jaune_chat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jaune_chat) wrote2010-01-05 04:19 pm
jaune_chat) wrote2010-01-05 04:19 pm
May Your Life Be Interesting
This post is venting. I didn't have the best of days today. If you don't want to read about a bad day, this post is not for you.
So, to start off, I usually get together with my dad on Tuesdays and we run a variety of errands. I've been laid off since June, he isn't working right now and his house is falling apart, so I help him with what I can and we use my car to go the to grocery store and whatnot.
Instead of getting together at our usual nine or ten o'clock, he asked me to be there at seven a.m. because he was having company the next day. Now, my dad has some health problems. He has arthritis and he's overweight, which makes housecleaning difficult. His house is also in very poor repair. He was a very able handyman in the past, but right now he lacks the physical strength and dexterity, not to mention the funds, to fix his house in any meaningful way. Which means when I help him do repairs, it's often a series of patch jobs: put plastic over the window to keep out drafts, put up a door sweep to conserve heat, things like that. He also hadn't cleaned out a lot of excess stuff in a long time.
Long story short, we spent four hours cleaning three rooms. To me, who's used to the state of his home, it's a huge difference. To a stranger... I know it still looks pretty bad. My dad, bless him, is a great guy, but he's let a lot of this go far too long.
After that extended cleaning session, we ran two errands, stopped for lunch, and ran another errand which took us to a shopping district on the far edge of town. Now, my 14-year old Ford Explorer has been making some funny noises, but as we were sitting at a stop light, the funny noises stopped. Because something had exploded in the depths of my car. I got out, quickly grabbed all the pieces I could see, and then hopped in to drive it immediately to my mechanic. The battery light was on, my heater was off (and it's 13 degrees F where I am right now), and I'd lost power steering. I drove a good five miles with no power steering, and that's not easy in my vehicle.
Thank goodness my mother had a spare car so we could complete our errands while my car is in the shop. However, it's as old as mine, and the heater doesn't work either. Sigh.
And, just for kicks, since it's a new year, I got to pay the deductable on a prescription I picked up, so that ended up costing me $50 than I expected.
So I have a yet-as-unknown probably-massive car repair bill, and most of a day gone. I'm also criminally behind on some fic commitments, my perm I got for my birthday doesn't really look that great, I still don't have a job, and all I want to do it sit down and bawl.
On the upside, I did get my H1N1 vaccine shot today, so... yay?
So, to start off, I usually get together with my dad on Tuesdays and we run a variety of errands. I've been laid off since June, he isn't working right now and his house is falling apart, so I help him with what I can and we use my car to go the to grocery store and whatnot.
Instead of getting together at our usual nine or ten o'clock, he asked me to be there at seven a.m. because he was having company the next day. Now, my dad has some health problems. He has arthritis and he's overweight, which makes housecleaning difficult. His house is also in very poor repair. He was a very able handyman in the past, but right now he lacks the physical strength and dexterity, not to mention the funds, to fix his house in any meaningful way. Which means when I help him do repairs, it's often a series of patch jobs: put plastic over the window to keep out drafts, put up a door sweep to conserve heat, things like that. He also hadn't cleaned out a lot of excess stuff in a long time.
Long story short, we spent four hours cleaning three rooms. To me, who's used to the state of his home, it's a huge difference. To a stranger... I know it still looks pretty bad. My dad, bless him, is a great guy, but he's let a lot of this go far too long.
After that extended cleaning session, we ran two errands, stopped for lunch, and ran another errand which took us to a shopping district on the far edge of town. Now, my 14-year old Ford Explorer has been making some funny noises, but as we were sitting at a stop light, the funny noises stopped. Because something had exploded in the depths of my car. I got out, quickly grabbed all the pieces I could see, and then hopped in to drive it immediately to my mechanic. The battery light was on, my heater was off (and it's 13 degrees F where I am right now), and I'd lost power steering. I drove a good five miles with no power steering, and that's not easy in my vehicle.
Thank goodness my mother had a spare car so we could complete our errands while my car is in the shop. However, it's as old as mine, and the heater doesn't work either. Sigh.
And, just for kicks, since it's a new year, I got to pay the deductable on a prescription I picked up, so that ended up costing me $50 than I expected.
So I have a yet-as-unknown probably-massive car repair bill, and most of a day gone. I'm also criminally behind on some fic commitments, my perm I got for my birthday doesn't really look that great, I still don't have a job, and all I want to do it sit down and bawl.
On the upside, I did get my H1N1 vaccine shot today, so... yay?