By which I become a Paraiste on Society

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

My truck had some electrical issues yesterday morning. Yesterday evening, 30 minutes into my 2 hour commute, it died on the highway. Interesting note: when your battery is flat and the alternator is broken, your hazard lights don’t work. Also, planting giant oleander bushes on the highway shoulder, so that people pushing broke down cars have to walk within 3 feet of speeding semis, was a dick move, California Transit.

After pushing the truck a mile to a safer spot, I called AAA and had them tow it to a random nearby mechanic, because towing it all the way home would have cost $500. The husband and I took a hard look at our finances, and it’s clear that we can’t afford even the diagnostics to figure out what is wrong with the truck. We’ll have to find another way to tow it home and store it for a few months while we maybe scrape together enough money so we can evaluate whether it’s fixable or not. In the mean time, I’ll crash on a very kind aquaintance’s sofa during the week so I can save money on train tickets.

I know there are people in worse situations than me, and I have been very fortunate to receive help from family and friends and even the credit card companies. But still, facing the real prospect of being evicted or going on welfare is literally giving me nightmares.

Doing this extra education was stupid, stupid, stupid. I should have gone out and gotten a real job :frowning:

#2

Are you further than 100 miles from school? I’m a firm believer in upgrading to AAA Plus which I think is only about $20 more per year. It allows 4 tows per year of up to 100 miles. I think the regular service is only something like 7 miles, so you can exceed that easily even when just tooling around town. Over the course of 20 years, I think I’ve had one tow over 7 miles, but that single tow would’ve cost about as much as my additional premium over those 20 years.

#3

I would upgrade, but I’ll only be doing this commute for the next 3 weeks. Then, I’m back to my regular commute where I’m never more than 10 miles from home.

And, right now, $20 would make the difference between having groceries and not.

#4

Pullet,
I feel your pain more than I wish to admit. Although, I’m a long ways from thinking of welfare.

I decline to share my emotional angst in depth, but at the moment I’m feeling overeducated and underemployed. And have decided I should stay away from threads about bad things happening to people.

Yesterday, I read the threads about your car woes and Zsofia’s burns.

Today i burnt myself at work–not as badly as she did, but still . . .

And I took my car in for an inspection and a routine oil change, and I think they recommended repairs costing more than my car is worth. Or maybe not, Maybe I’m confusing the value of my car with what someone would pay me for it–not much. It’s 8 years old, with 63 thousand miles. (It’s a Saturn, so it was never high-priced). At any rate, I paid for the driver’s side mirror to be replaced, so that they would pass me on the inspection. But I honestly thought for a while today that they recommended more repairs than my projected income for the rest of the year–but I think maybe I got confused (and underestimated my income as well). Still, I’m almost afraid to drive it, until I get the belt tensioner fixed, and maybe the brakes, and yet I’m not sure I can afford either repair right now.

And then there’s the angst . . . will I ever have a job worthy of me? Am I truly worthy of a better job? Why did I ever quit my old sucky job to go back to school? . . . .

So like I said, I can identify with your feelings more than I wish I did–and a lot more than I did yesterday.