(no subject)

[mallorys_camera]

Storm was something of a bust. Yes, there was snow. No, there wasn't half a foot of it. Poughkeepsie Celebration of Lights and fireworks display hastily postponed to today. There's also a scavenger hunt in Old Poughkeepsie. (Of course, much of the central core of Poughkeepsie is what you might call "Old Poughkeepsie." Much of it is also what you might call "Deep Urban Ghetto and Squalor Poughkeepsie." The scavenger hunt will take place in the tamer areas.) I do love scavenger hunts, so shortly I will be trotting down to Cafe Aurora and signing up.

Bardavon showed the 1951 Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sims last night. I went. Have seen the movie a million times – and as corny as it is, it never fails to spook me out – but never on a big screen with the mighty Wurlitzer before.

I continue to be in an odd mood. Reading Alice Munro, which is part of it. When you read Alice Munro, you naturally start thinking of yourself as a character in an Alice Munro short story, which is to say, as someone whose life can be encapsulated in 35 pages of beautiful prose. You may rage against this. You may think, Damn! It really should have been PHILIP ROTH who won the Nobel Prize, because he would have devoted a whole damn novel to me! But it is what it is.

But the odd mood...

Like I flew into an absolute fury last night texting with PT because he started asking me about buying a car, andI told him I thought I'd have the $$$ saved by February. I don't envy you YOUR task! he texts and then starts going on and on about how virtually impossible it is to buy a used car, and how I'm never going to be able to find one: Victimization at the hands of unscrupulous individuals is my inevitable fate.

And I'm thinking, Damn! I'm not marrying the thing. I know perfectly well in my price range, there are going to be some mechanical issues with anything I buy and I'm gonna have to sink $2,500 a year into keeping a car roadworthy for the two or three years I own it. It's not like I'm looking for a Cadillac to be buried in.

And then I thought, You have some gall talking down to me when your life is falling to pieces.

Which it is.

PT was the one guy at the VISTA orientation who was in my age bracket. We hung out a few times. He chose VISTA not because any of the job descriptions appealed to him, but because his life was falling apart. Without VISTA, it seems to me his life is really in pieces and he's moving back to Ithaca – Ithaca! -- which is not where his life began to disintegrate, but is where the downward spiral really accelerated through an X-girlfriend and a restraining order.

I couldn't tell if I was over-reacting or if he really was being obnoxious.

Also, B sent me another laptop – a really beautiful machine, perfect for writing in coffee shops.

("Really" appears to be adjective of the day! Must watch those jejune qualifiers.)

Comments

[fuzzilla.livejournal.com]

The car comment would've pissed me off, too.

You can actually get good car deals through craigslist, though obviously it'll take some patience and discernment. Through craigslist I got hooked up with a guy who personally sells cars for Carmax (?something like that), got the VIN# and did a Carfax report. It's been great so far, had the car since April, I think.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Carfax is absolutely essential if you're buying a used car. I mean, you know going into the deal that sooner rather than later,something's gonna break down, but you don't want that something to be the transmission.

[fuzzilla.livejournal.com]

Also, I was like, "Wait, I thought PT was your ex-boyfriend and now one of your best friends and he's now happily married with a new baby..." (I confused you with another LJ friend). ;o)

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Ha ha. No, Ben -- oft referred to herein by initial -- is my X, and also one of my best friends. No baby though.

A little perspective

[anais-pf.livejournal.com]

IMHO, flying into a fury over such comments is over-reacting, and I don't read PT's comments as talking down to you. Instead, it sounds as though PT has had a bad experience himself, with buying a used car. Why do you care so much that PT thinks buying a used car will be difficult?

[robby.livejournal.com]

I like the 1951 version, as well.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

The scenes with Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time.

[robby.livejournal.com]

I found the entire film on YouTube, and plan to watch it tonight.

[nodressrehersal.livejournal.com]

This is our favorite version, and we watch it every year at some point in time over the holidays.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

It was so terrific watching it in a movie theater! Truly, a great film.

[nodressrehersal.livejournal.com]

Jeez, we bought two used cars in the last few months, and it wasn't an awful process at all. Lots of online research, narrowing it down to total $$ wanted to spend, total ## of mileage, and a handful of makes and models that rated well.

We did find out (I think I wrote about it in an lj post or comment) that we are definitely not Craigslist car-buying material. No lemon law protection, no recourse, no nothin'.

But I went on to every local car dealership's website and put in the set parameters of maximum dollar amount, maximum mileage and it would spit out the choices. I did that every day for a few weeks until the right things popped up.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think either you deal with a Craigslist seller who has Carfax or you buy from a dealer.Either way, I'm sure I'll find something reliable when I'm ready to buy.

[nodressrehersal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but a carfax only tells you about accidents. In our case, the car we traded in would not pass inspection at the end of the month. It had a rotted through spot in the thing that holds the engine in place and would've required expensive parts and welding to repair, costing us over $2,000. An unscrupulous seller might not disclose something like that, whereas a dealership would be required to make any necessary repairs before selling the car in order for it to pass inspection, or send it to auction "as is" or sell to a junkyard. They gave us $1,400 on trade for it, and I was thinking I would have to junk it myself and get about $300 for scrap metal.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

whereas a dealership would be required to make any necessary repairs before selling the car in order for it to pass inspection

Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks! In CA, rust is not an issue so it's not on my radar.

Suspect a lot of Craigslist sellers aren't intentionally duplicitous. They may not even know what's wrong with the vehicle they're selling. But it's a good reason to buy from a dealership.

[nodressrehersal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're not a particularly "car savvy" household - we don't change our own oil, and rely on AAA to jump start dead batteries, etc. So having some kind of warranty package via the dealership, for us, is a big plus. Once warranty coverage has expired, we have a repair shop right down the street where we go, and they've always been good AND fair with our car issues.

Best of luck to you when the search begins.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm not car savvy either. The warranty is a big deal.