obliviousally_lj | Entries tagged with car

Today was an...interesting day.

About a week or two back, whenever we were out driving around last, we ran over this huge-ass rock that clunked up into the back bumper area of the car. Nothing went awful when it happened, just a loud, noise, so we didn't think much of it. Until today, of course, when we're heading up to Ravenna for Tony's therapist appointment and we get up to Walmart and there's this scraping sound as we're driving. First assumption, the rock did a number on the muffler.

So we pull into the plaza and I get out to investigate things.

Turns out the muffler strap was rusted on the one side and, when we hit the rock, it broke the strap and the lower half of it was just dangling around under the car. Lovely. I couldn't do anything about it at that moment, because everything by the muffler was still hot.

So we walk over to Walmart to find something to jury-rig it with. We end up, after awhile of wandering to find proper tools (in this case, an adjustable wrench - which I needed anyhow - and wire cutters) and some galvanized wire. I ended up lacing the wire through a small hole in the end of the muffler (one that was already there, as part of the muffler design) and bungee-ing it to the trunk. It holds well enough for now and it's not like it's the worst looking car in town.

My real ingeniousness comes from the fact that I needed something to hook the loose piece of the strap to (since it's welded on in a spot and I couldn't get the bottom piece off). I ended up tearing apart an old cell phone holder with a belt strap so I could use the strap part to, essentially, clip the loose piece to the bumper of the car.

The drive home was fine, which is good. We're still going to need to replace the muffler strap and I'm SO thankful that a new strap is only around $10. It shouldn't be too difficult to switch out and, worst case scenario, I can ask the neighbors for help.

Slightly off topic, I was really surprised that NO ONE in the parking lot asked what we were doing/what was wrong/if we needed any help while I was half under the car fighting with things. I don't know if it was just Ravenna or what, but it was kind of weird.

In other news, Sammy cat has a cold. I believe his nose it actually chapped and it's not his acne spreading. His acne has actually disappeared for the moment. But he was all kinds of miserable the other day, spent the entire day in my lap and just waited in my chair when I had to get up and do things. So I've been putting him in the bathroom in the evenings with wet food (because he can't smell the other food) and the warm heater. He's been cool with it and, generally, when I wake him up, he's in much better spirits than he is in the evening. Actually trotting around with his tail up and purring and kneading me.

I discovered today that the kitten, Finnick, will wear clothes. I was putting one of Jem's stupid shirts on him and I threw one on Finnick and he didn't even bat an eye. Wore it for quite a few hours before rolling around out of it while he was in the bathroom eating his kitten food. Now he's sleeping on my mousepad.

I gave Tony his second testosterone shot today. I am...not very good at it. I did it right the first time, but I didn't think I'd actually got it in because his skin indented. So I was an asshole and pulled back, pulling the needle out. Herp derp. Then it was difficult the second try to get in. I AM NOT GOOD WITH NEEDLES. I'll get better though, I was just really nervous and I have this subconscious thing with needles where something in me gets faint-feeling and I don't like it.

In other, other news, I haven't been drawing and it's been butts. Everything just looks the same, same faces, same poses, same stupid lines on the same stupid paper. It's frustrating. I need to branch out, try something new, maybe go back to a more simplistic style, don't be afraid to draw dumb shit.

I've been planning for NaNoWriMo. Sort of. Kind of. I still don't have a solid plot line. I think it's a lot because I want to start/end the story with one specific scene and the rest is full of flashbacks and such. I guess, considering where I'm starting/ending the story, the whole bulk is technically a flashback. But, ah, the incidents leading up to the climax, I suppose. The ~foreplay~ of the story, I shall call it. I have, like, three pages (in my little notebook, so that really isn't a lot) of questions to myself on how things happen and why they happen the way they do. Stuff that's plot holes at the moment and need filled with some kind of bullshittery. But if people are interested, my NaNo account is obliviousally and my NaNo tumblr is lace around the wound. I'm still not sure what to categorize my novel as yet, though. Horror/Supernatural? Adventure? Mystery/Thriller/Suspense? UGH. Choices.

