now entering liminal phase

I now find myself without my regular car. I dropped my poor Fit off at Collision Experts at 7:30 this morning, endorsed my insurance check for the burly but friendly dude running the office at that hour, then waited for the rep from Enterprise Rental to drive up and take me to his car-rental branch office. Once there, I was pleased to discover that I would be paying only body shop rates, i.e., a $10 discount on the normal rate, dropping me from $41/day to $31/day. Veddy nice. Not only that, but I had requested a subcompact car like my Fit, and ended up with a much larger Honda Civic, which gets a comfy 35 miles per gallon (my Fit gets around 28 mpg; is this Civic a hybrid?). I won't be using that much gas as I commute.

I also went down to the rental office, paid my rent, and got my spanking new laundry smart card. The apartment complex recently switched out its old, coin-op machines for these newer e-models. I'm not sure that there's any increase in convenience; if anything, I'm now more directly dependent upon the rental office to recharge the smart card. Before, all I needed to do was have a supply of quarters handy, and I could obtain change from anywhere. I also think the price of a load of laundry has gone up to $1.50 (from $1.25) per load per machine. Sadness. The card I received came with $4 pre-loaded onto it, which is enough to do one wash and one dry. After that, I need to visit the office periodically to recharge.

I'm surprised at how much I've already gotten done today. I still have a massive pile of proofing and editing to do-- an answer-key assignment that's due this coming Friday. But extra work means extra money, which is absolutely crucial these days, especially before Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, I'll be fêting the holidays at my brother David's house, along with his wife Patricia and my good buddy Dr. Steve. Here's hoping that the final months of this year glide to a smooth halt, and that no more bad luck has been lined up for me by the cosmic deathchickens. For once, I'd like not to be struggling with money.

Dear Santa: a large sack of Benjamins would come in handy right about now. Thanks.

In the meantime, I await the glorious return of my Fit, which will signify the end of this weird liminal period. Once the car is done with all its surgery, I'll pay my $250 deductible and we're fuckin' free.


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