i fixed the goddamn stereo in the car

but it took me way too long, i had to do an exhaustive research on the internets, and i had to deal with a very polite juggalo TWICE at the auto zone down the road.  i also beat the shit out of my hand prying the damn fuses out, one by one, so i could figure out which one had blown.  it was worth it though, because tomorrow i will be spending a lot of time in my car driving to portland, and i can't listen to my thoughts for more than 15 minutes before i go bat-shit crazy. 

whew.  after all that work i need a sandwich. 

unfixable

the insurance company called me today and declared that it would be way too expensive to fix my car, so they want to cut me a check. the collision place (which i highly recommend!) had warned me of this the other day, and i'd done some research and decided that there was no way i was letting them give me less than $5,000. which means i thought i would get $4,000. lucky for me, i was seriously wrong, and i actually got more than 5. how much more i won't say (because we all know that's gauche) but DAMN. this is the first time i've dealt with a car insurance company that didn't leave me feeling like i'd assumed the position and they'd picked my pockets. score!

tonight we went to mom's house to pick up my pop's old truck. D had wanted to borrow it anyway to move some stuff around, and we thought if we went tonight we could make sure it was running. it's a good thing we did, too: it needed a new battery. the idea is that we can use the truck while we decide what to do with D's car and the insurance check. we have a few options; i can use the insurance to make both of our cars tip-top and save the rest, use it on just D's car (which needs a new windshield and some suspension work), we can sell D's car and i can buy myself a new (old) honda, or i can actually drive the truck and D's car can just stay like it is. either way, we probably won't end up spending all of the insurance money on cars, and i will be able to use the rest to pay off my bankruptcy early and maybe put some away.

i'm glad everything so far has worked out, and if you can get insurance through USAA i would say, do it. they were crazy nice and awesome, and i am so impressed by how well they handled the situation i'd switch over to them if i could. that being said, i'm sad my car is smooshed and off to auction, it's weird seeing my dad's truck on the road, and i am very tired from running around all night getting things set up. i should have been in bed a while ago, but find myself *up* so i might need some time to read before hitting the hay. what a strange week it's been!

a few hippie things

• we're going to give up buying paper towels. yes, they are handy and useful and all that, but they are also wasteful and expensive. there is no shortage of kitchen towels in this house, and so we're going to start using them more.
• there has been talk lately about us becoming a one car family. this scares the shit out of me for a few reasons, but the idea of spending less on gas, insurance and maintenance is pretty compelling. we could also use the small amount of money we got from selling one of the cars for savings and to get us out of some debt. nothing is set in stone yet, but it feels good to consider our options.
• D got some books about making his own awesome bikes, a lá atomic zombie, and now all we can talk about are making recumbent, low-rider, chopper bikes. (and trikes! i want a trike for shopping.)
• as always, we're trying to cut back on tv as well. i know, "why don't you just cancel the cable?" honestly? sometimes i really like watching tv. i have a few shows i really dig, and i like being able to knit/embroider/veg in front of the box on occasion. i guess i'm just trying to keep it all in moderation, and so far it's going okay.
  

civic pride

we all know i love my car; while i miss my old school honda civic, the rocket, all the time, my new little civic is a nice car. (before i missed the rocket i missed my dear abby.) we get along well, she doesn't use a ton of gas, she's zippy when she needs to be, and a lovely shade of deepest plum. unlike civics of old, though, she's got all sorts of niggling little things going all wrong, all at once. my weatherstripping seems to be shot and has actually developed a leak (!), and the condensation on the windows in the morning is hellish. i actually had to buy some of those humidity suckers to hang up to make it bearable! both the passenger and driver's side automatic windows are also starting to get fussy. don't try rolling your window down if it's too cold, because it won't roll back up! they've gotten stuck a few times, and i had to gently wiggle them upward with my hand while trying to flip the switch to start the motor. i'm pretty sure if not this year, then soon, i'm going to need a new timing belt. last year i bought two new tires because of the snow and because they were too worn down, but i still have two tires that also need to be replaced. the upholstery over the rear seats is beginning to pull away from the ceiling. i starting thinking today about all the things that need to be done and felt like hyperventilating. i know i just have to work on things one at a time, and in the order of most importance, but damn! i hate to say it, but i feel like hondas were built sturdier back in the day. this is the first car i've ever had that was born after the year 2000, and it has more stupid little things wrong than all my older, trashy cars. or maybe it's just different stuff and while i'm irritated now by the dampness in my car, i do remember my youth and driving around with a flashlight because my dashboard wouldn't light up or the car whose solenoid i constantly had to tap gently or else it wouldn't start. maybe i'm just too old to find potential hazards funny like i used to. either way, i'm going to need to hunt down some weatherstripping because the rainy season has begun and i'm not so sure Moldy Carpet will go well with the Peachy Peach scent.

