(no subject)
Mar. 28th, 2018 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* "Russia: Demand for resignations over Siberia shopping centre fire:" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/russia-demand-resignations-siberia-shopping-centre-fire-180327065112894.html
* "Trump gets South Korean concessions in first trade deal:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/27/trump-south-korea-trade-deal-488708
* Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington are joining the New York State lawsuit over 45 trying to undermine the census by adding the citizenship in order to scare mixed status families into not responding. The California suit is separate.
* "Judge allows lawsuit alleging Trump took illegal foreign gifts:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/28/politics/emoluments-lawsuit-trump-hotel/index.html
* "Mueller team reveals Manafort business associate’s connection to Russian intel service:" http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/380606-mueller-team-reveals-manafort-business-associates-connection-to
* There is a special place in Valhalla for such as he. "French hero policeman honoured in Paris:" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43562038
* "Rick Santorum's Hot Take On The March For Our Lives:"
* "Pennsylvania Students Get Armed with Rocks:"
* "Profiles in Tremendousness - National Security Adviser John Bolton:"
* Today was a special kind of horrible. I didn't get much sleep because of assorted physical inconveniences, but dragged myself out earlier than strictly necessary as I didn't trust the car and two of the things on the list were must do's. I mailed off the last ebay, but didn't get mailers as they'd just remodeled and hadn't put them back out. I hit the library, as I always do when Downtown. As I hadn't bought the mailers, I stopped at the pharmacy for lung meds. This was a mistake, as the parking was crammed and it involved lots of sharp turns and speed bumps. I suspect this is what did the car in. Squirrel had dutifully tightened the nuts last night, so wiggling the wires didn't have much noticeable effect. Some nice people tried a jump. Various people prodded it, as happens if one has a hood up in a well trafficked area, and one guy lifted the whole connected assembly off the battery so clearly that wasn't right. If I hadn't been foolish enough to stop at the pharmacy, it would have died, and I likely could have gotten the Mechanic to look at it for free and see if it was salvagable, but instead, stuck downtown with a dead car I couldn't afford to tow.
It was a good mobility day and the distance to the honest Mechanic is one that would have been nothing when I was healthy. I am not healthy, and like the Little Mermaid, every step I take on land cases pain, though in my case it's hips and spine. I calculated that I could gimp there and back to the Dentist in the time I had, with maybe enough time to forage a back pack's worth of milk and bread, which we needed, not that the mechanic would be much good, as all I had was the insurance money awaiting auto-withdraw and the price of a blue cab home left after the Post Office and Pharmacy. The not being stranded bit was important, as waling home would take all evening and would be nightmarishly exhausting and painful. I decided to see if I could talk them into taking my car as a down payment for fixing Squirrel's breaks, but I hadn't much hope there. Still, I would have to go that way to get to the dentist, and forage and mechanic were on the same block, so not much would be lost except pain and spoons and that was going to happen anyway.
The nice young man running the desk at the mechanic let me leave Squirrel a message, and I settled in to wait for the Owner. What little hope I had was already gone by this point, as they no longer take trade ins to pay for repairs, and the cheapest car is in the 3500-4000 range. Still I could wait there, or in the forage line, or for a couple hours at the dentist, so I waited there. Neither Squirrel's gold car nor mine beast are worth trading in for them as it turns out as towage is more than they'd get at auction.
However, the owner thought it was likely the crimpy things that attach to the battery and/or the associated wires that were failing, not the alternator. They have a deal with a certain tow company and towing would be 50, which is very cheap for this area. Repair would likely be about the same with parts and labor, assuming that's all it was. Might as well hope for the moon. If I gave them my insurance money and what was in my pocket, I cold cover the tow and overdraw when insurance auto-pulled, but I couldn't cover the repair. If I'd broken down at forage I could have given them everything and overdrawn, but had a working car. It was impossible though. I know full well they haven't space to store cars longer than a day or two at most. I know that they no longer do payment plans because too many people stiffed them.
They are kind at the honest mechanics, and often shave off some of the labor costs, do lots of small things free or for the price of the part, will guarantee a particular repair up to a year and keep at it until it is right. They are good people, but even if I don't pay anything but housing, insurance, and them next month, I won;t be able to pay them until the third or forth. It's too long for them to hold a car. Readers, he offered to cover the tow and bill me next week along with the repair. He made me swear I really would pay them. It is a huge leap of faith given how often he's been burned.
