9.18.98

    Well, I spend two days doing absolutely nothing so that I could spend two days doing lots of things. Yesterday, I worked on my car. I got the oil changed and tinkered a bit. Then I washed it.

    Let me tell you a little bit about car mechanics. It's messy. It's grimy. It's hard to get grit out from underneath your nails. And, it's fun. I have a few books on car mechanics. The first two are MG specific. One is a small one that sits in my glove box and has a great diagram in it for diagnosing electrical problems. The larger one is the ultimate handbook with a glossary in the front that translates English terms to American. Another that I have is a 1970s textbook that I bought at Powell's in Portland and I haven't used too much. The best one by far, however, is Lucille's Car Care. If you decide that you want to take a look under the hood of your car you really should buy this book. Even if you don't care to look under the hood this book will keep you from being totally clueless with the mechanic.

    I love being able to repair my own car. Granted, my car is easier to deal with than some of those new-fangled machines out there but there's plenty that you can do to figure out the problem and even preventative maintenance to keep things from catching up to you. Buy it — it's awesome.

    What else did I do? I washed the sheets and the comforter and some new towels that we got as a wedding gift. All of that really needed to be done and T. and I were studiously putting it off. The washer in our complex is called the Speed Queen. I find that so funny. Probably in some inner city or in some high school somewhere there's a chick who calls herself the Speed Queen 'cause she hooks up all her pals. The wierd thing though was the dryer was named Heroin Freak.

    Speaking of names... I really hate car names. I got really irked when I saw the Stratus recently. Although, it's not because of the name but because of the font. The font they used made the 'r' and the 'a' look almost exactly the same thus making me read it as Startus. Gads... I'm such a nerd. I really think Neon is a stupid name for a car. Because Neon is such a space-age thing these days, right? And what about the Geo Metro. This is the smallest, stupidest looking car I've ever seen. And, it highlights the thing that's worst about metropolitan areas — there's no room!

    I think that manufacturers should give cars real names. Maybe we could have the Chevy Alexander or Toyota Jane. Hmmm... maybe not.

    Later I tried to make cookies but we were out of brown sugar. I wanted to make them so that we could give some to our neighbors for taking in our mail and packages while we were gone. I don't especially like these neighbors because of their large brood and the older, scary son with Tourettes who doesn't really have Tourettes. He was there while I was washing my car and he and his friend were smoking on the porch. I asked the friend for a smoke but he said he didn't have any more. I didn't really want a smoke but I feel like if I can talk to Tourettes boy then maybe he'll stop blasting his stereo in the middle of the day. I don't think it would cure his barking though. I really get the creeps around him.

    Today, I made those cookies and now I'm going to tackle the huge amount of dishes that have somehow amassed in the last three days. I hate doing dishes passionatly. Well, I don't hate it so much when I'm finally doing it but mustering up the energy and the will to scrub plates is pretty darn difficult.

    Tomorrow our new bed will arrive. Hooray! I hope, hope, hope that we're able to get the box springs into our room. It's a pretty narrow turn and I'm worried that we'll have to send them back and try something else. I want that bed now and I want it complete.

    This is a pretty big step, you know. Here we are tossing away our sad, college mattress and getting a new bed. This is a permanent bed that is ours. It will be ours for many years to come. By getting rid of that mattress we start to build a home and a life together. A grown up life. Hmmm. I worry about saying goodbye to my childhood. I worry about becoming an adult and acting like one. Adults can be soooo boring, ya know?

    I have a bunch more stuff to do today, including ordering some parts for the car. Gotta jet!