Dear Diary . . . day by day

So, just as I'm borrowing a dime to make a call work (because pay phones are now 35 cents and all I had was two dimes and a nickel) my roommate Jen walks into the DMV. I knew she had to get new license plates soon, but what a coincidence that it happened to be the same day at the same time I was getting replacements (my number is only 3 higher than hers). Actually, she would've been gone by that point, but her old plates were rusted on and she was coming in for a bigger screwdriver. She offered me a ride home, I convinced her to follow me to the garage across the street (my car would make it those 3 blocks) and give me a lift to work, which was on the way (we were in El Cerrito, I work in Berkeley, which is just south of El Cerrito, and we live in Oakland, which is just south of Berkeley). So after putting my brand new plates on my sick car, we drove over.

Of course, the guys at Midas were very nice. Very helpful. Oh, it would cost $65 just to look at my car and figger out what's wrong, but, lucky you, we put that towards any repairs! Me, I was just wanting to get to work (I was cutting into Jenna's lunch, poor thing) so I locked my new club in the trunk, left the car there and told them to call me before they did anything.

I suppose I'll skip over the pleasant birthday party just as I skipped over Rhea and Ti-Fred's holiday redecorating surprise Friday morning. You're only getting the car thread...you'll hear the rest if I have time later today....

Anyhow, around 4pm the Midas guys call me. Oh, we wanna flush your radiator, replace the water cap, put in a new thermostat and replace your waterpump for only $495! Really? Well, let me call you back.

Judith saved me, in the end. Judith is a good friend to me, but when I'm in crisis mode, she automatically responds with a slight "mom mode" to focus me. She suggested I call my own mechanic and see how much he would charge for the same stuff. She reminded me I had AAA, and that they'd tow my car from garage to garage. A few phone calls and some more intervention by Judith (she explained to my boss) and I off work early, driving up to El Cerrito with Judith. She dropped me at Midas, where I called AAA, paid $45 (they knocked it down for me, how sweet) to release my car and waited for the tow truck. I heard lots of good Navy stories while I sat with the guys in the garage...

My tow-truck driver, John, and I had the most interesting conversation on the way to Oakland. We were stuck in rush-hour traffic (which is horrendous, but much better when you're not the one driving) and we were idly chatting and eventually we ended up discussing sex. No, he wasn't at all creepy or coming on to me or any of that (I wouldn't have indulged in that sort of conversation if he had been), he was just frankly talking about his sex life with me. I gave him a few tips on oral sex (to use on his wife) and he told me the best stories about the sex industry in Thailand and other countries (he was in the Air Force years ago). Some of that stuff I'd never heard of before, which surprised me. By the time we got to my garage in Oakland, he turned to me and said, "Heather, that was the most interesting conversation I've ever had while towing someone's car!" He was so nice, I managed to get a ride home from him, too.

Oh, yeah, so my mechanic thinks it'll be around $300. The catch is that it is now Monday and I still don't have my car back. My mechanic is good and cheap, but he's also hella busy and sometimes keeps your car for quite some time. Which is usually ok, 'cept I'm leaving my house at 5:45am tomorrow to catch an 8am flight to Indy for the holidays. Which wouldn't matter, 'cept I've got that frickin' "fix-it" ticket, which requires me to get me, my ticket, a police officer and my newly re-license plated car all in one place, and my car is locked up in downtown Oakland.

Anyhow, there are no new car trauma stories, mainly because I don't have it around right now. I don't trust my current car karma. Yesterday, David let me borrow his car for the afternoon to run errands, and he had parked on a hill, facing down. I had to back the car up to get out of the spot, and I kept trying and trying but I was so afraid I'd crash the car I ended up nosed up against the car in front of me. I turned the car off and cried. David came back down the hill and talked me through it. Usually I can drive his car just fine (and I was fine after that part of it), but I was so afraid something bad would happen I just couldn't feel the clutch take at all.

Anyhow. I may update later today and tell you some of the good stuff that's been going on. If I have time, that is. Like I said, I'm leaving tomorrow for Indianer, so you probably won't hear from me until next Monday night or Tuesday. Have a Merry Solstice everyone, and don't forget to go outside on the 22nd and see the brightest full moon in 133 years!