So I'm deeper in an already deep hole, but Squirrel's Gold car is in the 1000 range to not be a death trap and the 1500 range if I want it to be driveable for me. It is an impossible amount I've no chance of getting it.
In the forage line, it turned out the Lady ahead of me offered me a lift to the dentist. This was a huge risk for her, and she was completely understandably nervous about it. We went around and made sure lots of people knew who she was leaving with, including two who had access to my address. I think it helped that lots of people knew me and reassured her I was okay. Yes, I am harmless and not even a little interested in the fairer sex, but Ted Bundy used an arm in a sling ploy and a woman can't be too careful. I think it also helped that we were only going a few blocks in broad daylight Downtown on a week day. It meant I could get my produce and Squirrel's meat, canned goods, and peanut butter as well as the bread and milk.
Poverty dentist has a lot of homeless clientele, so I was pretty sure me piling my gear out of the way in the waiting room wouldn't be a problem, which was in fact fine. They let me call Squirrel, which was lucky as I just managed to head him off on an excursion to the Mechanic in hopes of rescuing me. I gave him directions to the dentist and told him 6ish.
I drew the Renaissance Angel looking dentist again, who remembered me. He probed my jaw, but couldn't find anything wrong, so I am going to aggressively treat it as chronic pain and see what happens. He filled the two upper teeth, but found a small cavity in a neighboring one, so I'll be going back mid-April for that. On the upside, This time, I didn't walk out with the same number we thought I had going in. On the downside, I lost the appointment slip at some point between dentist and home. Sigh.
Squirrel had gotten confused and went to my Doctor instead of my dentist, but someone there straightened him out, so I still theoretically have some of the mailer money left, for what good it would do me. (You can see the building my Dentist is in from the railing in front of my Doctor so this is a perfectly reasonable mistake. I have, in fact, stood at that railing at pointed the building out to confused people who went to the wrong one. It is a frequent and easy mistake as they are affiliated, have the same name, and used to be in the same building). I would do another auction, but I'm not at all sure I really will have proper transport and it freaks me out trying to sell things without prearranged means to mail them. Plus there's the whole selecting sacrifices bit. I think it's best to wait to see how things fall out with the car before I pay out anything, especially as I have yesterday's 30 still in electronic limbo.
I am incredibly grateful for the kindness of people today and for none of this having happened in the rain. I ended up weeping over Ladies' Free Skates from this year's world over coucous and tea after putting the forage away. (Couscous: easy to make and easy to eat if you can barely chew). I have used up pretty much all the spoons and pain resistance today and this was far to much stress. I am going to be a mess tomorrow as a lot of these were tomorrow's spoons and tomorow's pain resistance.
I am guessing the tow company found my car as I had no messages on the landline when I got home.
When we got home, my cats were curled up together at the foot of my bed, so Squirrel went in to visit them. Livia is slow to warm up and still wary of him, especially when he is doing that freaky walk on two legs thing and wearing shoes. Squirrel was startled as he had thought at first glance the large cat in front was Tavy, since obviously the little cat in back must be the kitten, only she moved away from him up the bed while Tavy soaked up his pettins. It's not like Squirrel doesn't know what they look like, but it's darkish in there and Tavy has some Tabby mixed into the melting pot that is his gene pool, and he seldom sees them together so the size difference hadn't grabbed him until then. Him: She's bigger than him! A lot bigger! Me: And still growing. She's going to be a Kaiju kitty!
* I used all my money on housing and insurance this month. I need to raise another $100-120 for the other bills. If you'd like to chip in: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:" https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/
* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):" https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate
* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0
* Help fight for Net Neutrality restoration: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170010496350/democrats-are-just-one-vote-shy-of-restoring-net
* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey
* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.
* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386
* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.
* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/
* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
* "Trump gets South Korean concessions in first trade deal:" https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/27/trump-south-korea-trade-deal-488708
* Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington are joining the New York State lawsuit over 45 trying to undermine the census by adding the citizenship in order to scare mixed status families into not responding. The California suit is separate.