like pea soup

i grew up in fog, it was one of the charming things about living on an island. most mornings were foggy, and many nights as well. some days the fog would stick around into the early afternoon, and that was really the only time the fog was commented on. i remember reading a horror novel as a kid once where fog featured prominently and it scared me, a lot.

on an island, the fog comes from the ocean. in colorado, where the hell does it come from? there are no great bodies of water to give it off, i can't look at the sky and know it's on its way, it totally confuses me. tonight of course, day 2 of my learning to drive stick epic, the inscrutable colorado fog showed up making it impossible to see past my headlights for part of my drive home. also, one of the quirks of the rocket is that the lights where all the important dash stuff is (speed, gas, etc) doesn't always come on right away. if the rocket is cold, it might take five minutes for them to show. not such a big deal most of the time, but tonight when i started my drive it wasn't that foggy and then about five minutes into it i couldn't see anything ahead of me, and still couldn't see how fast i was going for another few minutes. i can't blame the rocket, how did it know it was going to be so damn foggy when i didn't? the great thing about being in a stick is that i knew which gear i was in, and therefore about how fast i was going, but there was a good three minutes of my drive home tonight that were sheer white-knuckle terror. not being able to see anything is not good. this is especially true when you are an unsure driver. i kind of feel 19* everytime i get into this car.

i managed to make it home, though, and i even took the freeway. i'm feeling more comfortable every minute i drive, and am thinking that by next week i'll feel like taking more adventurous drives, like ones that involve hills. thank god i didn't have to learn this back home. also, i altered my picture of the rocket, and here it is:


*i did not learn to drive until i was 19 and did not get a car until 21. i am a slowpoke.

my chariot awaits

it's not fancy, it's not pretty, and it came with its own name (the rocket) and i love it. it is definitely a boy car, i'm not sure how i know, but i do. abby and dottie were most certainly ladies, but this car is a boy. maybe a teenage boy. a sweet one, before he gets all angsty and starts listening to a lot of lamb of god and hating girls because they don't understand him.

viva le rocket!

in other news, not only did i learn how to drive a stick yesterday but i also did my taxes. take that, life dumping shit on me. i will prevail! i shake my tiny fist of fury at you! my taxes are done and the money is on its way!

this accident came at an awful time, what with the new move and my not having any money in savings or on my cards to use, but at the same time tax season was right around the corner and the rocket was just waiting for a new owner. the initial stress is gone, i slept last night without having horrible dreams and waking up every few hours to freak out silently in the dark, and even though i have some work ahead of me, i feel more confident than i have in a long while. maybe this signals a new era, the "amanda learned how to be a grown-up" year(s). who knows.

I WON

dude! i can drive a stick! not great, and i did stall in at an intersection, but i can drive it and i got home all in one piece and I LOVE THIS CAR. not because it's amazing or fast or fancy, not because it's pretty or is going to help me get a cute boy, but because it's small, good on gas, runs and is mine. i can get to work without worrying or trying to bum a ride (which is hard in the middle of nowhere colorado), i will have some time to get a plan and money together, i can maybe get some sleep and who knows; maybe in some ways this accident was a good thing. i would have never learned to drive stick otherwise, and it has kind of made me realize that as far as being prepared goes i have some work to do.

plus, i have a new car to put bumper stickers on. once i put a peachy-peach air freshener into the rocket, and a glow-in-dark mary, it will truly be mine.

whooo!!! i feel like a genius, even though a whole lot of people know how to drive a stick already. i'm one of them now! i rule!

shit bags

friday i got paid. that was yesterday, and the amount of money in my checking account at that moment almost made it hard to breathe. i got my very first grown-up commission check and it was massive. i kept checking the account to hear the amount in there, i kept thinking about all the things i could do with all that money, i just looked at my balance lovingly and thought good thoughts.

of course, life has a way of spending your money before you get to do anything actually cool with it. today i put new tires on my car, something i'd been meaning to do since i moved out here, but which i realized i desperately needed halfway through skidding into a 180 on ice in my car. sitting there, with my car pointed the very wrong way, not able to get it to move forward because i was stuck in the snow i thought, "hmmm...guess i put that off too long." all the careful driving in the world cannot compensate for tires without tread. when all was said and done my tires cost about $500. i didn't want the cheapest tires, and i didn't want the most expensive ones, and with all the other dicks out there buying tires there wasn't much in the way of middle ground. i could have spent less, but sometimes you get what you pay for and truth be told i haven't put new tires on my car in years so i knew i was going to have to suck it up. driving home this afternoon was a dream; my car handled beautifully and i knew i did the right thing. it was hard to say goodbye to all that money, but not dying in my car is worth it.