(no subject)
So, let me tell you about the adventure I had this week
It started Monday. I didn’t have to work until noon. I got ready a little bit earlier and decided to give into my craving for Taco Bell and my curiosity for Long John Silvers, which is in the same facility (the likes of which I will never eat again because even fried fish should never be that greasy and disgusting.). So I sit there on that beautiful day, noticing how KSU campus has come back to live and all the college kids wondering around in the sun. I didn’t have any paper on me but I suddenly felt the need to write, so I went home to get a little notebook so keep with me in case I had such inspirations. I get my stuff and go back to the car, ready to head to work. I turn the key, and the engine refuses to turn over. It sounded like it was sputtering, like it was trying so very hard to go, but it just wasn’t happening. I had plenty of gas, and everything worked a moment ago. Luckily Christina was still home. She had a meeting at KSU and gave me a lift and she later picked me up from work that night.
Now, if you’ve known me long enough, you know that I hate my car. I like HAVING a car, but I don’t like my PARTICULAR car. The purchase of it was not my choice, and I shelled out a hell of a lot of money over the years on that thing in loans alone. That’s not including all the regular replacement of parts that naturally wear down and a few things that should not have worn down. I’ve had a couple accidents here and there (like I hit the side of the house and loosened the passenger mirror and somehow managed to get my headlight smashed), but even without those few instances, I’ve had that thing in the shop a LOT, more than it’s worth. And of course insurance doesn’t pay for any of it because the repairs were either not expensive enough or because wear and tear is not covered. So it didn’t surprise me that it once again broke down at the most inopportune time.
Tuesday I was free from work and had it towed around the corner to the mechanic’s shop. That cost $43, even though the towing place is literally right down the street from me and they only towed it one city block. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and trying to organize things, like my thoughts, hoping that I’d get a call back that night. The call didn’t come. So I started doing research. My apartments are right on the bus route for KSU, and there are a good deal of folks that take the bus. So I looked up the schedule and started making plans just in case it came to it.
Wednesday I call tires and more. They hadn’t the chance to look at the car yet. Chris had already driven to work in Akron and Christina was gone as well, so I had to take the bus. I rushed my but into the shower, slapped together a quick packed lunch, and grabbed my coin bag of laundry change. I was probably about 20 minutes early for the 12:19pm stop, but I was way too nervous to just stay inside. I rode public transport lots of times in Europe, and I quite enjoyed it, but David was always the one who knew how to read the schedules and which train to take and the like. I had never undertaken a public transport venture of my own. I didn’t have to work until 2pm, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. And if I were early, I’d pop over to Sheetz and get a hot chocolate or something. So I stood out in the rain under my umbrella waiting for the bus, it was on time, I boarded. I was pretty confident at first. We took a pretty familiar way behind Save-a-Lot and onto 43 (or 42, I can never remember which one it is for some reason) and onto 59 going in the right direction. Everything seemed fine until we got to the C Midway stop, which was KSU. Everyone had to get off; this was the interchange point. I thought that particular bus was going back to the depot for some reason, and asked how to get to the Kent Drug Mart down the street. The driver seemed a little confused. A fellow passenger told me to take the 30. So I hopped off that bus, which was the Suburban 40 line, and got onto the 30…the INTER urban line. I guess the man though I wanted Drug Mart in STOW. So I ended up going in the complete opposite direction and ended up going about a half hour out of my way. I knew exactly were I was at all times, as I’ve gone that way many times going back home. It just annoyed me that I got on the wrong bus. So we came all the way back around to KSU. There weren’t any other buses in that turn around at that point, and it was already 1:30. So I said screw it and I walked. It’s right down from campus, so it’s not like it put me out that much. But it was very cold, unusually and unseasonably cold considering how nice the two previous days where. I was sweaty from the walk, but cold from the weather. I made it just in time though.
I was only schedules until 8, but there was a mandatory meeting at 10 that night, so I just stayed around and had dinner and tried to rest. The meeting went until about 10:45 and Jane gave me a ride home. I called Chris and let him know I got home safely. Less than five minutes later, he frantically called me asking to come to the vet’s. Alerter was bleeding. I didn’t actually see the stain, but I’ve been told he the blood went through a pair of Christina’s pants, through the good blanket, through the top sheet, and into the mattress. So I threw some clothes on and rode with him to Akron. We got the cat into the 24-hour emergency surgery. Turns out, when he healed from getting fixed, he had a tiny pin-sized hole left in his skin. The cat is very OCD about licking and scratching himself (and pleasing himself when he still had all his pieces) and accidentally ripped himself open. We didn’t get home until around 2am. I was completely exhausted.