Aside from all that, I've been dicking around roleplaying and making forum graphics between putting in applications and laughing at how little work there is in the immediate area. My life is so exciting, I know.

Oh, and I made this for my web design class (there's more to it, you can click through to see the full page):

We did laundry with Angie on Monday and, basically, spent a few hours dicking around, lulzing about character stuff, and starting some Superwho shenanigans.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Kent, OH

Okay. New day.

Yesterday, we were getting ready to leave and TJ comes up and informs me that the battery is dead in the car. Lovely.

So I call Danielle to run me up to Autozone to get a new battery. The employee there suggests getting a jump starter because the battery could've just died because we left a door slightly open. And if we buy a battery, install it, and something happens, we can't return it. I figured this was a good idea and maybe the battery was just a bit dead instead of fully dead.

So I got the jump starter.

Got in a fight with TJ about getting the battery and not the starter and the fact that we couldn't go out last night, so I retreated downstairs to sleep on the couch and listen to music while the jump starter was charging.

Got called back upstairs around 4AM because TJ was having the night terrors again. Went back to sleep.

When I got up this morning, I tried the starter after a full charge. Nothing. Called my mom to double check I was doing it right. Nothing. Laaame.

So now we're waiting for Rob to swing by so I can get a new battery (and a damn wrench because none of the ones I have are the right size).

What a pain in the ass. At least it happened while I have money. But of course it would happen when I have money. Lame. It didn't even show any signs of the battery dying, either. We were out on Sunday and everything was cool. So I don't know. Maybe it just lived out its battery life.

Eventually, after waiting around for people who were unable (because of various, liable reasons) to make it into town, I called Danielle again and I went and dropped about $80 on a brand new battery. Came home, realized the one wrench I needed was missing, so I walked up to Family Dollar and bought a nice $7 socket set. Which is love.

Came home, again, changed the battery, started the car, victory was had.

Then, we got our driveway plowed! Joy of joys!

Angie bought a new computer with her finanical aid monies. So I finally get that nice big monitor we went half on a few years back! YAY! And I get to harvest her old computer for parts and stuff, since we're running about the same setup almost.

Man, money goes fast. We went out last night and picked up a variety of house stuff and some other miscellaney (socks, undies, bras). It's a good thing I'm happy with practical things. :/ But it still feels like it's all just slipping through my fingers very swiftly. D:

We're going out to kidnap Angie today and get TJ's new glasses. THANK GOD. It's really the first thing we should've done, but once the battery died and all that had to be done, we couldn't make it up to Chapel Hill to go to Eyemasters. So we ended up blowing money I didn't quite want to spend yet. But whatevs.

Also, delicious BW3 last night. <3<3

Now, I'm gonna go pour some scary $10 shit down the tub drain and hope to god it works.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Warren, OH
Current Music: Counting Crows - Accidentally In Love

...that I failed to write about sooner.

The conversation between me, TJ, and Angie about if our characters ended up like white trash or something. This was stemmed from watching Married With Children (<3<3<3). And it statred with Kyle getting fat and bald. And then Phe getting fat and eathing bonbons. And them having two kids and living in a trailer. And then it went spiraled downward to Boone geting some sort of pregnancy fetish and hiding under beds and licking people's feet. And REALLY creepy stuff.

Angie also started a new chronicle. It's quite enjoyable thus far.

We scored a Wii. ...oh, wait. I mentioned that already. Whoops. :D

The front, bottom bumper part of TJ's car got FUBARed because of the shitty plowing job on the roads downtown. It ended up under the car and dragging. Luckily, it's plastic, and only cosmetic. We may be able to fix it up, but it'll have to wait until the spring.

There were a TON of people at the mall. I have no idea why.

This Jareth shirt is REALLY soft and comfy.

I need to buy more cardstock and mailing envelopes. I have SO MUCH stuff that needs mailed out. D:

Rob's giving me his video card when he upgrades stuff in March. Glee! Do you still have that motherboard you were going to give us, Dougie? :D I needs upgrades. I should really see if the other mobo I have works, because it's quite nice. But I hate having to disassemble everything. D:

The Wii is very fun.

