Burning The Midnight Oil
At the beginning of April I bought a used car.
I'd saved up for about two months, and had been searching the usual, craigslist, ebay.
Nothing looked too promising and there were a couple of maybes but as soon as I asked to see the car the person on craigslist broke contact.
It seems a lot of craigslist is divided between scammers who are looking for other scammers that might think they can out scam other scammers or people who are not ready to give up their cars selling them for blue book value.
Words like, "No tire kickers!" or, "No Joyrides!" or even, "Don't waste my time." obviously are looking to either waste your time, or get something for nothing.
Theres no way I'd buy a car without test driving it first, and of course a practical person would look for anything that might signify a safety hazard or a risk.
I was pretty lucky because just around the corner I saw a for sale sign on an older Honda Civic Hatchback.
I called the guy and he was nice enough, we we're able to get together for a test drive a few days later.
I felt pretty comfortable in the car but I felt that the breaks were loose.
I literally showed him the money and a few days down the road we made the final transaction.
He ended up talking me down a few hundred, and I gave him a small drawing I sketched out the day before.
The insurance was higher then I thought it would be, and I now realize I should have payed into full coverage.
That whole week was intensely stressful, I had to go get it smogged, it failed smog, had to go to an autoshop to have the EGR (Gas Recycling Unit) or what I would assume is a catalytic converter replaced, the engine was burning oil, I had to get the breaks realigned and I'm certainly glad I did that.
A few days down the road going to Walmart in town turning right into the correct lane, signaling, even looking over my shoulder, (which probably saved me and the car) a damn woman driver sideswiped me.
I am not sure what provoked her to speed into me like that but by the time I realized that she wasn't going to let me in to the right lane my course correction wasn't enough to save my sideview mirror or my door molding. I didn't panic but I'm sure any other driver would have, not knowing what was going on.
Like I said in an earlier post you cannot always predict what another driver is going to do.
I calmly parked my car on the other side of the intersection.
I turned off that little anger switch in my head.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
I heard her baby crying in the back and said, "I'm glad thats all it was."
She will never know how truly lucky she was in that moment.
I said, "I'm sorry."
The cynic in me of course reasoned out later that saying, sorry for something you didn't do makes people think they can take advantage of you.
And she certainly did, when I reported it to insurance company the agent already sounded like he was on her side.
What makes me angered more than anything is that her Truck was 6ft and my little hatchback is barely three feet off the ground she probably didn't even see me. If there was any damage I doubt it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with a dent suction cup for ten bucks.
Like I said I should've paid for collision the sideview mirror cost $20 and the molding cost $90 and I installed it myself with a screw driver and almost six hours of my time.
I guess I should laugh about it, glad I'm not the babies daddy!
Again the cynic in me predicts that whatever money they got off of my misfortune went to baby food, hair products and not that ten dollar suction cup.
Lesson learned, don't be sorry.
On that note I'm regretting buying the car, did I mention I hate driving?
On the positive side a friend made a random appearance up from San Francisco.
It was good seeing him, sleep, mostly.
Seemed terribly stressed over a presentation and I did my best to make him feel at home for the moment.
Made a good dinner, we did some yoga together, and ended up seeing a Mizaki movie out in Santa Cruz.
My grandmother went off to do her gambling thing again.
She came back upset and I figured she either didn't do so good or had fun and was coming down hard from good times.
I painted the chairs and table for her, and finished painting the deck the next weekend.
It was a little tiring, and she chewed me out for not cleaning up around the house.
Taking my handiness for granted again.
It was getting to be too much, the car, my grandmother yelling, and all the work I've been behind on.
I noticed I even went into another pack of cigarettes on the same day which was a bad sign too.
I ended up booking an appointment for a massage at that spa and it was surely needed.
I spent 4 hours there cleansing myself of 2 months of accumulated stress.
I felt pretty refreshed when I left.
The next day I cleared out some of the garage and mass ebayed anything my grandmother didn't want.
I contemplated selling my comics too but I figure I'll keep them a bit longer til I can either find someone who will trade, or give them to someone else who would read them.
Since gaming is out of the picture I've been sketching irregularly, sometimes humorous, sometimes erotic, other times its just the vibe, who doesn't like naked mermaids or dancing penises'?
I might take the chance on making it into a magazine and publishing it somewhere online.
It would probably be a little extra cash too if a few friends bought it.
