Old fashioned tranny seeks same

I must be going on vacation soon, because everything is suddenly falling apart and requiring that I throw massive piles of my savings at it. A few days ago it was my eye, which got infected, and fortunately cost less than I feared it would to fix, but today, TODAY it is my car.

And the mechanic just basically told me that he wants nothing to do with fixing my car, because it is a mysterious poltergeist that has taken up residence in the driver's side door, causing it to fuse shut forever and all eternity. He says there is no way to fix this sort of thing, certainly not in a cost-effective manner suitable for a car that is worth as little as mine is, but what a stupid lousy thing to have to give up a car for!

The only good news is that I can actually continue to drive this car around until I can find a decent replacement cheap-o car of the Honda or Volvo persuasion (I'm picky, ya know, and it HAS to be manual transmission!). It just looks a little funny when I do the little slither-dance across the passenger seat to get in and out.

Curses.

After I got the news from the mechanic I was thrown into a serious funk, and sulked very sulkily for a few hours until I had the good sense to find something to eat, which almost always calms me down. So I grabbed the keys to Matt's car and zoomed off to my favorite sandwich shoppe where I bought the special of the day and a newspaper, settled the fuck down with them on the porch, and snuggled with the two golden retrievers the owner leaves out in front of the shoppe as a public service.

Thank god for sandwiches, and for dogs. Because it only took me a few minutes to get over the grumpifying financial aspect of needing to buy a new car and realize that this was a brilliant opportunity to SHOP for a new car!!!

Of course, it goes without saying that it will be another cheap-ass car, but I think I've grown enough now to spend over a grand on a car. My record so far is $1200, and even then I thought I overpaid. I'm very much not into the whole concept of a "car payment." I make those to the mechanic, not the bank. I like my mechanic a lot more than I've ever liked any bank, and he lets me pay when I can. Banks? Not so forgiving, I've heard.

So this time around I'm going to give myself a budget of a little bit more, maybe break the two thousand dollar barrier. And damn it, this time I want a radio that works! It's been two years since I could listen to the radio in my car, and dammit, I want my NPR back! A CD player wouldn't hurt either... But I'm not greedy.

Five-speed transmission, though. On that, I will not be moved. Ya gotta have standards. HA!