none to speak of...
i'm sitting here listening to a new piece of music render. i really enjoy it thus far, but i'm sure it will recieve some scrutiny before i call it done. but i'm giving myself a deadline of this evening, so i will be posting it shortly.
so my lovely little merkur didn't work out. it ran for two days after we fixed it last, disengaging one of the seaters to make sure it didn't run down the battery overnight. but two days later i was heading down the highway @ midnightish, and the radio went off, the lights began to dim, etc. luckily a got to a gas station in time, but the thing is a tank, and i had to have two cops help me get it into a parking spot, and for their trouble these cops basically felt like being rude, condescending assholes. it really horrible when they are just begging you to smart off and give them some shit back, but you know those are just the cops who will find a way to screw you for it.
last night robbie and i went to fix the car again, it had thrown off the alternator belt. i agreed to help him get it to his house on the other side of town. after an hour in 16 degree weather he got it going, but 5 minutes down the highway it dropped the alternator again, so i had to turn off my lights and drive behind him on the highway. the car stayed on so long as the lights, heater, radio etc weren't on. that was on adventure in itself. so then we had to turn off of a really busy street onto his street, i was making a left hand turn with my lights off, and i kind of freaked out and thought "man, this isn't safe", so i turned on the lights and the engine cut out in the middle of the turn. so now i was sitting perpendicular to traffic on a really busy street.
cars are fun. i'm not buying that car, if i hadn't made that clear.
more importantly, i went to the bank yesterday to get a new account and talked to the manager about a personal loan for a car. i was afraid that they would only give me the blue book value of the car, but actually being a scheming financial institution, the minimum loan is $3000. ostensibly, i'm supposed to pay that back over 24 months (so they can get their interest), but i can put $1000 straight back into it, put $2000 towards a car, a pretty much pay that off by early march. the early payment penalty is 1% of the outstanding balance, so yer talking a service fee of less than $30, and almost no interest accrued.
which strikes me as a stunning way to build my credit back up, since i can't get a bloody credit card.
it also strikes me as a damn smart way to do other things that are obsessing me. like going to china. if i take this loan out and pay it off quickly, the credit goes up. if i then take out another loan, buy the plane ticket etc, i can pay back that amount before i leave. i can sell whatever car i'm going to buy to have a buffer for rent etc while i'm gone.
obviously, this will take a little more planning, but i'm damn excited at the prospect. between all the various types of work i do, i am pulling in $1000 to $1500 a month, give or take. the problem is keeping that much in a buffer long enough to have a bulk amount for a decent car or a plane ticket. but i've been trying to get a credit card because i can easily pay this things back over a period of two or three months.
so... when do i come to china, jonathan?
so my lovely little merkur didn't work out. it ran for two days after we fixed it last, disengaging one of the seaters to make sure it didn't run down the battery overnight. but two days later i was heading down the highway @ midnightish, and the radio went off, the lights began to dim, etc. luckily a got to a gas station in time, but the thing is a tank, and i had to have two cops help me get it into a parking spot, and for their trouble these cops basically felt like being rude, condescending assholes. it really horrible when they are just begging you to smart off and give them some shit back, but you know those are just the cops who will find a way to screw you for it.
last night robbie and i went to fix the car again, it had thrown off the alternator belt. i agreed to help him get it to his house on the other side of town. after an hour in 16 degree weather he got it going, but 5 minutes down the highway it dropped the alternator again, so i had to turn off my lights and drive behind him on the highway. the car stayed on so long as the lights, heater, radio etc weren't on. that was on adventure in itself. so then we had to turn off of a really busy street onto his street, i was making a left hand turn with my lights off, and i kind of freaked out and thought "man, this isn't safe", so i turned on the lights and the engine cut out in the middle of the turn. so now i was sitting perpendicular to traffic on a really busy street.
cars are fun. i'm not buying that car, if i hadn't made that clear.
more importantly, i went to the bank yesterday to get a new account and talked to the manager about a personal loan for a car. i was afraid that they would only give me the blue book value of the car, but actually being a scheming financial institution, the minimum loan is $3000. ostensibly, i'm supposed to pay that back over 24 months (so they can get their interest), but i can put $1000 straight back into it, put $2000 towards a car, a pretty much pay that off by early march. the early payment penalty is 1% of the outstanding balance, so yer talking a service fee of less than $30, and almost no interest accrued.
which strikes me as a stunning way to build my credit back up, since i can't get a bloody credit card.
it also strikes me as a damn smart way to do other things that are obsessing me. like going to china. if i take this loan out and pay it off quickly, the credit goes up. if i then take out another loan, buy the plane ticket etc, i can pay back that amount before i leave. i can sell whatever car i'm going to buy to have a buffer for rent etc while i'm gone.
obviously, this will take a little more planning, but i'm damn excited at the prospect. between all the various types of work i do, i am pulling in $1000 to $1500 a month, give or take. the problem is keeping that much in a buffer long enough to have a bulk amount for a decent car or a plane ticket. but i've been trying to get a credit card because i can easily pay this things back over a period of two or three months.
so... when do i come to china, jonathan?