i beat my car’s “check engine” light yesterday and passed my emissions test. in the process of doing so, i’ve successfully put off having to replace the old (and expensive) catalytic converter for the time being. thanks to those that saved me a thousand bucks; you know who you are.

i finally got the yellow card of doom in the mail today, the notice that says i have to bring my car in for emissions testing. problem is, my car’s ‘check engine’ light has been on for quite some time now and i’m sure rolling up to the test facility with it burning brightly for the masses will result in instant failure. groan.

so my car is in the shop again. the alternator doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job of charging the battery and a sticky throttle body makes my car idle at a stuttery 600 RPM, forcing me to keep the engine revved at red lights so it doesn’t stall on me.

on an unrelated note, my girlfriend is laughing at me because she just discovered that i keep my stash of haw flakes in its own metal box.

finally got my handicapped parking placard in the mail today which is valid in all 50 states and about half of the Canadian provinces. now excuse me while i park like a rock star.

WELL. it seems like my car battery might be dead.

i changed the spark plugs and spark plug wires on my car yesterday because one of my cylinders was misfiring. now the ‘check engine’ light is gone and it runs like new.

even though it still bares its fair share of battle scars, i finally feel like i’ve got my old car back again. it’s seen some rough times this past year or so but it’s managed to slog through it all and push onward.

thanks :)

the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas went by pretty quickly and the car drove pretty well even though the trunk and backseat were packed with Beka’s belongings. surprisingly, we made it here on much less than one tank of gas, averaging 40 miles per gallon. not bad for 10 year-old Mitsubishi Mirage, eh?

after two weeks of walking here in LA, it’s a little surreal to suddenly have a car to drive. sometimes i miss having to walk everywhere because there are so many little details along the way to appreciate. many beautiful classic cars park on these roads and it’s certainly hard to appreciate them when you’re going 35 miles per hour. but who am i kidding? having a car makes life a lot easier and we no longer need to walk 40 minutes home with a full load of groceries because now it’s just a six minute drive with no sweating.

and now we can finally buy liquids!

so i narrowly avoided two traffic collisions today in quick succession. the first incident involved a doofus in an SUV who decided to suddenly change lanes into my car. i was forced to swerve into the opposite lane (there was no oncoming traffic) to get past the guy because we were both being tailgated at the time. then, not two minutes later, a minivan pulls perpendicularly into the road and comes to a complete stop in the middle of both lanes. i’m hard on the brakes as i see the minivan’s reverse lights come on and i narrowly avoid clipping its nose as it backs up.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: PLEASE MAKE OBTAINING A DRIVER’S LICENSE SIGNIFICANTLY HARDER

FINALLY!

more than a month after it was unhappily sandwiched between a GMC Sierra and a Scion tC, my car is finally back in working order! i’ve lost power locking in the driver’s door, the fresh paint is slightly more saturated, the new rear doors’ lock stalks are a different color than the rest of the interior, but it’s drivable, parkable, and back on the streets :)