The Not Happy Thread

The play was awful. Mrs A fell asleep, but my RLS kept me awake.

We left in the interval.

First outright miss in 11 years that I've been going.

 

Feeling a lot of pressure lately. My lover's asking when I will sell another story, a novel, something. I wish it didn't matter as much as it does.

 

Turning a negative into a positive good for you mink!

 

I have to!

This job, man, lol. I love it, but at the same time I really hate it. I'm glad I don't have to go back on Monday.

 

2 weeks ago I had to replace the knock sensors and connectors in one of our trucks. Two days ago engine light is back on. One of the brand new knock sensors failed. After two weeks. Very not fucking happy, since now I have to take half the damned motor apart.... again.

 

Yeah, the Knock sensors are giving me issues with my Yukon, and worse here in Cali, you can't pass smog if the light is on, despite absolutely nothing else wrong with your vehicle. Passes regular smog but damn it to hell if that dumb light is on, OH or dont' have a California approved Muffler (which I do have now)

 

I guess I can be grateful I don't have to deal with that. But seriously, they're such a pain in the ass to replace and I am not paying a damn shop 800 bucks to do something I can do for 150. Just... what the fuck happened to quality control? Grrrrrrr!

 

I'm impressed, I didn't think it was possible to shade-tree repair anything made after about 2000...

 

At the risk of lowering your esteem - it's a 2000 Silverado that I inherited, and is in perfect condition (other than the knock sensors of course). Buuuut... our other truck is a 2007 2500 HD and I work on it as well. I don't go to a mechanic unless I absolutely have no choice (once in the last 10 years).

 

Was it Dodge that made a cummins diesel with no computerized nothin?

 

I have a funny story about that, when I was at midas having my Yukon working on. A lady came in to get her rear light changed and apparently no one could do it, even the freak'n mechanics had an issue with it at first. and I was just thinking really... I can change my lights easily. but it's a '96.

 

My stepdad is retired from one of the big construction-machinery companies. He was a mechanic who worked his way up to the prototype assembly team, the guys with permanent grease in their knuckles who take what the smart college kids designed in CAD and see if it'll really fit together (his description, not mine), and what the order of assembly should be, what works and doesn't, etc. The man lived and breathed engine and vehicle mechanics for forty years, but when my mom got a Jeep Wrangler, he opened up the hood and showed me the cube of aluminum that sits where there used to be an engine. "I don't even know if I can change the spark plugs on this thing, Iain."

 

My first car was a '66 Chevy pickup, with the engine and rear axle replaced by a 350 and a...it was a long time ago. I could fit myself, three of my best friends, and a Toyota in the engine bay alone, even with that small-block in there, and everything was accessible, if not actually falling out of the truck. Ignition switch was broken, so I used Radio Shack speaker wires to bypass it and run it from a doorbell switch I'd duct-taped to the dashboard.

I still know who owns it, and as soon as I become rich (cough, cough), I'm buying that fucker back and having a long talk with Chip Foose...

 

'64 289 with the wood truckbed and chain thingies for tailgate. Used to burn doughnuts in the parking lots with 2 of the cylinders out!

Fun times...

 

350 4 bolt, 350 trans, Quadrajet, Mickey Thompson tires in back whose spec eludes me but 12" across the tread... Camaro buckets held through the floorboards by one bolt apiece, no seatbelts, reverse lockout on the shifter out of commission (that was exciting to learn at 45 mph!)

 

Bench seats! I drove that thing way to fast. I hit the curb in a turn and threw myself into the passenger door. Manual steering saved my ass cause it let me pull myself back to hit the brakes! Who needs seatbelts when your'e a high mass projectile, anyway?

 

OK, it's official. I'm never learning to drive.

I'm making myself a revision timetable and it's breaking my mind before I've even tried to stick to it. Because it's a boarding school and we're all still here, even though we're on study leave, teachers want to keep teaching and it's throwing me off. Also, it's half term next week and I won't be able to get to know the new cat or spend time with my granny and step-granddad because I'll be revising eight to ten hours a day.

And I might have left it to late to start and I won't be able to fit everything in before the exams.

 

Did you do A-Levels, though? Feeling better, had a bit of a break to watch the Royal Wedding in the common room.

 

I think you maybe onto something...

 

You can rent a lot of those specialty tools from Advance Auto. Very helpful!