Hiatus

I haven't got anymore appointments for a week and a half now. My car needs a bunch of work. So I am going on hiatus. I must get some minimal work done on my car including changing the transmission fluid and filter, which has never been done and it's got 150,000 miles on it.

See I lost all of stuff in that last move, including ramps and the decent jack. It costs too much to have the stuff done in a shop. I don't remember how to do half those things but I have to figure it out. There is nothing I hate more than trying to lay on my back on the cement and work on a car, especially without the right tools and when I'm guessing at what I am doing. It needs front struts too, and I did change struts on other cars I had, using a borrowed spring compressor once and a home made one (C clamps) once. But I don't like doing those things.

I need to flush the coolant system and recharge the air conditioner gas. I keep crossing my fingers the timing chain won't break. The belts need changed again, but I can't do that because I can't even get my hands down in where the belts are. It's nuts the way cars are now. Every little thing you have to take them to the shop and who can really afford that? When I took it in two years ago, to have the rear shocks changed, belts changed and a few other things done, it was $500. I got told then my starter was going out. So far, it still starts, but it doesn't sometimes. That's kind of worrisome. It's one of those things I try not to think about, or I pretend it isn't so.

The fuel filter on this car is inside the gas tank, the mechanic I asked, told me. Can you believe that? So is the fuel pump. Fuel pump goes out, fuel filter clogs, and you have hundreds of dollars to pay to fix something that should be quick and minor.

I guess I can't complain too much. 150k miles and the only real problem I had was the one coil pack going out. And it still gets 31 mpg. Used to get more, before the ethanol crapola. More ethanol in the gas tank means you need more gallons to go the same miles. It's quite the little scam going down.

Anyhow, I'll be on hiatus starting tomorrow. I have to do something about the car stuff needing fixed. Like the electric drivers side window. It's shorted out. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. And that isn't great when it won't work and it's in the down position and the weather is freezing or I want to leave the car to go into a store.

I hate trying to fix a car. I really don't know much about it. I fake it, look for instructions on the net, and hope for the best.

I'm also wondering if I should scale back on the cat thing. Why? Because I'm sensitive to people calling anyone who helps cats crazy. I'm not sure why this hits a nerve. I'm not sure why people helping cats are called nuts when people who help dogs aren't. I'm not sure why people who help cats would be called nuts more so than someone obsessed with say some football team, or watching race cars go around and around a track for hours or who sit playing video games for hours on end or even who go help feed poor people in far away nations.

Certainly why would people who help cats be called nuts if compared to those who occupy a bar stool every night or sit mindlessly staring at their TV's or surfing the web.

If one wants to help cats, why the hell not? Why is selfishness such a cherished trait anyhow? It's not like this world has been kind to me, not like animals have been. So I guess I answered my own question. Screw humans and what they think. I can do what I want as long as I'm able to. People and their judgements can go play with themselves in the bathroom. Who the fuck cares?

I get all sorts of armchair advice. Most of it is mean. If a person isn't out there doing it or anything, then shut up. I don't think I'll try as hard to be nice. People are mean to me. I'm going to get mean right back.