I tried to update earlier, but my internet connection ate the update. That's okay.

I parked my car around 5 pm yesterday evening, and the police called at 6:55 am to tell me that it was stolen and wrecked. Apparently, the guy was caucasian, about 6'1" with blonde hair. He was wearing a black jacket and blue jeans. I'm guessing that he had another car nearby to transfer anything valuable into. I didn't really have anything worth a lot in the car, but he had obviously gone through the car pretty thorougly. He did steal my jumper cables, though. Jerk. A lot of the plastics were removed on the dashboard - I think he was trying to steal my stereo, too, but it's still there.

(Side note: If you live nearby and sell things on eBay, you're welcome to meet me at the tow lot tomorrow and remove the stereo to sell. You wouldn't have to give me very much for it. I don't think there's anything else that's worth money in the whole car.)

He got to the Renton Highlands (about two or three miles away from where it was stolen) and then hit a tree and rolled the car. The front of the car is completely mangled, the windshield is cracked, and the airbag had deployed. To Saturn's credit, the passenger compartment wasn't crushed at all.

My tennis rackets were still in the car (yay!) but, as I mentioned, he stole my jumper cables. I had just put them in the car yesterday, after working on my motorcycle. Grr. I'm a little frustrated that I spent $800 on repairs to the car less than two weeks ago, but I couldn't have known that this would happen. They did encourage me to get new tires, too, so I'm glad I didn't do that.

Also, I didn't have comprehensive insurance, so my insurance company is not giving me ANY money. However, I think that if I had paid for comprehensive insurance for the four years since I bought the car, I would have paid more than $2000 extra - and that's about what they would have given me for the car if I had had comprehensive. But still, frustrating.

So now I need a new car. Brian and I carpool most days (except Tuesdays - he leaves work early to golf) and I have my motorcycle, but I think that's still not enough. I had been thinking about buying a new car - I told Adam the other day that I would probably buy one in the next year - but I really wasn't planning on buying one NOW.

I'm happy to take advice on what sort of car I should buy. It'll probably be something similar to my old car (a 1994 Saturn SL1), but I'd like something newer (1998 or newer, probably) with less than 50k miles. With power locks and power doors. I would prefer a manual.

My car was stolen last night. And wrecked. That's all I know.

So much news and so little updating.

Hansy always gets stuff for free from his clients at Meathead because a lot of times they don't want to take old furniture to their new houses and he knew I wanted a bookcase cause I just love books and he got me one and I love it and it's huge and I apparently was the only person who didn't know that we got today off from school (we get Cesar Chavez day off and not Columbus Day - I'm amused) so I was pleasantly surprised when Jesse told me Saturday night and then yesterday my car battery died.

Oh, I'm having fun with the one sentence thing, but I just have to say this. I had to jump the car a couple of times, first to get it home, then to Kragen, y'know. The bottom pretty much just dropped out of the battery - it had about 1/200th of the power it should have had. So when I was driving on the dead battery and I used my (power) brakes, my radio turned off because the battery didn't have enough power to do both at the same time. How pathetic. It also wouldn't eject CDs, so I was stuck listening to the Offspring. You know how attached I am to music.

So anyway, I went to Kragen and forgot about the horrible plastic cover that's bolted over my battery, and Kragen didn't have the foot-long ratchet wrench I need to get it off, so I went over to Rick's house and he let me use his tools. I love my job. Then he told me that he's giving me a raise.

Such a good day. And it's beeeautiful outside and I had lunch with Trix and yeah.

Tony Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet was impounded by NASCAR officials after Friday morning inspection, reportedly because it did not conform to new template and common body location rules. NASCAR plans to take the car to its North Carolina R&D facility for further evaluation. Stewart, after his car was impounded following inspection at Texas: "The cars all look the same from where I'm sitting. I've got three things that I'm in control of... a steering wheel, a shifter and pedals."

So, here's today's chapter in my continuing electronic demise:

Jiffy Lube told me about two months ago that I had an oil leak. I paid Saturn of Decatur $40 a month ago to look at the car and they said that it was not leaking. I took the car in today to get the oil changed. They said I had an oil leak. That'll be $120 to fix. THEN there's a bushing that's worn thin on my engine mount. That'll be $150, please. Then I still have to pay for the oil change, so I'm giving them about three hundred dollars.

That's great. That's really great.

It especially makes me mad that I paid them forty dollars in the past to tell me that there was no leak when there really was.

I'm just in a bad mood now.

Wow, sleep is good.

Monday, my dad came up and traded cars with me so that he could take my car to Saturn (which is in Santa Maria). We were hoping that they could figure out what was wrong with my car. Tuesday, I went to work and then drove home (Santa Maria) to have dinner with my parents. My dad and I watched "O," which may just be a contender for the most messed up movie on earth. I'd seen it before. I like it. It makes me want to read Othello again. My dad called Saturn and they said that they'd looked the car over and they had no idea what was wrong with it. Great.
I woke up early Wednesday and went to a Kiwanis meeting. I bought $2 in raffle tickets (like I always used to) and won $5 (like I always did). I think I made out pretty well. After that, I was a guest speaker at my old high school. That was weird, but it was kind of fun.
Eric and Travis and I went to the Bad Religion show in San Francisco after that. We were going to drive my car, but for some reason, Trav wanted to drive his car. Grrr. We found this great parking spot, but we had to pay some homeless guy $10 to "take care of the car" for us. Ha ha. This is like the mob... The car wouldn't need protection from anyone except that guy. He should just tell us that we're paying him not to mess up the car, cause that's what it really is. Anyway, the spot was really good. The concert was really good. Then we left and I went looking for a drive-thru so we could get food. I found an In-N-Out, but the car blew its coolant in the drive-thru driveway. Greeeat. Turns out, Trav hasn't checked any of the fluids since he bought the car.