But being a writer I often avoid too much attention.
Whats the point of being famous if you're broke anyway?
On that note I'm putting a cap on the married with children character since I'm spotting odd hits that lead me to believe someone else might try calling it their own.
Since I've been through that before I'll keep the future posts to myself.
Realized a bit late we have lavender in our backyard.
Had I known before I wouldn't have pruned it last year.
I've been using the leaves for lavender tea and though bitter it has a calming after effect.
I've not dared to try the California Poppies, it may or not may not be an opiate.
And I've never tried opiates.
The guitar has yet to be started but I've got all I could out of the book.
Did some homework finding local luthier's, suppliers, and nice wood shops within a reasonable distance.
The car is an important asset to all this so I can go and collect the lumber and whatever else I may end up needing.
The workbench materials are all ready in the garage ready to be nailed in.
Once the garage is completely reorganized by the end of the week then the fun starts!
As a test project I've been assigned to building stilts to prevent dirt from spilling down from the top deck.
Easy to do compared to a complex guitar construction.
I've been terribly anxious lately and I'm sure the randomness of this post reflects that.
I am a month behind with everything, a third of the year is over, the draft hasn't even really been broken in.
The guitar isn't even a template yet.
The only thing that was really accomplished was a car purchase.
I wanted to make room for someone new in my heart.
But I don't think this will happen.
The hopeless romantic in me continues to want to be hopeless.
Besides rejection can be flattering too.
She thinks she's too good for me? Great! Then I won't have to owe her anything for my success!
Its like the berlin wall in there and I'm not sure this cold war within will ever end.
I wouldn't want any woman knowing the darker side of me.
Who would want to know the darker side of anyone?
Independence is a relative term to put it in context, "Hey man you still live with your mom and dad and post You tube videos from your basement..."
"But I make 50Gs and I'm moving out next month!"
"Yeah."
Lowered Expect...ations!
For me that isn't qualifying as independent.
I need a challenge for my mind, not something material like a wad of cash.
A memory that is my own is always a true state of independence.
I have been told on more then one occasion, "I am too honest." and I'm pretty sure that will get me killed one day.
But I won't let that stop me from dreaming.
As always keeping it √
-Astral Samurai
I'd saved up for about two months, and had been searching the usual, craigslist, ebay.
Nothing looked too promising and there were a couple of maybes but as soon as I asked to see the car the person on craigslist broke contact.
It seems a lot of craigslist is divided between scammers who are looking for other scammers that might think they can out scam other scammers or people who are not ready to give up their cars selling them for blue book value.
Words like, "No tire kickers!" or, "No Joyrides!" or even, "Don't waste my time." obviously are looking to either waste your time, or get something for nothing.
Theres no way I'd buy a car without test driving it first, and of course a practical person would look for anything that might signify a safety hazard or a risk.
I was pretty lucky because just around the corner I saw a for sale sign on an older Honda Civic Hatchback.
I called the guy and he was nice enough, we we're able to get together for a test drive a few days later.
I felt pretty comfortable in the car but I felt that the breaks were loose.
I literally showed him the money and a few days down the road we made the final transaction.
He ended up talking me down a few hundred, and I gave him a small drawing I sketched out the day before.
The insurance was higher then I thought it would be, and I now realize I should have payed into full coverage.
That whole week was intensely stressful, I had to go get it smogged, it failed smog, had to go to an autoshop to have the EGR (Gas Recycling Unit) or what I would assume is a catalytic converter replaced, the engine was burning oil, I had to get the breaks realigned and I'm certainly glad I did that.
A few days down the road going to Walmart in town turning right into the correct lane, signaling, even looking over my shoulder, (which probably saved me and the car) a damn woman driver sideswiped me.
I am not sure what provoked her to speed into me like that but by the time I realized that she wasn't going to let me in to the right lane my course correction wasn't enough to save my sideview mirror or my door molding. I didn't panic but I'm sure any other driver would have, not knowing what was going on.
Like I said in an earlier post you cannot always predict what another driver is going to do.
I calmly parked my car on the other side of the intersection.
I turned off that little anger switch in my head.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine."
I heard her baby crying in the back and said, "I'm glad thats all it was."
She will never know how truly lucky she was in that moment.
I said, "I'm sorry."
The cynic in me of course reasoned out later that saying, sorry for something you didn't do makes people think they can take advantage of you.
