully, the gas prices will change with the Presidency. I don't mean to pinpoint the blame, but if nothing else, I had a lot more money in my pocket during the Clinton Presidency. He may have been a little "extra-curricular", but gas prices were never $4.35.

To make matters even worse, gas stations are going into the only scandal of pretending not to hear you when you say $20.00. On three seperate occassions at three different gas stations, I clearly requested $20.00 Regular. Three different gas station attendants seemed to have heard "fill it up regular!" After the last time it happened, I returned home, just as pissed off as the first time, only to recieve an email, chain mail, that this is the new scandal that gas stations are doing to make their money since barely anyone has enough to fill up on a regular basis. Lucky for me though, I am just as hard-headed as the government and refused to pay for what I most definietly did not order!

Drivers beware....we have reached a depressing time period where it is every man for himself at the gas pump!

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