|
|
|
June 3rd, 2004
01:12 pm - Goodbye, rokuniroku
I have done something final regarding my automobile situation. Details forthcoming.
Current Mood: 318.2
Current Music: Stratovarius - Celestial Dreams
|
April 11th, 2004
11:34 am
I'm so tired of putting money into cars. My dealer is loaning me a 1993 Corolla whilst repairs are made on the 626. I figure the least of all possible evils will be just to suck it up and pay for the repairs, hoping that the damn thing will stay in one piece long enough to finish paying it off.
As I was driving to work Friday morning, I noticed another vehicle coming into the neighborhood. The main road out has a wide curve to it, such that I couldn't see the oncoming truck - just its headlights. Coming around the corner, I couldn't see the road for the bright lights shining in my eyes. Not a problem, all I should have to do is stay to the right of the truck. It wasn't till I was almost on top of him that I realized he was DRIVING DOWN THE WRONG FUCKING SIDE OF THE ROAD.
While I didn't run into him, I still didn't realize the situation soon enough to avoid the curb. I nailed a drainage grate, tearing a couple holes in the right front tire and scratching the rim a bit.
Turns out the dork was delivering newspapers, and was apparently so lazy as to drive down the wrong side so he wouldn't have to throw so far. Ass.
I walked back home to get Bob to give me a hand changing the tire, but neither of us could get the damned thing off. So, I put in a call to a local tow service for roadside assistance. I was told help would arrive within an hour. An hour and a half later, I called again and was put on hold for five minutes only to find that there wasn't anyone in the area, and it would be at least another 45 minutes before I could receive assistance. Thanks for letting me know! Appreciate that.
By this time a group of carpenters had shown up for work at the house I was in front of, and thankfully one of them was gracious enough to help me get the tire off. Thanks dude.
I wound up getting to work at 8:30. I got up at 3:30 for this. BLARGFF.
Now I'm sitting around on friggin' Easter Sunday, wondering why all the service garages and tire dealers are closed. Why didn't I do this yesterday? Also, where is my gum? Oh, I left it in my shorts. The ones I threw in the washer. Great.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Angry.gif) aggravated
Current Music: Gustav Holst - Neptune, the Mystic
|
April 1st, 2004
03:29 pm
Anyone who hasn't witnessed my manner with the ladies might not know that I have a tendency to describe outrageously hot women as "cute". It's an intentional understatement, with a sort of smugness as if to say "I'm such a badass, I'm not even fazed by this overwhelming beauty". Allow me to inform you that this was exactly the case when I said this.
Oh my God is Tammy ever gorgeous. She makes me want to use italics. And this girl is interested in me? What on Earth did I ever do right? She even came back to receiving to talk to me today when she came by to see Tanya. Not that we said very much - I was preoccupied with concentrating on keeping my tongue in my mouth. Danielle who?
Speaking of Dani, she told me a rather amusing little story today. Now I don't believe half the words that come out of her mouth, but as I was inclined to laugh at her rather than with her, there could be a little truth to it. She recently took in a roommate (you're moving up north when exactly? right), why I'm not sure. I thought her father owned the townhouse and she would only have to cover utility expenses. But anyway. Dani likes to get really stupid drunk rather frequently, and tends to "lose her inhibitions" when she does so (read: slut. Also, whore). So she and her roommate are chillin' at home the other night, consuming mass quantities of alcohol, when she, um, "discovers" that her roommate is a lesbian. Ahem. True or not, she should have never told me about it. She's not going to live it down anytime soon :)
In motoring news, my dealer has been ridiculously decent and is open to the idea of me using the equivalent of the repair cost on the 626 as a down payment on something new. The car just isn't worth putting the money into anymore. I'll be leaving here shortly to visit his lot and hopefully drive home (for the first time in a month) with a new old car.
Current Mood: stoked
Current Music: Robert Fripp - A Blessing of Tears
|
March 9th, 2004
03:53 pm - This year blows
I'm still using the folks' computer, and it's driving me nuts. If you have any comments on my computer issues mentioned in earlier posts, please speak up (or type up), no matter how insignificant you might think your advice is.
My car is in the shop again. It died just short of getting to work on Saturday. I woke up at 3:30 AM to be there by 5 on my day off (I'm not even supposed to be here today!). I only wound up getting about an hour of work done, so I paid $65 for a tow so I could make ten bucks.
So my head gasket is blown. The resulting pressure caused my radiator to suffer irreparable damage. At the very least, I'm looking at $207 to replace the head gasket and valve gasket, $347 for a new radiator, $22 for an oil change as this coolant leak has fucked my oil, $60 to flush and refill the coolant system and $450 for an estimated six hours' labor. The total for repairs is about half of what I still owe on the overpriced heap.
I think my next resort will be to attempt to reason with my dealer. If I say to Hell with this car and let him take it back, he could either do so and fuck my credit, or make a deal with me on a new car and continue making money from me. I think that would be preferable to sinking over $1000 more into this car.
Why is this year so awful already? Here's Smeg's 2004 year-so-far-in-review!