And she certainly did, when I reported it to insurance company the agent already sounded like he was on her side.
What makes me angered more than anything is that her Truck was 6ft and my little hatchback is barely three feet off the ground she probably didn't even see me. If there was any damage I doubt it wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with a dent suction cup for ten bucks.
Like I said I should've paid for collision the sideview mirror cost $20 and the molding cost $90 and I installed it myself with a screw driver and almost six hours of my time.
I guess I should laugh about it, glad I'm not the babies daddy!
Again the cynic in me predicts that whatever money they got off of my misfortune went to baby food, hair products and not that ten dollar suction cup.
Lesson learned, don't be sorry.
On that note I'm regretting buying the car, did I mention I hate driving?
On the positive side a friend made a random appearance up from San Francisco.
It was good seeing him, sleep, mostly.
Seemed terribly stressed over a presentation and I did my best to make him feel at home for the moment.
Made a good dinner, we did some yoga together, and ended up seeing a Mizaki movie out in Santa Cruz.
My grandmother went off to do her gambling thing again.
She came back upset and I figured she either didn't do so good or had fun and was coming down hard from good times.
I painted the chairs and table for her, and finished painting the deck the next weekend.
It was a little tiring, and she chewed me out for not cleaning up around the house.
Taking my handiness for granted again.
It was getting to be too much, the car, my grandmother yelling, and all the work I've been behind on.
I noticed I even went into another pack of cigarettes on the same day which was a bad sign too.
I ended up booking an appointment for a massage at that spa and it was surely needed.
I spent 4 hours there cleansing myself of 2 months of accumulated stress.
I felt pretty refreshed when I left.
The next day I cleared out some of the garage and mass ebayed anything my grandmother didn't want.
I contemplated selling my comics too but I figure I'll keep them a bit longer til I can either find someone who will trade, or give them to someone else who would read them.
Since gaming is out of the picture I've been sketching irregularly, sometimes humorous, sometimes erotic, other times its just the vibe, who doesn't like naked mermaids or dancing penises'?
I might take the chance on making it into a magazine and publishing it somewhere online.
It would probably be a little extra cash too if a few friends bought it.
But being a writer I often avoid too much attention.
Whats the point of being famous if you're broke anyway?
On that note I'm putting a cap on the married with children character since I'm spotting odd hits that lead me to believe someone else might try calling it their own.
Since I've been through that before I'll keep the future posts to myself.
Realized a bit late we have lavender in our backyard.
Had I known before I wouldn't have pruned it last year.
I've been using the leaves for lavender tea and though bitter it has a calming after effect.
I've not dared to try the California Poppies, it may or not may not be an opiate.
And I've never tried opiates.
The guitar has yet to be started but I've got all I could out of the book.
Did some homework finding local luthier's, suppliers, and nice wood shops within a reasonable distance.
The car is an important asset to all this so I can go and collect the lumber and whatever else I may end up needing.
The workbench materials are all ready in the garage ready to be nailed in.
Once the garage is completely reorganized by the end of the week then the fun starts!
As a test project I've been assigned to building stilts to prevent dirt from spilling down from the top deck.
Easy to do compared to a complex guitar construction.
I've been terribly anxious lately and I'm sure the randomness of this post reflects that.
I am a month behind with everything, a third of the year is over, the draft hasn't even really been broken in.
The guitar isn't even a template yet.
The only thing that was really accomplished was a car purchase.
I wanted to make room for someone new in my heart.
But I don't think this will happen.
The hopeless romantic in me continues to want to be hopeless.
Besides rejection can be flattering too.
She thinks she's too good for me? Great! Then I won't have to owe her anything for my success!
Its like the berlin wall in there and I'm not sure this cold war within will ever end.
I wouldn't want any woman knowing the darker side of me.
Who would want to know the darker side of anyone?
Independence is a relative term to put it in context, "Hey man you still live with your mom and dad and post You tube videos from your basement..."
"But I make 50Gs and I'm moving out next month!"
"Yeah."
Lowered Expect...ations!
For me that isn't qualifying as independent.
I need a challenge for my mind, not something material like a wad of cash.
A memory that is my own is always a true state of independence.
I have been told on more then one occasion, "I am too honest." and I'm pretty sure that will get me killed one day.
But I won't let that stop me from dreaming.
As always keeping it √
-Astral Samurai
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