What a strange day, all in all.

I woke up late… I’d been woken up a couple of times by my mom with phone calls about the car. One from Dad reminding me to get the registration proving that we lived at the same address (needed for one of the $1K discounts) to the dealership, and one from the dealership wondering if I was satisfied with the service that I was receiving.

I was sort of awake. Really.

So, about a half hour later, I wake up, take a shower, eat some cereal, and the dealership calls. Yup, I’ll be over later to bring the registration. Yup, this is the vanity plate I want. Full tank of gas? Thanks!

So, I drop off the registration and he makes a copy. Dad calls on the cell and is like, “do you know the number to the dealership?” “Nope, but I’m standing in its parking lot, so what can I tell them for you?” Take in the insurance number. One step closer. From there, it’s to the Rochester Hills post office (dear gods I remember it being built) to drop off letters to and . Then I scooted my puttering car back to the TWP.

Hot Pockets mixed well with letter-writing and laundry-doing. Later on came the trip to Pontiac to the used car dealership. They advised me over the phone of the ridiculous price range. So I called . We came to a much more reasonable deal and I’ll be driving the car to him sometime on Monday.

After that was car-pickup, car-payment, and car-selling details. Then tasty subs from Tubby’s. Then trying to download Friday’s IPM via 28.8K dialup. I might as well stab myself in the foot.

I’ve just finished Chapter 5 of my novel. I’ve sent it to my master list of readers and editors. As always, if you’d like to be added, and might just have constructive criticism for me, let me know here to add you.

I feel like some good intensity has been released into that chapter. :)

Also, it looks like I’ll be picking up the Malibu sometime on Friday. YESH! Now I just have to sell the Lumina.

My lower back really hurt. Ow. Take a break from landscaping for the day.

The Lumina will be replaced by a 2003 Chevy Malibu. It seems to be an exact newer version of my car, save the color.

Since my Dad will own this car at the start, I can’t use the DRGNWVR plate. I’m thinking of using 0PT1MUS. I wonder if it’s free. Oh, look, it is!

There’s also this one:

Decisions, decisions.

Manual labor isn’t half bad. It’s getting back out there once I’ve sat down for a break that’s the difficult part. I’ll get used to it, get into it, and get money for it. That’s the important part to remember. Stress-releasing and health-helping work that I’m getting paid for.

I find myself drinking more fluids and eating more fruits. Still, I find myself getting nearly no rest while I sleep. I’m unsure if it’s the bed, the general environment, or my particular state of mind. To quote , this bears investigation.

Known needed repairs:

Exhaust system.
Catylettic (sp?) converter.
Front and rear shocks and struts.
Front brake rotors.

New repairs as of today:

Transmission side pan is leaking.
Transmission main pan is leaking.
Coolant is leaking from a rusted pipe in the fender.
Coolant is leaking from a valve near the radiator.
The serpentine belt needs to be replaced.
The tie rod ends are almost completely degraded.
A ball joint is almost totally done, which has been causing the vibrating when I brake at high speeds… it wasn’t warped front brake rotors.

This means that the Lumina is dead. Long live the Malibu? The Cavalier? The Sunfire? We shall see.

I’ve had a headache all day. They grey and dull of the day have matched my headache well.

Yesterday was huge in a subtle way. Visiting the Lansing area was much like trying to be friends with an ex-girlfriend, too soon after the breakup. Almost every event seemed to conspire to tell me to leave, to get the hell out, that things would just be better if Lansing and I didn’t see each other for a long time.

and I arrived into town in the afternoon. We stopped so that she could feed and water ‘s cats and water her plants. From there, we went to the MSU Union to use the computers at the lab. Once again, ethernet seems like bliss. After that, we went to the Fortress to pick up comics for me and to wait for game to start. CARP night, no Giovanni game. Bummer. We met , Huggy and Eric at Theio’s and to give back his CD. Apparently there was a Werewolf game running at the Childrens’ Gardens, but we weren’t really interested. We took some time trying to figure out something to do. My bro (AKA crampto4, Wunjo, Skeletor) was in the TWP. He’d arrived shortly after I left. had also headed for the Detroit area, for Luna.

The general creepiness of ‘s father’s house, combined with my desire to hang out with my brother and made a strong argument for returning to the Twp without spending the night in Lansing. I couldn’t decide. So we went to Cold Stone to get the world’s best ice cream, and then watched the Weepers play outside in downtown East Lansing. That was a wonderful time, and included getting one of the funniest damn voice mails ever. “I’m going to shove your cell phone up your pee-hole!!” I’m still chuckling over it. Anyway, from there we went to her Dad’s place to pick up some ritual tools, then over to Beal. Good things happened. Infinitely less bug bites than we should have had. Heh. I ended up staying, which was what I needed to do.

For me, but also for .

I awoke with a headache. had to get her phone converted to a plan from pre-pay with her mother, so I headed back over to the Union lab. Humid and hot. So I left after a bit and headed out ‘s way. I finally got in contact with him via phone, and he was having a chill-out/alone kind of day. We discussed Ann Arbor housing costs (“That’s homo with a capital GAY!”), Luna, and peoples that we’d hung out with unti I got on the highway. The rain spat intermittently from the clouds until I hit 696, when it finally got some balls and did some all-out downpouring. And then I was back in Shelby Township.

Ådvil, a small nap, and Ghost in the Shell are good remedies for headaches and consumables for the soul. Now, I think I’m going to write some return letters and watch another movie. Or spend some time online. Whatever.