I'm not even halfway through paying off my new car and already it's being towed to have the engine worked on, since it won't start tonight. It didn't deal well with Kelly's camping event last weekend, coming home with creaking suspension and broken power locks, and now this. He's hoping all four tires (just replaced in the spring) make it through GooCon this time. I'm sure some random thing will happen next, like the paint will fall off.

Added bonus: Our TV stopped working tonight too. Our home is a happy place right now.


Three Replies to Who's Got (Car) Trouble

Jackie Mason | August 20, 2009
[hidden by author request]

Scott Hardie | August 20, 2009
Shared car. Thank goodness Kelly started a new job last week so we can pay for this. (I didn't mention that. I really need to blog more often.) There was a thunderstorm that probably explains the TV, and anything else we haven't discovered yet. We just had the apartment complex fix the broken A/C today, but that was free.

Amy Austin | August 20, 2009
Now that my truck is paid off, I am watching it slowly fall apart, too. Suspension is shot, power windows and locks have been failing for some time now, and yes, there actually is paint "falling off" now, too (a mystery spot on back door is chipping away -- don't know how it got there). Since I completely lack the funds to fix everything that needs it, and *still* would even with a job (the one I'm currently gunning for -- meter reader for the utility company -- will likely be a cut from what I get on unemployment... which is also getting quite uncomfortably depleted), and since continued disrepair only leads to further disrepair... there is no reason to expect anything other than the steady decline and eventual junking of my truck -- something that takes a lot of joy out of having a paid-off vehicle, to be sure.

If I could even remotely consider taking on a car payment (I can't even afford the insurance that I will have to start paying for once Ed drops me from the agreed-upon period of coverage), I might take advantage of the "cash for clunkers" program currently being used to bribe us into "stimulating" the auto industry. I fucking hate being unemployed and broke. And without any net whatsoever.


Logical Operator

The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Stun the Ghouls

Lately, I've been playing in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in a desert wasteland. My character Bartok is a pacifistic monk; he can fight but always seeks peaceful resolutions. Nugget and Sven are the other PCs. Go »

R.I.P. Russ

Twelve years after losing her mother, Kelly has now lost her father too. This loss was a quieter and tidier affair, partially due to Russ not wanting a funeral or wake, and partially due to his very strained relationship with Kelly in recent years. We waited a few days to work out the trip schedule, flew up there, had a nice little graveside gathering with immediate family and then lunch out, spent time seeing the old hometown and Russ's new adopted small town (oh how I don't miss driving for hours through corn fields to get literally anywhere in Illinois), and returned with lots of tasks for Kelly to do to resolve the estate. Go »

Screw Delta (Gotta Rant)

When I flew to Fargo a while back for Denise's wedding, I woke up at 2am to be out the door by 3am to get to Tampa by 4am to check in by 5am for a 6am flight. I stepped into the long Delta check-in line an hour and fifteen minutes before my flight, but I was concerned at the signs all over the place saying I would be turned away if I arrived less than an hour before the flight. Sure enough, it took me half an hour to get through the line, and the rude Delta clerk refused to let me on the plane even though I could easily make it to the gate in time. Go »

The Phoenix

This is the last of four weekly blog posts about diagnoses that have completely changed my life since the pandemic started, after The Dragon, The Tiger, and The Serpent. I saved the lightest one for last. Many people who discover later in life that they're neurodivergent have reported spending years aware of the symptoms and signs of their condition without ever considering that the description might apply to them, and when they do finally realize, it's as if a thousand mysteries are solved at once: Things that never made sense are all suddenly explained. Go »

Operation Chillax

Today begins a week-long vacation from work, my first break since GooCon last October. Well, not quite begins, since I still have more work to do tomorrow. But then I'm free! Go »

Overheard

"Back when I sold real estate, I used to touch up the houses myself. It was a tough market, there wasn't money to pay for it. Anyway, this one house, I have the damnedest time getting the color in the living room right. Go »

Happy anniversary!

Funeratic began today in 1996.