Cars.

This morning I tried to put in a Yoga DVD I've had for more than 6 months. My back was very sore from the night before (not that I did anything to it, I just wake up some days with a very sore back) so I couldn't even do the first 2 poses. And all it involved was sitting up straight. I could feel the core of my back about to give out, so I bent it out to save a day and possibly a week of walking like my great grandmother, who couldn't walk upright for at least the last 15 years of her life.

I gave up after watching it for all of 10 minutes, and came back here to read all the websites I can't catch up on during the week. Today is Victoria Day, the holiday Monday. I work 4pm-9pm tonight, and I'm not all that concerned about it. I thought today would be hard to deal with, because it's an overtime shift, and sometimes it's tough for me to want to go into work. But I know that if I don't go in, nobody will be there to work, and that will be bad. Especially since I took all these shifts because nobody wanted to take them. Next week, when we need these same shifts covered, I will not be volunteering. I know I need the money, but I also need my sanity, and sometimes it's worth getting a normal paycheque.

I did my taxes 2 nights ago (way late, I know) and found out I'm getting around $156 back. WOW. That's the most I've ever gotten back since I was 18 and starting doing my taxes. And next year, I will still be with this company, which means my taxes will only involve 1 T4, not 5 or 6 like previous years.

Today when my laundry is done, I have to run down to the SPCA and pay my sister the montly payment of $200 for this piece of shit car I've got. Sure, it's pretty to look at, but when I got it back from the shop, I tried to drive to Kamloops. As per normal, I had to stop in Vernon to pee. When I went to turn on my car, it wouldn't start, and the "THEFT SYSTEM" light came on, a light I never see when starting my car. I called my friend, asked him to look up that light on the internet, and didn't get a lot back. I called the shop, and was told 235345 things to try, none of which worked. I called the friend back and said not to worry about it, because the shop was looking into it. After the promised 20 minutes the shop still hadn't called back, so I called 411 and got the number for a Chevy dealership. The dude I talked to was an asshole and wouldn't help me troubleshoot all that much, so I ditched him and called the shop back. I reiterated over and over that this never happened to me when I drove to Vancouver with 3 people in the car, and they didn't seem to hear me. Finally, and god knows what caused this, the engine cooled down, or whatever, and right before the help they were sending got here, the mother fucker started again.

I drove more, and got to Kamloops. They told me once I got there to leave it run for about 10 minutes and then turn it off. So I sat in the parking lot knowing all my friends were looking at me sitting in my car, wondering what the hell was going on. We had dinner, made some plans, and shock of all shocks, the car started just fine, after sitting there for about an hour. We had a great time, just sitting around talking and drinking, and then we went back to the house and slept. We got up the next morning, had a Timmy's breakfast, showered, and went shopping. I drove that car everywhere, up and down hills, going 90 kms/hr up the hill and back down again. And still, the car started fine.

I thought maybe that one thing was a one-off and I wouldn't worry about it. I passed Falkland and thought that maybe I should stop to pee, but figured, nah, the next town, Westwold, is all of 10 minutes away, I can totally wait. So I left Falkland, rounded a corner, and wouldn't you know? There was the world's slowest mother fucking train I have EVER seen. So by this time my bladder is about to float away, and there's nothing I can do about it, so I patiently wait. I took a couple of pictures of the train because there wasn't anything else I could do to keep my mind off of the bladder situation.

The train finally ended, and blissfully, I got into Westwold, parked the car, and RAN into the shop. No key was needed for the bathroom door, THANK GOD. I walked out to my car, much more relazed than I was when I went in, and tried to start the car. DENIED.

I called the shop's customer service girl on her cell phone (long story about why I have that number) and she said that the mechanic should still be in the shop, even though it was 6:30pm. So I called the shop, and sure enough he answered. I explained the problem again, and he was lost for words. He said they had spent some time researching this on the internet and came up with about as much as the friend who looked into it the previous day had. He was still on this thing that the fuel pump was gone and would need to be replaced, so I explained to him that this mechanic dude in Westwold across the street from the gas station I stopped at had come over to take a look, and when turning the key, the fuel pump isn't working at all. So, we tried to disconnect the battery and leave it for a bit. For some odd reason, it only took about 20 minutes, and the same thing started. I got home, and as I was heading into town, I remembered that the friend from earlier said he had something for me, even though the last thing I wanted to do was spend any time with anyone, I went over to his place. Naturally, because it was more highway driving, the car wouldn't start again. So we drove to my place in his parent's car, dropped off the 19 inch monitor, and came back. We unhooked the battery again, thinking it would start soon, which it obviously didn't. So we waited more and more, and then out of nowhere, the THEFT SYSTEM light went out, and the damned car started. I've worked 2 shifts since then, and not a damn thing has happened to this car. It's almost like it's only certain speeds that set off the light.

This whole thing is so BEYOND explanation, it's ridiculous. And the worst part of all is that the shop thinks this has nothing to do with them, even though this NEVER happened before the $1800 fucking head gasket was installed. Something definitely went wrong here. Argh.

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