ok, what could have possibly happened to the day between the memory of yesterday and the actual events that took place on on the date in the time concerned therein represented by the term the day before today (which might very well be yesterday if you were sitting on it right now)...

after nodding in the big green chair for a very brief couple of hours, I wake to find a new day has begun and among my choices are crawl to the bed that seduces my brain as well as any turn on fantasy might be imagined or take care of the business of functioning in the world out there, which today would include ascertaining the reason or reasons a certain car registered to me is not starting and curing whatever may ail said vehicular conveyance...

but first, I wake Precious who appears to have overslept on her first day back to school... she emerges with eyes that clearly are too foggy to see herself making it through the day out in the world and chooses to deal with whatever consequences there may be involved in missing this said first day back to school... this might also give her time to catch up on sleep she missed due to staying up past 3AM in an attempt to complete homework projects assigned last semester and further, time to finish doing her laundry, actually complete said home work assignments, and surely watch another half season of Friends since the DVDs need to be returned to the library in a few days... priorities, you know (and just whom is sticking who's tongue out at whom, you might ask?... well just remember what happened to Kevin when he was left home alone)...

and let that be a lesson to you...

so after some attempts at sending parental vibs out into the space and sensing the calculations have carefully been plotted on the academic chart, pros and cons weighed, and motion sickness was not at fault, I left dear Precious to her own devices and conscience (and extra sleep) to I set out on my task to find out why my little red car (not quite a little red corvette, but a Chevy nonetheless) was also not waking up on the right side of the bed this morning...

after considering my most viable options, I called (it may be time to give names to my coworkers as we associate more frequently outside of work and they are references in these rambles more often than ever before... could a cast page be far behind?) the car dealership where I purchased the car two years ago this month and sought information... see, I received a letter from the official manufacturer, GM, telling me that a certain part needed replacing... they call it a recall... and since the car would not start and the certain part was in the ignition system, I allowed for the possibility that the two pieces of information might be related... you might wonder what this has to do with naming my co-workers... nothing, actually, that parentheses was premature, but hang on, we'll get to it...

the selling dealership was, as I suspected, not an authorized dealer to do authorized servicing on the car they sold me so I was left with the option of paying for something that I could get for free or choosing another dealership that was authorized... noticing there were no authorized dealerships in this general area (which is odd as the Cheverolet is one of the most popular brands in this country), I found two authorized dealerships about equidistant and chose the one near a co-worker's apartment as opposed to the one near where I purchased the car... this is because, in spite of the hope that foresight and initial investment would pay off, the four figure sum I paid the selling dealership for a maintenance plan was, for all intensive purposes, a waste of time and money and I do not recommend I do it again... if I remember next time...

so anyway, I called Bert (who will hitherto be known as Bert Stein in these pages), one of my co-workers, to see if our tentative plan that involved me sitting at his roommate's computer copying many gigabytes of music could be placed into action today (since Bert lives within walking distance of one of the Chevy dealerships)... Bert was over at Berry White's apartment (a second co-worker, who is actually a year senior to Bert on the job and the person I count on most to do everything so well she deserves much fish and other accolades, but is mentioned second without prejudice here simply because she doesn't have the roommate with the gigs of music), helping her move some stuff to her new apartment (which reminds me that my phone will be rining tomorrow morning to wake me to head over to help Berry move her furniture... sleep would be wise... soon)...

reaching Bert at Berry's, we come to the conclusion that I can hang at his place and burn music all day and he'd be happy to pick me up at the dealership when he got through helping Berry today... so now that I've chosen a dealer for the car, I contemplete how to get the car to the dealer... and I consider trying a battery boost... I have Rasputin's car, but no jumper cables... I consider calling my emergency road service, but check with the apartment offices first and what do you know, they actually provide jumper cables and a boost as part of the extra perks that come with just living at this address...

so while I might have been better off setting out a few hours earlier, I am happy to find my little red car starts and I head over to the dealer... along the way I decide, as impulsively as anything else I might do, to stop at an auto parts store and ask them to connect their diagnostic computer to my car and see if they come up with any information that might help me keep the dealer costs down, especially since I have had an engine light on for a few weeks and had been meaning to do something like this since the light went on...

