Leeloo

In the colorful future, a fly-by-night crafter unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep pollution and environmental damage at bay...

And that weapon is Leeloo - my one-day-old-with-9.5-miles-on-it-only 2006 Prius!

Yes, peeps, the day has come, as I predicted it would in my Yearly Resolutions, I have officially "Gone Hybrid". I should nail a note to the back of my deskchair to that affect. Perhaps with a jaunty little pencil drawing of a maple leaf with a steering wheel, you know, whatever. Oh, and if the reference from the first line flew-by-night right over your unnerdy head -- it's the plot summary for The Fifth Element, a semi-pointless but ultimately entertaining futuristic type movie with a charming Super Being (Milla Jovavich, yes I recognized the irony, too) named, Leeloo.

Hubby astutely suggested the name as soon as he laid eyes upon the Super Being and, so she will be known from this day forward as LeeLoo. And the SmartKey that sits in my purse opening doors and starting my car without nary a finger lifted by moi, known as "Leeloo Dallas MultiPass" because we are JUST that nerdy in the FinnyKnits house, and now don't you know it. For those of you not having any idea what I'm talking about, turn on TNT or AMC at any point this weekend and watch The Fifth Element. I'm fairly certain one of these cable movie networks has it on a continuous loop. I know this because we end up watching it at least once a month. Even with TIVO. We can't resist it.

But the car, let's show the car -- well, Finny and the car. Make that Finny + Leeloo:


Isn't she HOT? Not moi, I am clearly exhausted from THREE HOURS of paperwork and navigation system walk-throughs and finance people talking all about numbers (Hello, I was told there would be no math) to be hot, but Leeloo, she IS HOT. Even without her weird orange suspenders. If my arms were long enough, I'd hug 'er.

And then, less than 24 hours later, I hit a friggen tire on 101. Could you die? I nearly did. Practially pooed Leeloo, to be honest. Turns out, no biggie -- but I did spend a good 10 minutes in the parking lot this morning before work buffing out the tire skid with my fingerless gloves. That yarn was a good investment -- got it right out. And so enhances the lunatic image I've so carefully crafted for myself at work. As though the fingerless gloves (an unexpected eyebrow raiser), garden obsession and handmade gifts weren't enough. Now I'm buffing a seamingly perfect car in the parking lot, while it rains. Yes, friends, I've quietly passed from "Uniquely cool and interesting co-worker" to "Crazy car-buffing maniac with rain-soaked tendencies girl that sits close to me" in less than one day. Efficient progress.

Despite all that, I'll be driving home today, running at a cool 50+mpg, with visions of HOV stickers dancing in my head. Let us all pray that the 60K sticker threshold isn't surpassed by the time I get my paperwork to the DMV.

Leeloo won't stand for that and neither will I.