12:27 pm - Weds 9.03.2008
There's Nothing Wrong With Me A Giant Infusion Of Cash Wouldn't Cure

Well, thanks to the good folks at AAA, my car is a car again, and not just a 4,000 lb paperweight.

After getting the new battery installed (by the same guy who installed my last "new battery" back in July), I went to a glass place he recommended on Mission St., to deal with my "window issues".

(In addition to the power windows not working, leaving the back passenger-side window at half-mast, I was missing the small, triangular piece of glass on the back driver's-side window.)

And at the glass place, I got a happy surprise - while the main window controls don't work, the control on the back passenger-side window works fine.

And yes, I'd like to be able to open and close my windows from behind the wheel, but all I really needed at this point was to close that one window (Since, at this writing, my air-conditioning still works - Which I find impressive in an 18-year-old car).

I felt pretty stupid when, after explaining my problem, the guy at the glass place just hit the button and rolled up the window, giving me a look that politely said, "Are you retarded?". But in my own semi-defense, I've never had a passenger in the back seat of my car, so I wasn't thinking about controls there. And when you look back at that window from behind the wheel, the button is hidden from view by the front seat. But anyway...)

Replacing the window piece cost me $50 (For the window and gasket; I don't know if that was a fair price or not, but considering what I was afraid I'd be shelling out, I was a pretty happy camper).

Well, I could go on - "Did this whole sorry mess happen because I forgot to set my alarm...?", I've wondered - but I'm starting to bore myself.

Long story short - Everything is back to normal, and I'm only out about $180; for the battery, the window, and the remote batteries I replaced when I didn't need to.

I wish it hadn't happened - I could think of better uses for $180 - but it could have been worse.

As of this month, my rent goes up to $719.40 a month.

To give you a frame-of-reference: When I was living in MI, seven-and-a-half years ago, I think I was paying $395 a month (It may actually have been $365. I'm not sure. But anyway...).

When I first moved here, I was paying $519 a month for a "bachelor" (i.e. a small "efficiency" with no kitchen).

Than my current apartment - a substantially larger "single" - opened up, which I took "as is" for $495 a month (Still not sure what the "as is" part was about...unless you pay a little less for first floor apartments here because there's no view, and when "The Big One" hits, you're dead meat when the entire building falls on you).

The yearly increase always causes me a lot of existential angst, wondering what I'm going to do, wondering where I can cut back, wondering if there's anyplace cheaper I could live (And of course, "wondering if this is the year the bottom drops out altogether and I die in the gutter" - Can't forget that angst).

Finding a cheaper place to live would be a pretty tall order (Cause I've never heard of a single in LA less than what I'm paying now); pretty much the only possibilities I can think of are going back down to a "bachelor" (And even that would take serious hunting, to find one substantially cheaper than what I'm paying for my current digs), and looking for a "roommate situation".

The options seem pretty unappetizing (And if you've ever seen how I live - like Cary and Jane have - you know I'd be a nightmare of a roommate. Not to mention needing to find a roommate that was okay with cats, in a place that takes cats. And even then, a lot of roommate situations are still more expensive than what I'm paying now).

And to be honest, I just really don't want to have to move, cause I basically like where I am, and anywhere I'd like better, I can't afford.

So right now, I just keep hoping that as the rent goes up and up and up, ad infinitum, that I'll just keep being able to pay it somehow.

But speaking of "paying the bills", I've gotta go walk the dog, and then pay this month's rent (Melodrama aside, I'm pretty sure I can make it through the rest of the year before "the bottom drops out altogether". So I can hold off worrying about homelessness for a little while longer...)

previous - next