Talanic
2011-03-02, 08:55 PM
Ladies and gentlemen...it's been one of those years so far.
I'm fine with this threat just slipping down into oblivion if nobody wishes to respond; really, I'm just railing against my lot in life. Some of what I'm complaining about, I'm sure I earned. Other things just caught me out of left field.
I have a regular-ish job now, at least - a step up from this time last year. It's just pizza delivery but it's keeping the bills paid (barely), and my coworkers are great people. Problem is, it's hard on the car. We found this out the hard way when my 1996 Saturn started chewing through tires at the rate of about 1 1/2 per week, starting the first week of January. Turns out that a minor curb collision (the first day it snowed in December) had been more serious than I'd thought, and the engine cradle was bent - meaning, the car would never be in alignment again.
So, soldering on, I got a stock of used tires. Another $45 per week in expenses until I could get a tax return and fix/replace the car wasn't TOO bad, until the car wouldn't start.
We thought it was a frozen fuel line (yay Wisconsin!) but adding Iso-Heet didn't help. The car was stuck for a week (yay borrowed car for work - I have some really good friends, at least) before we realized that Saturns are just very stupid about starting when the temperature's under -10 F, and the oil pan had been flooded with gasoline. $80 or so and we were back on three of four cylinders.
So I spent the next three or four weeks trying to figure out what was wrong with the fourth cylinder. Last Wednesday, I pulled up to work, gassed up my car, and it died right at the gas pump. AFTER I filled it up, to add some insult to injury.
No problem. My tax return should've been processed by then, right? No. See, one of my employers (not the pizza place) tends to be an arse about money, and slacked off on getting W-2 forms out until the last days possible, at which point they were mailed from California, possibly via Tibet. The forms got to me, but way later than my plans had ever anticipated. I didn't get any cash until last Friday.
Fortunately, a great friend not only loaned me the cash, he found a suitable car - a 1995 Beretta. It looked a bit beaten up, but he and another friend (who races Berettas and does maintenance on them) gave it a fierce check-up before recommending the purchase - at $975, about half my total funds. I knew most of the rest would be needed to tune it up, but hoped that I could also get to a doctor and resume some prescriptions I've not had in over two years.
On Monday, the day I planned to bring the car in for a scan, I came down with the flu. No problem, I had three days off, and my wonderful fiancee took care of me. Besides, what could happen in a day or so?
Well, it probably wouldn't have mattered if I'd gotten the car in, as this morning, when dropping aforementioned fiancee off at class, the car started to run like utter crap. I barely got it home, and our best guess? A snapped cam shaft inside the engine.
That's...probably more money than I have.
On top of that, I'm trying to be a writer (you mighta guessed from the sig) and my success this year has been sharply limited. I entered the ABNA contest for the third year, only to be cut in the first round, and honestly, with the flu, I've been so feverish that I can't even focus on my writing this week. I try to stay positive about things, and I was considering offering my book for sale via createspace, but I'm starting to doubt whether or not anyone cares.
So yeah. Life stinks right now.
I do feel the need to enumerate my few advantages. I have a wonderful fiancee - who willingly contracted the flu while caring for me. I have some really good friends and family members who have my back even when the rest of the world seems to regard me as a speed bump.
Oh, and I have two cats.
Bring it on.
I'm fine with this threat just slipping down into oblivion if nobody wishes to respond; really, I'm just railing against my lot in life. Some of what I'm complaining about, I'm sure I earned. Other things just caught me out of left field.
I have a regular-ish job now, at least - a step up from this time last year. It's just pizza delivery but it's keeping the bills paid (barely), and my coworkers are great people. Problem is, it's hard on the car. We found this out the hard way when my 1996 Saturn started chewing through tires at the rate of about 1 1/2 per week, starting the first week of January. Turns out that a minor curb collision (the first day it snowed in December) had been more serious than I'd thought, and the engine cradle was bent - meaning, the car would never be in alignment again.
So, soldering on, I got a stock of used tires. Another $45 per week in expenses until I could get a tax return and fix/replace the car wasn't TOO bad, until the car wouldn't start.
We thought it was a frozen fuel line (yay Wisconsin!) but adding Iso-Heet didn't help. The car was stuck for a week (yay borrowed car for work - I have some really good friends, at least) before we realized that Saturns are just very stupid about starting when the temperature's under -10 F, and the oil pan had been flooded with gasoline. $80 or so and we were back on three of four cylinders.
So I spent the next three or four weeks trying to figure out what was wrong with the fourth cylinder. Last Wednesday, I pulled up to work, gassed up my car, and it died right at the gas pump. AFTER I filled it up, to add some insult to injury.
No problem. My tax return should've been processed by then, right? No. See, one of my employers (not the pizza place) tends to be an arse about money, and slacked off on getting W-2 forms out until the last days possible, at which point they were mailed from California, possibly via Tibet. The forms got to me, but way later than my plans had ever anticipated. I didn't get any cash until last Friday.
Fortunately, a great friend not only loaned me the cash, he found a suitable car - a 1995 Beretta. It looked a bit beaten up, but he and another friend (who races Berettas and does maintenance on them) gave it a fierce check-up before recommending the purchase - at $975, about half my total funds. I knew most of the rest would be needed to tune it up, but hoped that I could also get to a doctor and resume some prescriptions I've not had in over two years.
On Monday, the day I planned to bring the car in for a scan, I came down with the flu. No problem, I had three days off, and my wonderful fiancee took care of me. Besides, what could happen in a day or so?
Well, it probably wouldn't have mattered if I'd gotten the car in, as this morning, when dropping aforementioned fiancee off at class, the car started to run like utter crap. I barely got it home, and our best guess? A snapped cam shaft inside the engine.
That's...probably more money than I have.
On top of that, I'm trying to be a writer (you mighta guessed from the sig) and my success this year has been sharply limited. I entered the ABNA contest for the third year, only to be cut in the first round, and honestly, with the flu, I've been so feverish that I can't even focus on my writing this week. I try to stay positive about things, and I was considering offering my book for sale via createspace, but I'm starting to doubt whether or not anyone cares.
So yeah. Life stinks right now.
I do feel the need to enumerate my few advantages. I have a wonderful fiancee - who willingly contracted the flu while caring for me. I have some really good friends and family members who have my back even when the rest of the world seems to regard me as a speed bump.
Oh, and I have two cats.
Bring it on.