Carsick

Well, you may have caught it on filthy Facebook, but I think I need to process it a little more thoroughly here... My car was stolen tonight. I cannot really believe it, and I've mostly been laughing and laughing about it. Of course it's stressful, but why on Earth would someone steal that car?

I'm the most bummed about these things that were in the car:
Tiny box of doughnuts from Tracy and Jamie for my teeny tiny birthday
'back fat is the new cleavage' button from Gilly
Tuna chalupa heart from marbles
giant sperm that Dawn made for my sperm raiser
work boots
roller skates

Lots of other little things, too... But those are the big ones. Also, most of my favorite CDs. Whatever.
I just keep thinking about how much Millicent was stressing me out. In fact, I've been formulating a post that was a list of things I need to do to the car. It was leaking oil and a big honkin' piece of the exhaust system fell off the other week, and it wouldn't ever pass emissions and my plates we canceled. Unfortunately, since it was a piece of shit, and I trusted that no one would ever steal it, I only have liability insurance. Which means, of course, no coverage for theft or vandalism. So. Hello again, bus.

One really nice thing is that, because of a really sweet thing from someone whose name I won't mention, I have shelves to hang on my walls tomorrow. Thanks for the donation, IKEA fairy! More on that tomorrow, and pictures to come.

Now I'll go to sleep and marvel over the fact that I haven't cried about this yet and may not ever. xo

I think I will try and leave two weeks from today. On Wednesday the 11th. Holy shit.

I feel like I could throw everything in my car tomorrow and be on my way. But, i have a few things to take care of first. My glasses need to come. My title needs to come. I have one more shot with my donor, so, the donor needs to come. The bass will sell hopefully tomorrow, then the check needs to come. I have to get paid and get a good, thorough checkup of my car. And I guess I'd better finish getting the emissions stuff taken care of. It's been a tiny nightmare, and it ain't over like I expected it would be today.

Of course there are a few social things I'd like to take care of first, too. Goodbyes and stuff. Dinner with a friend on Friday and a visitor this weekend that I'm very excited about. And then next weekend, hopefully all the Providence gals will come and let me cook them dinner.

The thing is, I'm mainly packed. All my papers have been gone through, books are packed, loose photos and school paperwork... there are the last clothes and some odd boxes in the basement... My things are ready and it's just making me more antsy.

Mllicent is my car. I bought her just over two years ago for seven hundred bucks from a friend in Provincetown. She's a 1996 Mazda 626 and I've put many many tens of thousands of miles on her -- including over 6,000 miles in the month and a half before festival this last year.

So. She and I are having a hard time negotiating responsibilities right now.

Last year, in Portland, she decided to have a sort of depression. She didn't start for four months, and I thought it was going to be something huge, so I didn't cough up the money to get her fixed. When I finally did, turned out to be her battery and spark plugs. They replaced both, and it was $250. Cool.

During that time, though, my insurance lapsed. I'm not gonna pay insurance on a car that's not running. And in Massachusetts, if your insurance lapses, they revoke your registration. Sigh. I tried to register her in Portland, but she wouldn't pass emissions, so I operated her on 20-day temporary trip permits... more on that later.

Less than a month later, she didn't start again. It didn't sound like a battery problem, but we jumped her anyway. After five or ten minutes on the cables, she fired up. I drove her to the same mechanic, and she just kept starting right up. He ran some tests and couldn't find anything wrong with her.

Then I drove her a LOT. Back and forth to Seattle, and across the country to Massachusetts, up and down the cape, then back to Michigan. Right before I left for Michigan, my last trip permit expired. And they don't give you those in Mass. So. I just drove her unregistered.

Once, at Michigan, she didn't start for a few days. I tried jumping her with my mom's car, no luck. A few days later I jumped her with someone else's car and she fired up immediately. Whew. No bus home.

Millicent and I lived in happy harmony again for a long period of time. She drove me back to Massachusetts, up and down the cape, around Providence, and then moved me in to my new house. Right after that, she quit again. What the hell?

I had no money, so she sat there for a while until I could get her towed to a mechanic. Maybe three weeks, she sat there. Doing nothing. Finally, a friend with triple A came over and we towed the car to the mechanic aroudn the corner. He gave me a new fuel filter and air filter, because that might have been it. He couldn't tell cause she started rigt up for him (maybe she's straight?). That was 60 bucks. And it was to forstall the 300 dollar fuel pump job.