I still had to be up early though the next morning. While I was at work Wednesday the mechanic called me back saying there was nothing they could do with the car, not even the oil change. He referred me to a dealer, because according to his diagnosis, something in the computer was either in need of reprogramming or had shorted out, which was affecting the fuel injection system. So after I talked to the mechanic I called the dealer, who said it sounded like it was a load of bull and not a computer issue. It would be close to $80 just to have it looked at by the dealership. That wasn’t gonna fly either, especially if it was going to be another $40 to tow the damn thing. At my mother’s frantic suggestion I left a message for my uncle, who was my regular mechanic and knew my car. (Only reason I didn’t call him was because he’s in Cleveland and there’s no way I could have gotten the car towed there.) Chris made the choice to work from home that day so he could watch the cat, Christina took the Prias, and I took Christina’s old Grand AM, which has had a lot of the exact same troubles I’ve had, and is just slightly older than mine with a lot more miles on it. I came home around 8, went to the Haslage’s, and called my uncle back. I hate the phone on speaker, so Chris heard Uncle Bob’s reminding me of how the security system acted up before. You see, there’s some kind of strange anti-theft device programmed into the car’s computer. And every so often, it likes to think it’s being stolen when it’s not. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to reprogram the piece of shit afterwards. I can never get it to work right for me, and it really shouldn’t do that, especially since I had the onboard computer replaced.
After the call we had a discussion about how this car is just not worth it anymore. I completely agreed. I was tired of putting so much money into it at the worst times. Chris suggest that, if it costs too much to fix the car this time, I should trade it in for a Toyota. I don’t mind the idea of a Toyota, especially since they NEVER break. But I already have so many bills now, and even though I paid on the loan for the Grand AM, the paperwork was always in my father’s name, so it went on his credit report and not mine. I have been on my own for about a year, and so far I’m in good standing, so I may be able to get a decent price. I’m still unsure.
The real irony to all this is that just before the car broke down I was reading samples on a book about living car free and thinking about how much I did actually hate having a car and how much I wished I could walk to work (261 is just too dangerous) and all that stuff. Seriously, if I could get away with living without a car, I would. Hell, for how much I spent on that car, I could have gone to a state university for probably two years. And relying on public transport instead would not only be more economical, but it would make me more disciplined; I’d have to make extra effort to get my lazy ass out of bed at a certain time and get fully prepared and all that. The main draw back would be not having transport to visit Annie and Heather whenever I had the time and that it would affect what hours I could work potentially.
Today Chris stayed home and worked again. I took the other Grand AM and followed Christina to the mechanic. It needed a safety check. She drove me to Sheetz so I could get a hot chocolate and a quick sandwich, then I walked across the street to work. My shift was 9 to 5 today. Around 4:30, the Haslages show up. Chris looks all worried and says that Christina’s car is still in the shop and how would I get to work over the weekend without it. It didn’t faze me at all. There is a weekend schedule. I’d just have to get up super early to catch the right bus. But so be it, what other choice was there. Then he presents me with the key to my car. He told off the mechanic and tried my uncle’s trick and got it to start. I’m still not sure how he was able to get the mechanic to release my car to him. We’re all regular customers, so maybe the recognized that it was going to the right people. At the end of my shift I cautiously started my car. It sounded at first like it wasn’t going to make it, but it did start. I let it warm up for a little bit and made my way home. I went right to sleep because I’ve been so damn tired, and just got up a little while before starting this entry. I’m worried about tomorrow though. What if it happens again? I can never get the trick to work. I’ll get to get up and ready earlier just to make sure the damn thing actually starts. I can’t keep doing this.
Monday is my next day off. I think I’ll take Chris’ advice and got with him to the Toyota dealership and see what they can give me. I can’t deal with that car anymore. I still have mixed feelings about it. It has been difficult not having the convenience of transport at my fingertips. But it did keep me from making un-needed midnight runs to Giant Eagle for junk food. I have a family reunion next week, so I need a car. We’ll see how things go.
EDIT: Looks like my dreams of going car-less have been shattered. While I can get to work fine through PARTA during the week, there's not a single bus that goes past my place on the weekends. I will need to get that new car after all and just pray to God that I can afford it. Since Greg will mostly likely get a lot of weekends too, if he works nearly anywhere but the post office, he's screwed with the buses. We'll have to do some creative scheduling.