TJ made me buy some mexican candy from Big Lots today. I am afraid to try them. One flavor is tamarind. I'm going to make Angie try them with me.

We bought booze! I may have mentioned that before. I got a bottle of Kahlua. <3<3<3 And I got TJ the Hypnotiq giftset. Cause it had pretty glasses with it. :O

I've been taking alot of pictures. I hate waiting until the end of the month to do my montly photo post. That may change when we move to Angies.

Speaking of which, Angie! Start getting the house organized? :D Or I can help when we come up. I need to do mass applications, but I don't see getting a job to be an issue. Also, until we score ourselves a nice bed (cause I don't want to take the one from here, in case we end up back in Warren again), can we use the futon? It would also clear out room in the living room. Cause we've gotta find somewhere for four comps in the house. :O And I'll help you clean out the porch (so we can store stuff out there) and move shit around. And we've gotta get the stove in, too. :D

I R HELPING!

I updated Cafepress with some new shirts.

I got to play with Windows Vista at Best Buy today. It's SO pretty. So so so so so so SO pretty. But it apparently uses up, like, 11gigs of space? Screw that shit. I don't even have 100gigs in my comp as is! I need a better powersource, so I can hook up all my harddrives plus my CD and DVD drives. D: I also need more RAM. Sweet, sweet RAM. It's so expensive. And both my mobos use SDRAM. D: SADFASE.

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Warren, OH
Current Music: Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

Something pixely I've been working on since...last night. I need to get myself back into the swing of dolling and stuff. KISS template is from Digital Couture. I added to the hair and recolored it. I don't know what else I want to do with it, just kinda adding things at random.

Returned the starter today, thank god. That's $130 back in the bank. Car's still not fixed though. Fuckers. Was going to work with my mom today, too, but the transmission's slipping on their truck and they need to get that worked out first.

Went out and returned a movie, mailed some stuff out, and got some foodbits. My ass hurts cause I've been riding TJ's bike and it's got a craptastic seat. The back tire went on my bike and I don't have the right tools to switch the bike seats.

I need to go up to Walmart at some point cause I need more cardstock and TJ needs craftbits, but hell if I'm going to bike all the way up there. x_x

I have a terrible headache and the food isn't helping. Ugh.

Current Mood: headachy

"Look, Ally! Six shinies for a dollar!" - Rob

Yesterday was good times. Went to the Great Lakes Medieval Faire with TJ and Rob. I dressed up like a gypsy and TJ dressed like a pirate. Rob was some strange man from the future. We had lots of fun. I was accosted by a Viking while searching for a plastic bag and TJ was kidnapped by faeries while me and Rob searched all over for her. We passed Fairy Forest SO many times and I stopped once and was like 'nah, there's no way she'd be in there' and continued on our way. XD I bought a pretty, shiny claw necklace thing (I can't remember what they're called). It's shaped like a claw and the top of it comes off so you can put things in it. Mine is a pale purple and has a pretty purple shiny in it. I love it. <3 TJ got a BRIGHT RED tail and Rob got a cool bamboo walking stick. We also got these liter-seize glass bottles filled with whatever (I got cream ale, TJ got orange creme. They also had raspberry lemonade and root beer and stuff.) for $8 a piece. But the coolest thing about 'em is the fact that, for $2 a refill, they can be refilled FOREVER. Just bring 'em each year and fill 'em up. :D Couldn't get any mead, though, as it was Sunday. SAD FACE. I want some of the mysterious raspberry mead TJ keeps babbling about. Here's a blurry picture of me all dressed up and with the pirate hat. XD

Went over Rob's for movies and stuff afterwards. Played with Erin, who's gotten bigger. Yay! She was all happy and wiggly, as usual. Watched Constantine, which was better than we expected, as well.

The move is on hold until the car gets fixed, at the very least. TJ's also seeing about getting back into Suncoast because they're hiring for sales again. So we'll see how things go...