My mom took Millicent to school and I drove her to the store once, and then she didn't start again. This time I got her started by raising her back end on a jack (maybe she's not straight after all?) and dropping her back down -- simulating the tow truck. Cool, I thought, it must be the fuel pump... it just needed to slosh around the gas.

So, car goes in, I get an oil change and fuel pump, and then she comes ack to me for $315.

I drove to Providence, then to DK's to work with Erin D. On lunch break, I got pulled over, and Millicent was impounded for being unregistered. God. Damn. It. This part could be three pages. It was hilarious.

Three days later I had gotten new insurance ($40), paid my back excise tax ($260), re-registered her and switched the title to this state ($89), and paid the fees for towing and storage ($180).  (Maybe I need to mention that we're kinda poor. Poor people living in a really beautiful house that, because of shit like this, is beyond our means. Also, I'm not working, and my public school teaching mom is supporting us. Anyway....)

Finally! my car was back and as beautiful as ever. Parked right here in front of the house where I could take her anywhere!

The next day I got ready to leave for Boston and she didn't start. I waited for my mom so we could drive to Boston together, and when she got home we tried blow drying Millicent's engine. It worked! We got ready to go, and tthis time Millicent didn't even turn over. The next day I got up at 4 to take mom to work, miss traffic, and get a good day in at DK's, and then come back in time to get mom from school. When we got home, my mom tried the car, and she started right up. Jeesh.

So, this morning I was going to drive Millicent to DK's again. The plan was if she didn't start, I could blow dry her. If that didn't work, I could wait an hour and try again. Well, she didn't start. But at least she is turning over. And it's pouring rain. Now I'm having tea and staring into the dark grey day wondering if it would be worth it to electrocute myself if I got to get in a good day of work afterward.

I just bought car insurance.
Oh, I didn't even tell you: I got Millicent fixed. It was her battery and spark plugs. $234. Not as bad as I thought, and I am moving across the country in my car! That's great news. It also means everything I own will, once again, be at festival with me. Haha.
So, back to insurance. I went with creepy buy-online-immediate-gratification insurance because of the move. It's a six month policy, so I can just change it when I get to [Rhode Island? Massachusetts?] to a local business.
Now, I have to go get new plates and register and get DEQ tested. Serious crossings-off. Oh, I didn't tell you that, either... I allowed my insurance to lapse because my car was broken. Thinking, "No big deal, i'll just renew it when I get her fixed." BUT, in Massachusetts, insurance and registration are linked. Meaning, they revoked my registration when I didn't have insurance. Shitty shit shit. Ah well. I'm gonna take care of it all today, and then I will have a legal car that will spend most of her time parked in front of my house.

That's all.

Oh, except i go to Seattle tomorrow. Hahahahahahaha.

So. I just had a date with prince charming the gardener. We went for a walk, then tried to fix my car a little, and then she dropped me off and headed home. She was on her way back to Seattle from Eugene.

Here's the thing. We totally got into it. She wanted to look at my car, so... that's cool. And nice... So she did. We went to the auto parts store to get carb cleaner. On the way she started saying that we'll get it running and just get it to a place, a mechanic, so they can get it fixed up... And I was like hold on. Wait a minute. I'm not taking it anywhere today. This is where things got weird.

She couldn't understand why I didn't want to, and I told her my getting the car fixed is still contingent on how much it's going to cost. We don't know what's wrong with it, I'm not taking it somewhere (right before I leave for ten days) not even having a quote. No way. And she really wanted to just do it. Like, she wanted to pay for it. And she was being pretty pushy about it. She got stuck on this. Why wouldn't I just let her do it. She just wants to help me. I'm in school, I'm about to get pregnant, there's no strings attached, she just really wants to do something to help me.

I kinda had to be a bitch to get her to realize that this was not something I would be pushed over about. My car is not a necessity. I am not dependent on it. I have a limit on what I will spend to fix it, and that's fine with me. I had to explain that I can't take help I don't absolutely need, and I had to do so very firmly.

It was all really tense. Then things were a little weird. She apologized, both right after I got her to realize what it was about for me, and then later. But I wonder if things will be a tainted between us now a bit. On the way back from the store she said i make her think about things. I asked what she meant and she told me that I am truly unobtainable, and that's one of the things she finds so appealing about me.

People say really weird things.