It started Monday. I didn’t have to work until noon. I got ready a little bit earlier and decided to give into my craving for Taco Bell and my curiosity for Long John Silvers, which is in the same facility (the likes of which I will never eat again because even fried fish should never be that greasy and disgusting.). So I sit there on that beautiful day, noticing how KSU campus has come back to live and all the college kids wondering around in the sun. I didn’t have any paper on me but I suddenly felt the need to write, so I went home to get a little notebook so keep with me in case I had such inspirations. I get my stuff and go back to the car, ready to head to work. I turn the key, and the engine refuses to turn over. It sounded like it was sputtering, like it was trying so very hard to go, but it just wasn’t happening. I had plenty of gas, and everything worked a moment ago. Luckily Christina was still home. She had a meeting at KSU and gave me a lift and she later picked me up from work that night.
Now, if you’ve known me long enough, you know that I hate my car. I like HAVING a car, but I don’t like my PARTICULAR car. The purchase of it was not my choice, and I shelled out a hell of a lot of money over the years on that thing in loans alone. That’s not including all the regular replacement of parts that naturally wear down and a few things that should not have worn down. I’ve had a couple accidents here and there (like I hit the side of the house and loosened the passenger mirror and somehow managed to get my headlight smashed), but even without those few instances, I’ve had that thing in the shop a LOT, more than it’s worth. And of course insurance doesn’t pay for any of it because the repairs were either not expensive enough or because wear and tear is not covered. So it didn’t surprise me that it once again broke down at the most inopportune time.
Tuesday I was free from work and had it towed around the corner to the mechanic’s shop. That cost $43, even though the towing place is literally right down the street from me and they only towed it one city block. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and trying to organize things, like my thoughts, hoping that I’d get a call back that night. The call didn’t come. So I started doing research. My apartments are right on the bus route for KSU, and there are a good deal of folks that take the bus. So I looked up the schedule and started making plans just in case it came to it.
Wednesday I call tires and more. They hadn’t the chance to look at the car yet. Chris had already driven to work in Akron and Christina was gone as well, so I had to take the bus. I rushed my but into the shower, slapped together a quick packed lunch, and grabbed my coin bag of laundry change. I was probably about 20 minutes early for the 12:19pm stop, but I was way too nervous to just stay inside. I rode public transport lots of times in Europe, and I quite enjoyed it, but David was always the one who knew how to read the schedules and which train to take and the like. I had never undertaken a public transport venture of my own. I didn’t have to work until 2pm, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. And if I were early, I’d pop over to Sheetz and get a hot chocolate or something. So I stood out in the rain under my umbrella waiting for the bus, it was on time, I boarded. I was pretty confident at first. We took a pretty familiar way behind Save-a-Lot and onto 43 (or 42, I can never remember which one it is for some reason) and onto 59 going in the right direction. Everything seemed fine until we got to the C Midway stop, which was KSU. Everyone had to get off; this was the interchange point. I thought that particular bus was going back to the depot for some reason, and asked how to get to the Kent Drug Mart down the street. The driver seemed a little confused. A fellow passenger told me to take the 30. So I hopped off that bus, which was the Suburban 40 line, and got onto the 30…the INTER urban line. I guess the man though I wanted Drug Mart in STOW. So I ended up going in the complete opposite direction and ended up going about a half hour out of my way. I knew exactly were I was at all times, as I’ve gone that way many times going back home. It just annoyed me that I got on the wrong bus. So we came all the way back around to KSU. There weren’t any other buses in that turn around at that point, and it was already 1:30. So I said screw it and I walked. It’s right down from campus, so it’s not like it put me out that much. But it was very cold, unusually and unseasonably cold considering how nice the two previous days where. I was sweaty from the walk, but cold from the weather. I made it just in time though.
I was only schedules until 8, but there was a mandatory meeting at 10 that night, so I just stayed around and had dinner and tried to rest. The meeting went until about 10:45 and Jane gave me a ride home. I called Chris and let him know I got home safely. Less than five minutes later, he frantically called me asking to come to the vet’s. Alerter was bleeding. I didn’t actually see the stain, but I’ve been told he the blood went through a pair of Christina’s pants, through the good blanket, through the top sheet, and into the mattress. So I threw some clothes on and rode with him to Akron. We got the cat into the 24-hour emergency surgery. Turns out, when he healed from getting fixed, he had a tiny pin-sized hole left in his skin. The cat is very OCD about licking and scratching himself (and pleasing himself when he still had all his pieces) and accidentally ripped himself open. We didn’t get home until around 2am. I was completely exhausted.
