Ravings of a Textual Deviant

Yesterday was a Bad Day for cars; my semi-niece’s brakes had gone out on a car she’d bought two weeks ago, and I took her and an automotively savvy friend of ours over to where it was to get it towed. In the course of driving her over, our A-S friend noticed that my car was idling high, and that my gas mileage was remarkably bad.  He insisted that we go directly to to a car-parts store as soon as my niece’s car had been towed, which we did, so that he could get a Chilton’s manual or its equivalent for my car and he could at least diagnose the problem.

I certainly can’t argue there are worse times and places to have your car utterly refuse to start than in front of a car-parts store with an automotively-savvy friend along, so at least Priscilla has good timing.

A-S friend changed the spark plugs, after kindly explaining to me what the appalling condition of them meant (change your spark plugs more often, mostly) and Priss still refused to start. Ed came by and picked up the three of us. A-S friend and I went back to the car later that night, and she did start, so I drove her over to my favorite mechanic, whom she proceeded to drive absolutely around the bend by taking forever to diagnose and coming up with two separate problems. Fortunately, they got her taken care of, oil change and all, for $284 and I got there just in the nick of time to pick her up today.

My semi-niece got both worse news and better news.  Unfortunately, all she can afford are cars from buy-here/pay-here places, and the one she’d gone to had sold her a terribly unsafe car. She received a laundry list of problems—just on the brakes, the master cylinder was fried, the front pads and rotors needed to be replaced, as did the rear brake line. It also needed new front stabilizer pins, a new belt, a coolant flush, and an oil change. That’s right—Predatory Auto Sales had sold her a car without giving it an oil change or a brake safety inspection. Fortunately, the Fear of Lawyers was put into them in fairly short order by one of the best, and the nasty half of that situation was settled to everyone’s satisfaction. My semi-niece still needs a new car, but she will NOT be getting it from Predatory Auto Sales if I have anything to say about it.

So, if anybody out there is willing to take payments from a responsible person who just needs a break, and has a safe car to sell at a reasonable price, please let me know!

“Change?” asked the old man in the shabby coat.

The king rode by, oblivious to his plight; the vizier did likewise. The high priest spared him a blessing, but no more. The queen, in her burqa, spread hands as empty as his own.

He shrank back into the doorway, pleading eyes following a procession decked out in enough gold to feed his children for a dozen lifetimes. Near the end, a young man in dark robes paused.

“Change?”

The wizard smiled and drew his wand. Change, indeed.

Thus began the reign of Mehmet the Magnificent.

Everyday

Went on House Patrol. Interesting smells in Food Room. Took nap. Grooming. Took nap. Woke up Food Guy before Bad Noise could start. Ate breakfast; dry food again today. