*sigh*
Well. I had an interesting evening yesterday.
Mom and I went to see GoF again, and I now have another rant brewing about morons who bring little children to films with scary things in them. The woman sitting next to me had obviously seen the movie already, as she kept telling her kids to watch for upcoming things- so why in the hell did she bring them? The younger one got freaked out by the dragons, and I thought, ohh boy, wait till they see what happens later on.
Stupid people, I swear...
So we came out of the movie chatting about the parts of it we'd liked, and stuff that was still really funny the second time around... and we looked for our car. It's after dark, a bit cold, and neither of us brought jackets.
No car.
Now, we're famous for not remembering exactly where we parked it, and we're usually only a row or two off. But we knew which section of the parking lot we'd parked in, between the mall and the movie theater. So we searched it. A couple of times, even way over by the mall where we knew we hadn't parked. I remember because we'd thought, it being that obscene day after Thanksgiving and a huge shopping day, it'd be packed, but as we were pulling down a row, someone came out and we were able to get a good spot.
Well, I'm sure there was something in that nice good spot, but...
...no '89 Toyota.
We live in the car theft capital of the nation- we trade off honors with Newark, New Jersey, and we're tops this year. Go us. And the '89 Camery is one of the most stolen cars on the planet. This car has in fact been stolen before, from in front of my grandparents' place, before we bought it from great-grandpa. It came back that time, obviously. And this mall isn't the greatest place- it's not quite in a bad area of town, but real close to some areas that are, and, well, I hate to say it, but it's one of those places where sometimes we can be walking through, and be two of the few white people there, and people look at you like you're the only white people there, and this is a problem for them. There are lots of guys who are just hanging around, looking like trouble, and we tend to avoid the place on Friday nights.
After dark, the parking lot creeps me the fuck out. So I was kinda anxious to get out of there. We went into the mall to call my grandparents, who weren't home. Sigh. So we thought, no problem, the malls' a big transfer station for the bus systems, everything stops there, we'll just catch the bus I take home from school, and be close to home.
So we're sitting there, and we're sitting there, and we're not seeing any busses, and this is freaking me out, because since every bus in the city stops there, all directions, it's usually packed. We thought we were okay though, since there was a family waiting in the next bench. Until they came over and asked us if we were waiting for a bus, then told us the busses stopped running a while ago.
We thought they were just being obnoxious- let's pull the white chicks' legs and all, wouldn't be the first time around there, sorry to say- until a car pulled into the bus stop and they got in.
We went back to the mall, and tried my aunt and uncle, even though they're both sick and we hadn't wanted to bother them. No answer there, either. I figure they went back to bed and turned the ringer off. It's what I would've done.
So we're at the mall, and it's almost 9:00 now, we've been looking for the car and waiting for a bus that wasn't coming for at least an hour and a half. They're closing the stores in the mall, and pretty soon the mall will be closing.
We called a taxi and waited around nervously by the doors till it showed up. I was afraid we'd get some scary guy who I would not want to give directions to my house, but we got a very chatty lady. A bit strange, but she told us all about the people she'd driven to the Gwen Stafani concert that night, and it wasn't too bad. She even suggested giving us a receipt for the cab fare, in case the insurance would reimburse us for it, which I hadn't even thought of.
So we finally got home, and Mom called the police to phone in a report. We get so many stolen cars in this town that they don't even come out to take the report anymore. They said they'd sent out a car to check the lot again in case we'd just missed it, and they'd call us back. Not surprisingly, there was no car. So they tried to take the report. Apparently the system that lets them do that from their cars wasn't working in theirs, so they had to drive back to the station and call us back again. I gave up trying to stay awake and went to bed as Mom was finally getting the report done.
She called the insurance company this morning. It has to be gone 48 hours before they'll pay for a rental car, which may or may not be in time for Monday morning, depending. Thankfully my grandparents will loan us one of their cars if we need it, so we don't have to deal with one of my uncle's Rancheros. The grandparents have a spare car now because they bought a new one after theirs recently got stolen, only to have the old one come back.
I'm kind of not expecting that to happen for us. We just bought gas for the Toyota, so if they just stole it for a joyride, it'll take 'em a bit to run it down. My theory, though, is that they stole it for parts, and if the cops ever find it, they're going to find what's left of it.
I know we've said a time or two- okay, maybe more often than that- that we wouldn't miss the car if it went away. Which is true, but neither of us were thinking about being stranded at that mall on a Friday night, in the cold, with the busses not running. (And later for them, speaking of- they were on the weekend schedule, which stops running around 7:00, because it was the day after Thanksgiving. Which was not posted on the bus I rode Wednesday, even though the 'no service on Thanksgiving' bit was. They're gonna hear about this, I think...)
The only good news, if there's good news here, is that we didn't have anything really valuable in the car. Just one of the two garage door opener controls we got, and the registration paperwork in the glove box. Which has our address on it, eek. No proof of insurance, though- since I don't drive, Mom carries that stuff with her.
I think what really pisses me off about this is that it got us stranded someplace kinda creepy after dark. The timing sucked, and it was cold. It could've been worse, of course- it had looked like it might rain Friday, but only sprinkled a bit before we went into the movie.
I keep thinking this is my fault, because I was the one who had really wanted to see GoF again, but Mom was all for it, too, and she keeps telling me not to worry about it. I still sort of do, though.
But GoF was definitely worth a second viewing. *nodnod*
Mom and I went to see GoF again, and I now have another rant brewing about morons who bring little children to films with scary things in them. The woman sitting next to me had obviously seen the movie already, as she kept telling her kids to watch for upcoming things- so why in the hell did she bring them? The younger one got freaked out by the dragons, and I thought, ohh boy, wait till they see what happens later on.
Stupid people, I swear...
So we came out of the movie chatting about the parts of it we'd liked, and stuff that was still really funny the second time around... and we looked for our car. It's after dark, a bit cold, and neither of us brought jackets.
No car.
Now, we're famous for not remembering exactly where we parked it, and we're usually only a row or two off. But we knew which section of the parking lot we'd parked in, between the mall and the movie theater. So we searched it. A couple of times, even way over by the mall where we knew we hadn't parked. I remember because we'd thought, it being that obscene day after Thanksgiving and a huge shopping day, it'd be packed, but as we were pulling down a row, someone came out and we were able to get a good spot.
Well, I'm sure there was something in that nice good spot, but...
...no '89 Toyota.
We live in the car theft capital of the nation- we trade off honors with Newark, New Jersey, and we're tops this year. Go us. And the '89 Camery is one of the most stolen cars on the planet. This car has in fact been stolen before, from in front of my grandparents' place, before we bought it from great-grandpa. It came back that time, obviously. And this mall isn't the greatest place- it's not quite in a bad area of town, but real close to some areas that are, and, well, I hate to say it, but it's one of those places where sometimes we can be walking through, and be two of the few white people there, and people look at you like you're the only white people there, and this is a problem for them. There are lots of guys who are just hanging around, looking like trouble, and we tend to avoid the place on Friday nights.
After dark, the parking lot creeps me the fuck out. So I was kinda anxious to get out of there. We went into the mall to call my grandparents, who weren't home. Sigh. So we thought, no problem, the malls' a big transfer station for the bus systems, everything stops there, we'll just catch the bus I take home from school, and be close to home.
So we're sitting there, and we're sitting there, and we're not seeing any busses, and this is freaking me out, because since every bus in the city stops there, all directions, it's usually packed. We thought we were okay though, since there was a family waiting in the next bench. Until they came over and asked us if we were waiting for a bus, then told us the busses stopped running a while ago.
We thought they were just being obnoxious- let's pull the white chicks' legs and all, wouldn't be the first time around there, sorry to say- until a car pulled into the bus stop and they got in.
We went back to the mall, and tried my aunt and uncle, even though they're both sick and we hadn't wanted to bother them. No answer there, either. I figure they went back to bed and turned the ringer off. It's what I would've done.
So we're at the mall, and it's almost 9:00 now, we've been looking for the car and waiting for a bus that wasn't coming for at least an hour and a half. They're closing the stores in the mall, and pretty soon the mall will be closing.
We called a taxi and waited around nervously by the doors till it showed up. I was afraid we'd get some scary guy who I would not want to give directions to my house, but we got a very chatty lady. A bit strange, but she told us all about the people she'd driven to the Gwen Stafani concert that night, and it wasn't too bad. She even suggested giving us a receipt for the cab fare, in case the insurance would reimburse us for it, which I hadn't even thought of.
So we finally got home, and Mom called the police to phone in a report. We get so many stolen cars in this town that they don't even come out to take the report anymore. They said they'd sent out a car to check the lot again in case we'd just missed it, and they'd call us back. Not surprisingly, there was no car. So they tried to take the report. Apparently the system that lets them do that from their cars wasn't working in theirs, so they had to drive back to the station and call us back again. I gave up trying to stay awake and went to bed as Mom was finally getting the report done.
She called the insurance company this morning. It has to be gone 48 hours before they'll pay for a rental car, which may or may not be in time for Monday morning, depending. Thankfully my grandparents will loan us one of their cars if we need it, so we don't have to deal with one of my uncle's Rancheros. The grandparents have a spare car now because they bought a new one after theirs recently got stolen, only to have the old one come back.
I'm kind of not expecting that to happen for us. We just bought gas for the Toyota, so if they just stole it for a joyride, it'll take 'em a bit to run it down. My theory, though, is that they stole it for parts, and if the cops ever find it, they're going to find what's left of it.
I know we've said a time or two- okay, maybe more often than that- that we wouldn't miss the car if it went away. Which is true, but neither of us were thinking about being stranded at that mall on a Friday night, in the cold, with the busses not running. (And later for them, speaking of- they were on the weekend schedule, which stops running around 7:00, because it was the day after Thanksgiving. Which was not posted on the bus I rode Wednesday, even though the 'no service on Thanksgiving' bit was. They're gonna hear about this, I think...)
The only good news, if there's good news here, is that we didn't have anything really valuable in the car. Just one of the two garage door opener controls we got, and the registration paperwork in the glove box. Which has our address on it, eek. No proof of insurance, though- since I don't drive, Mom carries that stuff with her.
I think what really pisses me off about this is that it got us stranded someplace kinda creepy after dark. The timing sucked, and it was cold. It could've been worse, of course- it had looked like it might rain Friday, but only sprinkled a bit before we went into the movie.
I keep thinking this is my fault, because I was the one who had really wanted to see GoF again, but Mom was all for it, too, and she keeps telling me not to worry about it. I still sort of do, though.
But GoF was definitely worth a second viewing. *nodnod*