I still had to be up early though the next morning. While I was at work Wednesday the mechanic called me back saying there was nothing they could do with the car, not even the oil change. He referred me to a dealer, because according to his diagnosis, something in the computer was either in need of reprogramming or had shorted out, which was affecting the fuel injection system. So after I talked to the mechanic I called the dealer, who said it sounded like it was a load of bull and not a computer issue. It would be close to $80 just to have it looked at by the dealership. That wasn’t gonna fly either, especially if it was going to be another $40 to tow the damn thing. At my mother’s frantic suggestion I left a message for my uncle, who was my regular mechanic and knew my car. (Only reason I didn’t call him was because he’s in Cleveland and there’s no way I could have gotten the car towed there.) Chris made the choice to work from home that day so he could watch the cat, Christina took the Prias, and I took Christina’s old Grand AM, which has had a lot of the exact same troubles I’ve had, and is just slightly older than mine with a lot more miles on it. I came home around 8, went to the Haslage’s, and called my uncle back. I hate the phone on speaker, so Chris heard Uncle Bob’s reminding me of how the security system acted up before. You see, there’s some kind of strange anti-theft device programmed into the car’s computer. And every so often, it likes to think it’s being stolen when it’s not. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to reprogram the piece of shit afterwards. I can never get it to work right for me, and it really shouldn’t do that, especially since I had the onboard computer replaced.
After the call we had a discussion about how this car is just not worth it anymore. I completely agreed. I was tired of putting so much money into it at the worst times. Chris suggest that, if it costs too much to fix the car this time, I should trade it in for a Toyota. I don’t mind the idea of a Toyota, especially since they NEVER break. But I already have so many bills now, and even though I paid on the loan for the Grand AM, the paperwork was always in my father’s name, so it went on his credit report and not mine. I have been on my own for about a year, and so far I’m in good standing, so I may be able to get a decent price. I’m still unsure.
The real irony to all this is that just before the car broke down I was reading samples on a book about living car free and thinking about how much I did actually hate having a car and how much I wished I could walk to work (261 is just too dangerous) and all that stuff. Seriously, if I could get away with living without a car, I would. Hell, for how much I spent on that car, I could have gone to a state university for probably two years. And relying on public transport instead would not only be more economical, but it would make me more disciplined; I’d have to make extra effort to get my lazy ass out of bed at a certain time and get fully prepared and all that. The main draw back would be not having transport to visit Annie and Heather whenever I had the time and that it would affect what hours I could work potentially.
Today Chris stayed home and worked again. I took the other Grand AM and followed Christina to the mechanic. It needed a safety check. She drove me to Sheetz so I could get a hot chocolate and a quick sandwich, then I walked across the street to work. My shift was 9 to 5 today. Around 4:30, the Haslages show up. Chris looks all worried and says that Christina’s car is still in the shop and how would I get to work over the weekend without it. It didn’t faze me at all. There is a weekend schedule. I’d just have to get up super early to catch the right bus. But so be it, what other choice was there. Then he presents me with the key to my car. He told off the mechanic and tried my uncle’s trick and got it to start. I’m still not sure how he was able to get the mechanic to release my car to him. We’re all regular customers, so maybe the recognized that it was going to the right people. At the end of my shift I cautiously started my car. It sounded at first like it wasn’t going to make it, but it did start. I let it warm up for a little bit and made my way home. I went right to sleep because I’ve been so damn tired, and just got up a little while before starting this entry. I’m worried about tomorrow though. What if it happens again? I can never get the trick to work. I’ll get to get up and ready earlier just to make sure the damn thing actually starts. I can’t keep doing this.
Monday is my next day off. I think I’ll take Chris’ advice and got with him to the Toyota dealership and see what they can give me. I can’t deal with that car anymore. I still have mixed feelings about it. It has been difficult not having the convenience of transport at my fingertips. But it did keep me from making un-needed midnight runs to Giant Eagle for junk food. I have a family reunion next week, so I need a car. We’ll see how things go.
EDIT: Looks like my dreams of going car-less have been shattered. While I can get to work fine through PARTA during the week, there's not a single bus that goes past my place on the weekends. I will need to get that new car after all and just pray to God that I can afford it. Since Greg will mostly likely get a lot of weekends too, if he works nearly anywhere but the post office, he's screwed with the buses. We'll have to do some creative scheduling.