On fumes

I read someplace that most women will fill up their tanks when they get down to a quarter tank, while most men will wait until they are down to the fumes. I doubt if you can really split us up by gender when it comes to this preference. I myself am a 'down to the fumes' woman.

I hate stopping at the gas station. It's depressing. You're outside, it's cold, you're standing around like a dork, spending money on a product that gets pumped right into your tank and that you literally don't lay eyes on. You know what I mean. So when the warning light comes on, I just take it as a suggestion that it's time to mentally gear up to visit the gas station again soon.

Maybe if I stall long enough, the Rapture will come. And then I can swipe somebody else's car with a full tank. ::rimshot::

Comments

[Rhea]

I am a 'down to the fumes' gal myself. Especially with high gas prices. I put off buying gas as long as I can.

[Dan]

Life is nothing--nothing!--without fumes.

I'll never forget making a late-night drive from Mendocino, realizing at some point it would be a long way before I found an open gas station (Cloverdale) and then computing the distance all the way along Highway 128 in terms of miles and how long it would take me to hike to town to get a can of gas. Of course, I didn't run out of gas, and was thus emboldened to continue my fumy ways.

[Don]

I’m a fumer too. I ran out of gas once because I ignored my car’s low-fuel warning bong. I heard the sound, saw the warning light, decided I didn’t want to stop for gas that afternoon. Next day on my way home from work, I rounded a corner and the car just... died. Had to have my sister bring me a couple gallons, a bit embarrassing.

The car I have now doesn’t do a warning sound, just has a bright light on the dash, and I often wait to fill up until I see the light. My mom and my sister are both fill-at-the-quarter-tank folks, and they give me shit about my fumes habits all the time.

[e]

i seem to have beaten my fumes habit be filling up on wednesdays on the way home. except when i donn't; then it's fumes all the way down.

[Tonya]

When I was 16, my dad positively ingrained it in my head that once you get down to 1/4 of a tank, you're sucking up all kinds of gunk into the engine. It's stuck with me all these years. I see that 1/4 mark and I have all these images of metal shavings, bird feathers, toe jam, you-name-it, sucking into my engine. Can't get it out of my head. So....I've NEVER run out of gas! (Heh heh!)

Dads.

['mouse]

I swing both ways on the fuel issue. But when it comes to haircuts, I never venture into any establishment where there are scissors until I look like an English sheepdog.

[James]

The Rapture is no laughing matter!!! It will deprive the Earth of vital fertilizer, and is possibly the biggest ecological challenge we face today!!!!

On the other hand, it may reduce global warming by removing a source of carbon, so maybe it's a wash. If only scientists could talk to God!!!!

(Am I using an authentic number of exclamation points?)

[pam]

Aww, James came through for me. Thanks, James. Take that, Sacramento!