low and behold, the computer says the car has two emission system malfunctions... now having seen Short Circuit and it's sequels many times (and having paid close attention to the technical terms), I understood all too well that malfunction was not a good thing for a computer to be telling me... but so far, no charge, no foul...

a new air filter was suggested by Jose, the guy at the auto parts store who connected the computer to my car... since I had not replaced the air filter in the two years I owned the car and it is a part that ought to be replaced on a regular basis as needed, I bought a new air filter... jose was kind enough find the part, grab a screwdriver, and put it in for me...

of course the car would not start up again once I turned it off, so out came the battery tester/charger... and low and behild, the car still had it's factory installed five year battery and said battery was not about to start it's sixth's year, so yes, I will take your best battery for an extra ten dollars, thank you...

we were wet with anticipation as Jose hooked the computer back up to the car after replacing the air filter and the battery and the car started right up and what's this, no malfuntion, Stephanie, Johnny Five is alive...

yes, that's right (well, metaphorically, at least), the little red car had no malfunctions, the engine light was off, and it was ready to go zooming around in whatever direction I pointed it... I thanked Jose with a handshake and smile and a tip (he seemed surprised, but pleased) and set off to the dealer confident that I'd saved a bundle of money and feeling very good about my impulses and instincts...

the dealer was happy to serve, said there'd be no charge for the factory recall replacement part or service, so I went for a complete oil change cuz they were having a special and it was only a few dollars more than the usual oil change I get when I get my oil changed... saves time, and takes care of the car...

it's almost noon so I call precious to wake her as sleeping too much will throw her sleep pattern off and that's not what a growing teen who is in especially challenging gifted programs at school needs... she sounds happy that I am checking up on her and I encourage her to nurture herself today while she gets her work done and she agrees, so i continue along with my day...

I reach Bert, who is still at Berry's, and he heads over to pick me up... while waiting I read another few chapters of the fourth Harry Potter book and long for more reading time (or at least friends like that and a life filled with magic and excitement and adventure, however on a slightly more mature level so some love-making and sensual fantasies might be part of the story... and suddenly I am missing Heinlein again, but that's another horse)...

Bert arrives and we head to his place where he and his dog and his roommate (who, we find out, was born on a date that is two days after the date upon which I was born) engage in stimulating conversation about this and that and other things until his roommate has to leave for work and Bert has to get some sleep and I have to burn CDs...

25 CDs later (and a major league thunderstorm that wakes Bert and his faithful dog for a few minutes), I have more than 15 gigs of music (in mp3 format) and suddenly I realize I am one huge step closer to returning to music and can I get any more excited? (well, I suppose I could, if the right person walked through the door, for instance, but all fantasies aside this was a breakthrough day for the rebuilding of a life project I am supposed to be in the midst of these days... years, yeah, I know... blame it on Toronto - cue song)....

and come around to evening and I drive home in a car that starts right up and goes happily vroom with my audio treasure and a wonderful sense of wellness... naturally Precious is watching Friends, though she claims her homework is up to date and she feels better and is ready for school in the morning... we do separate dinners since I have some pizza left from yesterday and she finished hers at lunch and the highlight was dessert, which was ice cream for her (throat must be feeling much better) and some new procudt called Chocolate Decadence put out under the Sam's Choice brand (Wally Mart's own)... and decadent it is as I am still feeling the sugar rush hours later... another piece of chocolate heaven I recommend only to experienced chocoholics in carefully measured doses...

so we come to now and I am just waking from a brief nap in the big green chair to recant the tale of the day just lived to you here in this diary... a wonderful day that began with frustrating challenges and carried through stormy adventures, leaps of faith, impulsive decisions, and the comradery of friends (sounds a little like the stories I love to read) and concludes with a storybook happy ending (except for the they part wherein they lived happily ever after, but at least for today, I can say I lived happily ever after and hope for more for tomorrow...

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)