* "Judge allows lawsuit alleging Trump took illegal foreign gifts:" https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/28/politics/emoluments-lawsuit-trump-hotel/index.html
* "Mueller team reveals Manafort business associate’s connection to Russian intel service:" http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/380606-mueller-team-reveals-manafort-business-associates-connection-to
* There is a special place in Valhalla for such as he. "French hero policeman honoured in Paris:" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43562038
* "Rick Santorum's Hot Take On The March For Our Lives:"
* "Pennsylvania Students Get Armed with Rocks:"
* "Profiles in Tremendousness - National Security Adviser John Bolton:"
* Today was a special kind of horrible. I didn't get much sleep because of assorted physical inconveniences, but dragged myself out earlier than strictly necessary as I didn't trust the car and two of the things on the list were must do's. I mailed off the last ebay, but didn't get mailers as they'd just remodeled and hadn't put them back out. I hit the library, as I always do when Downtown. As I hadn't bought the mailers, I stopped at the pharmacy for lung meds. This was a mistake, as the parking was crammed and it involved lots of sharp turns and speed bumps. I suspect this is what did the car in. Squirrel had dutifully tightened the nuts last night, so wiggling the wires didn't have much noticeable effect. Some nice people tried a jump. Various people prodded it, as happens if one has a hood up in a well trafficked area, and one guy lifted the whole connected assembly off the battery so clearly that wasn't right. If I hadn't been foolish enough to stop at the pharmacy, it would have died, and I likely could have gotten the Mechanic to look at it for free and see if it was salvagable, but instead, stuck downtown with a dead car I couldn't afford to tow.
It was a good mobility day and the distance to the honest Mechanic is one that would have been nothing when I was healthy. I am not healthy, and like the Little Mermaid, every step I take on land cases pain, though in my case it's hips and spine. I calculated that I could gimp there and back to the Dentist in the time I had, with maybe enough time to forage a back pack's worth of milk and bread, which we needed, not that the mechanic would be much good, as all I had was the insurance money awaiting auto-withdraw and the price of a blue cab home left after the Post Office and Pharmacy. The not being stranded bit was important, as waling home would take all evening and would be nightmarishly exhausting and painful. I decided to see if I could talk them into taking my car as a down payment for fixing Squirrel's breaks, but I hadn't much hope there. Still, I would have to go that way to get to the dentist, and forage and mechanic were on the same block, so not much would be lost except pain and spoons and that was going to happen anyway.
The nice young man running the desk at the mechanic let me leave Squirrel a message, and I settled in to wait for the Owner. What little hope I had was already gone by this point, as they no longer take trade ins to pay for repairs, and the cheapest car is in the 3500-4000 range. Still I could wait there, or in the forage line, or for a couple hours at the dentist, so I waited there. Neither Squirrel's gold car nor mine beast are worth trading in for them as it turns out as towage is more than they'd get at auction.
However, the owner thought it was likely the crimpy things that attach to the battery and/or the associated wires that were failing, not the alternator. They have a deal with a certain tow company and towing would be 50, which is very cheap for this area. Repair would likely be about the same with parts and labor, assuming that's all it was. Might as well hope for the moon. If I gave them my insurance money and what was in my pocket, I cold cover the tow and overdraw when insurance auto-pulled, but I couldn't cover the repair. If I'd broken down at forage I could have given them everything and overdrawn, but had a working car. It was impossible though. I know full well they haven't space to store cars longer than a day or two at most. I know that they no longer do payment plans because too many people stiffed them.
They are kind at the honest mechanics, and often shave off some of the labor costs, do lots of small things free or for the price of the part, will guarantee a particular repair up to a year and keep at it until it is right. They are good people, but even if I don't pay anything but housing, insurance, and them next month, I won;t be able to pay them until the third or forth. It's too long for them to hold a car. Readers, he offered to cover the tow and bill me next week along with the repair. He made me swear I really would pay them. It is a huge leap of faith given how often he's been burned.
So I'm deeper in an already deep hole, but Squirrel's Gold car is in the 1000 range to not be a death trap and the 1500 range if I want it to be driveable for me. It is an impossible amount I've no chance of getting it.
In the forage line, it turned out the Lady ahead of me offered me a lift to the dentist. This was a huge risk for her, and she was completely understandably nervous about it. We went around and made sure lots of people knew who she was leaving with, including two who had access to my address. I think it helped that lots of people knew me and reassured her I was okay. Yes, I am harmless and not even a little interested in the fairer sex, but Ted Bundy used an arm in a sling ploy and a woman can't be too careful. I think it also helped that we were only going a few blocks in broad daylight Downtown on a week day. It meant I could get my produce and Squirrel's meat, canned goods, and peanut butter as well as the bread and milk.