I have had no motivation to do much of anything lately, even though I HAVE been out and doing things. Rode all the way out to the mall Saturday, cause the buses won't allow bikes on 'em anymore. Blah. But we were able to get critter food and some stuff we needed. As well as a nice little stop at the Easter Seals sale.

My subscription on DA is up this evening. Damn. But I don't think I want to get a new one until all the drama is straightened out. So I'll bitch and complain about not having thumbnails in my watch and my journal being all FUBARed. For that matter, I think I'll have to completely redo my journal there. Not sure.

Current Mood: hot

Damn.

So, obviously, we didn't make it to Anthrocon. Sucks, yes, but that happens. We got as far as New Castle, PA before the car decided it was going to start the kicking of the bucket. Decreasing in speed on it's own, not accelleration properly, generally bad stuff. Eventually, Rob came out, we mulled over things and eventually got it towed. A look over by a mechanic later and it was determined that, on top of the radiatior not being bled after the water pump and such were put on, a rod in the engine had busted. Which means....new engine or new car. The car's over 10 years old already, and we've had her for a little over two years, so she's definately had a good run. And we've put 130,000 miles on 'er from trips to Canada and countless trips to Cleveland and Akron. So, now we've gotta start trying to get money together for a new car.

Of course, this falls RIGHT into our apartment hunting and will more than likely come right out of the money TJ got from her aunt. So I'm going to see about a little more than I had planned on taking out for a college loan to help out with getting a car that will at least last us through college.

So things are very crazy right now. We may have to put off college until the Spring, which we didn't really want to do, as we need to get out of her before the place drives TJ mad and drives me crazy, which is really a feat.

But we'll see what happens. We may just take a small trip over to Philly via Greyhound so we can get away and clear our heads before having to really deal with all this crap.

I think I might open up commissions again. I don't know. I really want to finish up the ones I have now before I take any more. I need a clean slate. And I'll probably only take a limited number at a time. But we need the money, and without the car, we're unable to /look for a job/get a job/get to work/etc. So we're kinda in a bind.

Yesterday was pretty bad too, until the evening. We took the bikes out and caught the bus out to the mall. We milled around and hit up the rib fest, where we had ribs and a lemon shake. <3 Good ribs, too. Then we thought our bikes got stolen (which didn't do anything good for TJ's mental state at the time). It turned out maintence cut the chain because they apparently weren't supposed to be chained where the were (outside of GameStop/Lenscrafters in the back of the mall), despite the fact that THERE ARE NO SIGNS STATING SUCH. Fuckers. After that, TJ decided on a double shot of Cuervo and we hit up Arby's (PEANUT BUTTER CUP MILKSHAKE, BITCHES!) and TJ laughed at things for no apparent reason. Then Josh (from the comic store) ninja showed up out of nowhere. It was pretty fantastic. I also found a giant silver star on the ground at the mall. I put it on my bookbag. I'm pretty sure it'll blind people with the right light. :D

Today was nicer, though. Woke up around 1PM, had yummy soup, went over Rob's, played with the Erin beast. Got a couple of cute pics of 'er: [ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 ] That's Elray with her in the second pic, one of Rob's dogs and her playmate. He likes playing tug-o-war with her with Rob's underwear and socks. XD And that's Rob in the blue jeans in the two pics. XD

Now, time for sleepies, cause I can never get enough sleep. z_z

Current Mood: lazy

Got a thousand things done so far today, still got a thousand things to do. The car is fixed, as much as it can be. I now know how to check and replace the spark plugs, the thermostat, the alternator belt and the air filters and such. Rock. The car's running much nicer, aside from everything settling into place and such, and I think the drive to Philly should be a-okay.

Still gotta pack and stuff, get things together. And whip together our badges. x_x Always last minute. :O

I want to pick up a sketchbook, as well, so I can do sketch trades and all the fun stuff. <3<3<3

Busy, busy, busy. :O

OHOHOHOHO!!! I got my new glasses today! They're smaller and round and a pretty brown/auburn/amber color. <3<3<3 And TJ got new frames, too! They look nice. <3