- The only dog I ever liked died. The folks have two new dogs; a St. Bernard mix that's a puppy, and a two year old Pomeranian with a terrible begging habit. Duncan was so fundamentally different I don't even know where to start.
- I fell in love to be let down. I'm not over Danielle in the slightest. In fact I still try, although I may not post about it much in here. Everything about her, every nuance or mannerism or expression makes me feel like I haven't in a long time, but she's almost certainly a chronic, pathological liar.
This has gone far beyond the point of maintaining optimism in the face of doubt. She still never calls me, whether she tells me she will or if I call and get her voice mail. Yet every time I talk to her, she has some new story, some new drama, some new excuse and tells me she still wants to go out. I'm not going to let her turn me misogynist, but I'm still at the point where it's hard to imagine anyone else exciting me like she does.
- Garden Ridge filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and has closed eight stores and one warehouse so far. Work has taken a turn as we've started receiving double the usual amount of freight, as one warehouse has started shipping to us before the other has been emptied out, and we've also received freight for closed stores that's been redirected to ours. Coupled with the number of associates who have already found new employment (we're talking about people who made the job bearable), we just can't come close to managing it all. We have merchandise coming out our ears and I still have to try to find room to unload more every day.
- My computer is comatose. It's worked flawlessly for six months, and all the components should still be under warranty. It's still a pain in the ass to deal with, and I'm practically lost without the thing.
- My car has been in the shop three times now this year, and since August I've already put $700 into it on top of insurance, gas and payments. She has 135k miles on her and just isn't worth the upkeep anymore. I think it's time to put her out of her (my) misery.
2004, in short, blows.
On a lighter note, I cut my hair (no pics till the computer works again). I'm still not quite satisfied with it, but I guess it looks OK. It's more rugged and less metro than I was aiming for, and I'm told the result is more Hugh Grant than Takumi Fujiwara. I don't know what to think of that, but as long as transvestites don't start hitting on me I guess it could be worse. I think some gel experimentation is in order.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/ford/sydnicons/Sad.gif) exhausted
Current Music: Rick Wakeman - Minas Truth
|
October 21st, 2003
07:50 pm - Title
The white...thing has been repaired (I really need to do a better job of coming up with a handle for my vehicle). At least, I think it is. I had to bring it back by because the instrument panel wasn't lighting when the headlights were turned on after they replaced the stereo, but hopefully that works again now. Oh, for anyone who cares, it is the V4 model. I forgot to specify when I introduced it, but rest assured that it is indeed a pussy car.
Anyway. This past weekend I took a trip to the town of Blowing Rock in the Appalachian mountains. Mom and Annise wanted to check out the WOOLLY WORM FESTIVAL, and I figured I'd tag along for a sort of mini-vacation. In case you're wondering, the town is named after a rock at the top of the mountain. There's some clichéd Indian tale about how some brave sacrificed himself to prove his love for some squaw by leaping off the rock, but was returned safe and sound by the force of the strong winds that blow there. Cheesy.
If you like that story, you'll love the history of the Woolly Worm Festival. See, some rednecks decided that they would hold woolly worm (read: caterpillar) races and build a festival around it. They hold the festival in the autumn, right when these caterp...er, woolly worms are all over the place. The point of the races is actually a meteorological forecast; you see, the six black and brown bands on the winning woolly worm correspond to six weeks of winter weather. Brown weeks will be mild, while black weeks shall be fierce. These people are so hardcore that vendors at the festival collect woolly worms and sell them to prospective racers for a buck each. The festival itself was drab; overpriced, non-nutritional food vendors and a bunch of hippies selling junk abound. One interesting thing worth noting was a sign posted at the festival's entrance, which read:
NO ALCOHOL
NO [something]
NO GUNS
It's a bad sign when they have to remind the fairgoers not to bring guns to a public event.
In addition to enjoying the mountain roads, climate and nature, I took away a couple of good things from the experience. Firstly, I stocked up on Gordon's Cream Sodas. Second, I took several pictures to bloat my journal with.
( They will put pounds on you )
It looks like I'll be doing some more mountain adventuring in a couple weeks when Bob's mom is in town. Anything to get out of a few days' work is fine by me. I dread going to work every morning these days :|
In other news, what with the absence of Buffy, my current actress obsession is Kristen Kreuk. I don't really follow Smallville, but my folks watch it often so I catch it here and there. Probably the best Superman story yet, but I don't think that's saying too much.
Current Mood: reflective
Current Music: Michiru Yamane - Don't Wait Until Night/Heart of Fire (AoS)
|
August 24th, 2003
05:33 pm - The Great White Hope
I was going to title this post "The White Torpedo" in tribute to The Stöned Age, but that sounds more like a bizarre porn flick. Anyway, while I had the digicam out and had a good shot, I thought it would be a good time to show and tell about my new car. To avoid bloating everyone's friends pages after the pics I just posted, I'll cut this one:
( click here for teen! )
Details? She's a 1996 Mazda 626, with 131k miles on her and an automatic transmission that likes to remind you of that every chance it gets. I'm going to miss the Grand Am (I'm not going to miss Pontiac's "stranglehold" seatbelts though), but I'll have to make do.
|
|
|