Tip of the day: It is REALLY STUPID to buy a used car and not at least check the fluids. Usually, you should change ALL of the fluids if you didn't buy it from a dealer. This is COMMON SENSE.

So Trav was freaking out. Turns out, there just wasn't any coolant in the car and that's why it overheated so much. We just poured in the water we had gotten to drink (In-N-Out is closed by this time), got some more water in case there was a leak, and started off again. About this time, I fall asleep in the back seat. This was probably 4 or 4:30 in the morning. I have to be at work at 8.
I wake up at 5:30. We're parked in a big parking lot. I come to find out that it's the place we had dinner - in Salinas. So I push Travis over and drive the rest of the way home. I can't be late for work!
Then I worked. Then I hung out with Carrie. Then I went to sleep. That's about it.

But you have no idea.

Silly television.
Anyways, Thanksgiving and such...
I worked Wednesday night... I think that I didn't explain that whole situation, but I'm still kind of mad about it, so I'm not going to explain it. So ha. Not like anyone reads this anyway.
Wednesday, I had to work. Jordan came by while I was closing and we talked for a while. It was decided that I would take him to the train station at 4 am to catch his bus. I had to buy bagels for breakfast Thanksgiving morning with my parents, but everywhere that we tried to go was closed. Finally, I drove out to Food 4 Less, but when I turned into the driveway, I hit the center median (I didn't see it... it's weird, I swear it's not completely my fault!) and blew out both of the driver's side tires. So I ended up borrowing Jordan's car for the weekend because he's freaking awesome like that... And Ryan gave us a ride up to Morro Bay because he's awesome, too. I drive home, arriving there around 6 am. I wake up around 11 and help make dinner... well, sort of.
Thanksgiving was nice... it's always fun to have dinner with my parents (yes, I'm serious) and it was good to be able to take a breath for once. Plus, my mom cooks a damn good turkey. My father named it Osama. Wonderful. Emily came over, and we hung out for a little while. I finally got to meet the infamous Justin. Then I went to Cherylyn's... also nice, even though we didn't stay for very long. I went to see Shallow Hal with Samantha, which was... funny... The only problem is that once you've seen the previews, you basically know how the movie's going to turn out. I mean, there just weren't very many surprises. And I like surprises. I don't know... whatever. It was cute.
Came home (parents' home), went to sleep. Woke up... didn't call Samantha for breakfast because I suck and besides, it was already almost noon. I drove back up here and dropped by the tire place. My stupidity is going to cost me about $300. Wonderful.
I am the walrus.
Worked tonight, then went and hung out at Jordan and Erik's place.

Sooo I got a car.
I drove down today to Santa Maria. I test drove two cars, found out that one that I wanted had sold, wandered around, got really stressed out, went and picked up Keith and Andrew to help me look, went back and looked at two cars, and finally bought one.

It's a dark, dark blue 1994 Saturn SL1. It's an automatic... I know, I wanted a stick, but the one standard I was looking at that was in good condition was a lot more expensive than this one. Uh, it has a nice stereo, but it's just a tape, so if anyone wants to buy me a CD player... Moonroof, etc. It wasn't *too* expensive to start with, and the guy gave me a pretty good deal, especially considering that it has a new transmission and a new battery.

Somewhere in all the running around today, I went to my dad's work and took him out to lunch. I figured it was the least I owed him for dragging him all the way up here and then having him go home after sitting around here waiting for me. So that was kind of nice. Anyone in Santa Maria is welcome to drive by my house and look at my car... I'll be taking it back up here on Tuesday. And all you Poly kids can see it when you come back. Um, let's see, what else?
I basically slept all of Wednesday, got up Thursday for class and work, and then came home and slept again until I went down to Santa Maria this morning. (That would be from about 6:30 in the evening until about 9 am.) I told a friend of mine at work about Tuesday night and he was like, "oh sounds like someone gave you roofers..."
Obviously, I said no, they couldn't have.
But then I didn't want to just assume.
So I went home and read all about them... Problem is, the symptoms of Rohypnol overdose are very much like the symptoms of alcohol overdose... Problems seeing clearly, etc. I think the only way that I can PROVE it would be to get drug tested, and I'd rather not. The way I proved it for myself was this: I remember that there were six of us who were drinking. I know we finished a fifth of Jose Cuervo, and in the morning, the handle was empty as well. I remember that right when we started drinking, I had at least 6 shots in less than twenty minutes... I'd say that it was probably more like 8 shots in 15 minutes... On my empty stomach. And no, this wasn't them forcing me. I was sober... This part is my responsibility. So anyway, considering that I hadn't drank since November, that should have gotten me relatively drunk. What would be the point of giving me roofers then? Not much. And when I was sober, I poured all of my shots and then drank them... No room for anyone to put anything in them. SO now that I've been through all that, I'm back to being convinced that these are good guys and they wouldn't do that to me.
I think that's about it for now. I work at 10:30 tomorrow and I should probably get some sleep before then.