The Morning, Forty Dollars, and Fuel

     It sucks that it cost Mary $40 for gas this morning. 

   First, it's a bummer to have to get gas in the morning.  If you realized you were low on fuel the night before, you can possibly schedule the time in but that requires a lot of fore thought.  In my experience, I would think about it on the way home and decide to stop in the morning.  But in the morning I would still hit snooze fifteen times and not know why I set the alarm so early.  Then I'd get in the car and see I needed gas.  The other part about fueling up in the morning is if the gas spills, you're stuck with that smell on you all day.  All damn day.  You walk in a room and someone says "do you smell gas?"  You have to explain it's you.  You launch into the entire morning fuel up story.  It's embarrassing.  
     Second, forty dollars is a lot to spend on fuel.  I don't know how big Mary's gas tank is, but I don't think it's a 40 gallon tank.  It's probably a 13 or 14 gallon tank from what I know about her car.  So using my crappy math skills, gas costs about $3.30 per gallon.  (That's assuming starting with a completely empty tank, which she probably didn't do.  So it's more.)  Is that average?  I don't know.  I haven't been driving for the last eight months or so therefore I am completely out of touch with how much gas cost. 
     Mary just confirmed the gas cost $3.99 per gallon which is a decent price for LA.  Another friend paid $4.15 yesterday.  That does seem high.  I remember a few (6) years ago when gas prices were making some pretty serious jumps.  I think it was the first time we ever saw them break $3 per gallon and they crept up towards $4.  Of course now, that seems like nothing, but that's not the point of this story.  At that time I was driving a full size Silverado truck.  I think it had a 25 gallon gas tank and got about 11 miles to the gallon.  I had friends with me when I had to fill up.  I had let it get pretty low so it was nearly a full tank fill up coming in at around $75 or so. 
     "How often do you have to fill up?"
     "Every day or two."
     I was kidding- it was about weekly, but still, it was a lot to fill it up.  At the same time, I grew really tired of the gas price conversation.  The only two things my mom wanted to talk about were the weather and gas prices.  It was maddening.  Gas prices were high everywhere and math never changed so the "it's $X amount per gallon and I have a Y gallon sized tank, so it cost $XY to fill up" conversations were just awful.
     I digress, this isn't about me, it's about Mary and the $40.  Apparently because of recent global events, gas prices have gone up again, kind of sharply.  So I can understanding needing to complain about the $40 when last week it was only $20 or $30.  On the other hand, I have no idea how much Mary normally pays for gas.  You know what?  Paying for gas just sucks.  Especially in the morning.

     It sucks that Mary had to pay $40 for gas this morning.