Having a lousy week already?

[apocalypsos]

How about a gift exchange?

Icons, fic, fanart, wallpaper ... ask and see if you get it, give something to someone else in the comments who wants something. It's mostly just SPN right now but everybody's welcome. It'll be a hell of a lot of fun.

(My thread is here, but I'm cool. Go give other people stuff. Shoo.)

*

I stopped at my parents' house today to see if they were satisfied with the state of the house when they got home yesterday, and I took it as a good sign that the first thing they both said to me in separate instances (Mom was in the living room, Dad was in the garage) was, "My house was clean when I came home," like it was a shock or something. Sheesh, we're not THAT bad. I just cracked and cleaned like a madwoman yesterday afternoon.

My dad was at least sharp enough to ask, "Did your brother help?" and I told him yes, which was true, although not without prodding. But I figure it was mostly because when he said, "I'll do it after I defeat this boss on WoW," instead on saying, "No, you'll do it now," I said, "Okay, after you defeat the boss, bring down the litter and you can go back to whatever quest you're on." Which, granted, I've never played WoW and have no desire to, but he was more willing to help me than he ever is to help my mom when she asks because I actually gave a shit about what he was doing. So, hey, there's that.

But going up there guilted me into realizing that my own car and apartment were pigstys, so I drove to the car wash and cleaned it out -- I didn't have quarters for the vacuum, so that'll have to wait -- and cleaned most of the apartment with the exception of the office, which mostly just needs a vacuuming and the desk cleared of clutter.

Of course, cleaning out the car led to me finding out what that musty smell was in the trunk. I thought it was just that I had a ridiculous amount of clothes and shoes and notebooks and whatnot -- it's sort of the dumping ground to keep the rest of the car clean ... well, cleaner -- and some of them got wet and one thing led to another. No, that wasn't it. Turned out there was about two inches of water -- God only knows from where, I presume from a leak in the trunk -- in the spare tire well. You can imagine how pretty the spare tire looks. *sigh* I imagine I'll have to replace that now, probably by selling a kidney.

*

I wonder what it says about me that I finally got Heroine Addiction to work by having Vera spend about a page or so basically putting on her metaphorical stomping boots and going, "FUCK THIS NOISE, I NEED TO GO KICK SOME ASS AND MAKE SOME PIE. AND THE PIE CAN WAIT. RAWR."

*

They're talking on Pandagon about beaters you have owned because of the Cash for Clunkers thing, and it reminds me of the two worst cars I have ever owned.

Now, granted, I have never owned a new car, and the car I have now is the nicest car I've ever owned and I still hate it. (I want a Smart Car -- it's not the fuel efficiency or anything so much as it is that I like cute tiny cars that look like Penny Racers and it's smaller than a Mini. Which I'd also like. Urgh.) The worst car I ever owned was the last car I owned, which was some sort of gray Subaru. I can't actually tell you what kind of Subaru, because I've blocked it from my mind.

When I wanted to move back to Pennsylvania, I told my mom I needed a new car. You can't live here, at least not in the middle of nowhere like I do, and not have a car. It's not happening. So my mother proceeded to find me a temporary car, which was the $400 ten-year-old Subaru her co-worker was attempting to get rid of. About $300 of that was stereo.

It held out a year and a half, which was -- let's face it -- a bit of a miracle. That car loved to threaten me with a good time, and when I say "threaten me with a good time," I mean, "have two flat tires within an hour and a half." In general, it ran really well. It even drove better in the snow than my current car ever has. It just looked as if it would collapse if you looked at it wrong, which meant I spent the majority of my time driving it being terrified that I'd be stranded on the side of the road somewhere after it completely fell apart, possibly while I was driving it like in a cartoon.

It finally got to the point where it wouldn't pass inspection, and while I was trying to figure out what to do next, I tried to drive to work one day and the shocks gave out. My entire car turned into a bouncy castle. It would have been fun if it weren't my only mode of transportation.

I am not even joking when I say I sold it to a co-worker a month later for twenty-five bucks just to get it out of my parents' driveway.

Of course, my other beater was the brown 1986 (I think) Pontiac Sunbird I got for my sixteenth birthday, but considering no one else in my immediate circle of friends got a car from their parents, "grateful" didn't even begin to describe how I felt. In retrospect, I'm astounded the car lasted as long as it did, as it wasn't a car so much as a colony of rust particles clutching at one another for dear life with clammy hands.

... okay, talking about my history of owning cars I loathe even though they're the only thing I can afford is not helping with that whole wanting-a-new-car thing.

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot to mention Paco the Corsican Pimp, so named by me and my brother -- Paco because my brother was taking Spanish at the time and it stuck, Corsican because he was a Corsica (duh), and Pimp because he liked to fuck with me and take all my money.

Comments

[squee1123.livejournal.com]

But I figure it was mostly because when he said, "I'll do it after I defeat this boss on WoW," instead on saying, "No, you'll do it now," I said, "Okay, after you defeat the boss, bring down the litter and you can go back to whatever quest you're on."

Having never met your brother, I can say without a doubt that it probably is why he helped you. I am a lazy fucker, I will not even try to deny it. When I lived with my parents, my sister could make me do things around the house when my parents couldn't, because she wouldn't ORDER me to, she would ask, suggest.

Now I live with my sister and drive her nuts because I don't help around the house. But she has apparently forgotten what it takes to make me do things which is to ASK NICELY and SUGGEST and not DEMAND thing of me. Nothing makes me dig my heels in faster than her coming into my room and saying "We have to take the garbage out, get up" instead of "Next time you get a chance, it's our night to take out the garbage".

I once made her Very Angry because on Thanksgiving, without being asked, I cleared the table, did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen at my mom's house. She and her boyfriend were in a whirlwind of WHY DID SHE DO IT? WHAT'S HER ANGLE? and my parents were convinced I did it just to piss her off. (only true in hindsight, i just did it to do it at the time)

tl;dr. YES. Go you for Getting It.

[acetal.livejournal.com]

Dammit! Now I want pie.

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

I had a real lemon of a car -- it was fine until a mechanic fixed the a/c and suddenly the entire car went to hell -- but it also drove amazingly well in snow and ice. I replaced it with a relatively new Grand Prix, which has also been an absolute lemon. We spent $8000 on fixing it the first 2 years. Now it runs fine because it has all new innards, but the outside is looking pretty beat thanks to a few hail storms and some burgeoning rust.