Poverty dentist has a lot of homeless clientele, so I was pretty sure me piling my gear out of the way in the waiting room wouldn't be a problem, which was in fact fine. They let me call Squirrel, which was lucky as I just managed to head him off on an excursion to the Mechanic in hopes of rescuing me. I gave him directions to the dentist and told him 6ish.
I drew the Renaissance Angel looking dentist again, who remembered me. He probed my jaw, but couldn't find anything wrong, so I am going to aggressively treat it as chronic pain and see what happens. He filled the two upper teeth, but found a small cavity in a neighboring one, so I'll be going back mid-April for that. On the upside, This time, I didn't walk out with the same number we thought I had going in. On the downside, I lost the appointment slip at some point between dentist and home. Sigh.
Squirrel had gotten confused and went to my Doctor instead of my dentist, but someone there straightened him out, so I still theoretically have some of the mailer money left, for what good it would do me. (You can see the building my Dentist is in from the railing in front of my Doctor so this is a perfectly reasonable mistake. I have, in fact, stood at that railing at pointed the building out to confused people who went to the wrong one. It is a frequent and easy mistake as they are affiliated, have the same name, and used to be in the same building). I would do another auction, but I'm not at all sure I really will have proper transport and it freaks me out trying to sell things without prearranged means to mail them. Plus there's the whole selecting sacrifices bit. I think it's best to wait to see how things fall out with the car before I pay out anything, especially as I have yesterday's 30 still in electronic limbo.
I am incredibly grateful for the kindness of people today and for none of this having happened in the rain. I ended up weeping over Ladies' Free Skates from this year's world over coucous and tea after putting the forage away. (Couscous: easy to make and easy to eat if you can barely chew). I have used up pretty much all the spoons and pain resistance today and this was far to much stress. I am going to be a mess tomorrow as a lot of these were tomorrow's spoons and tomorow's pain resistance.
I am guessing the tow company found my car as I had no messages on the landline when I got home.
When we got home, my cats were curled up together at the foot of my bed, so Squirrel went in to visit them. Livia is slow to warm up and still wary of him, especially when he is doing that freaky walk on two legs thing and wearing shoes. Squirrel was startled as he had thought at first glance the large cat in front was Tavy, since obviously the little cat in back must be the kitten, only she moved away from him up the bed while Tavy soaked up his pettins. It's not like Squirrel doesn't know what they look like, but it's darkish in there and Tavy has some Tabby mixed into the melting pot that is his gene pool, and he seldom sees them together so the size difference hadn't grabbed him until then. Him: She's bigger than him! A lot bigger! Me: And still growing. She's going to be a Kaiju kitty!
* I used all my money on housing and insurance this month. I need to raise another $100-120 for the other bills. If you'd like to chip in: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
*****
* Full list of Resistance and charity links has been migrated to my profile as it was getting out of hand.
* "Help us stop the humanitarian crisis on Manus:" https://www.asrc.org.au/donate-now/
* "RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees):" https://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee/donate
* How to help Rohingya refugees: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html?emc=edit_nn_20171012&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=50784086&te=1&_r=0
* Help fight for Net Neutrality restoration: http://gwydionmisha.tumblr.com/post/170010496350/democrats-are-just-one-vote-shy-of-restoring-net
* A list of organizations to help you run for office: http://lovingmyselfishard.tumblr.com/post/167330144634/psst-hey
* Trans Lifeline is one of those organizations you can call at (877) 565-8860 in the US and in Canada (877) 330- 6366.
* The Trevor Project has a 24 hour hotline geared toward helping our youth, and you can call it at 1-866-488-7386
* Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.
* This App phones your rep for you: http://takeastance.us/
* Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resistbot.io/
* Help pay for cat food, litter, meds, medical copays: Paypal Lethran@gmail.com
* Birthday/Solstice master list: https://gwydion.dreamwidth.org/1925021.html
* Want Game of Thrones without the creepy? We need new players. We are very inclusive. "Game of Bones MUSH:" gobmush.wikidot.com
(no subject)
Date: 2018-03-29 05:36 pm (UTC)Love the "kaiju kitty"!
(no subject)
Date: 2018-03-29 11:14 pm (UTC)