When the car breaks

I can never decide if I love my car or not. Sometimes I love her to death - the excellent stereo, the smooth ride, the seat warmers - especially the seat warmers. And other times I'm ready to drive her into a lake. This winter she put me 4 Gs in the hole. Not too fond of her at that time. But then as the winter rolled on and got colder and the seat warmers continued to work, my affection grew once again.
This summer, after seeing An Inconvenient Truth and the ridiculous prices for gas, I decided that going carfree sounded pretty cool. Instead of jumping off the deep end, though, I tried for a while using only my bike or the bus. I went a whole week without using my car once and that felt pretty dang liberating. Then I slowly fell back into using it - had to drive to Eagan and that was all it took. Riding my bike in the 100 degree heat? No way. So, back in love I fell, appreciating her confort and air conditioning.
And then it started. Wub wub wub in one of the back wheels. This is the same noise that put about 400 clams on my credit card last December. Took her in and, sure enough, another $400 to get the other side done. Bearings. Evidently a weakness in Subarus. (Never buy a Subaru - trust me on this one!) Fucking hell if it didn't start making metal on metal grinding noises when I was on my way home from the shop. Brought the car back to the place tonight, had my bike in the back, locked the car, put the keys in the envelope and put the envelope into the drop box. Notice I didn't mention getting the bike out before putting the keys in the drop box. Tragedy narrowly averted, however, since I was with my sister Sheryl who helped me get my other set of keys and then retrieve the bike. Thank you, Sheryl.
Hard to love my car when she's being so sassy & greedy. But she's also my freedom, my connection with so many options. And on occasion she's my therapist and soul comfort. Up until now she's never had a name, but I think I'm getting closer to one. Although I'm not sure other people would like hearing me refer to the vehicle as "That Expensive, Poorly-made, Gas-guzzling, Money-bleeding, Fucking Car".

No one's looking

Someone found this blog. An online date asked me if I wrote a blog and I said no. But when he described it, I realized it was this one. So, evidently, I do write a blog. Well, wrote. And I'm not sure three entries necessarily counts as a blog. More like doodling on a bathroom wall. But since I was discovered, I've been wondering if I should write on here more often. I mean, anyone who used to read it when I first started doing isn't reading it anymore. Why would they when I haven't posted in a very long time? And no stranger is going to happen upon this thing? So it's kind of public and secret all at once. What the hell....

Things to note from today:
1. Fallout Art community is a bunch of Christians. Don't let the tattoos and piercings fool you - they're all Jesus all the way.
2. The movie "The Break-Up" with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn is bad, very bad.
3. My body doesn't seem to digest corn very well.
4. The men in Nordeast look different (read: cuter) than most of the (white) men in the rest of Mpls. Less Minnesota looking and a little more Eastern European.
5. Reading in bed naked in the afternoon just after showering is a really pleasant way to spend some time.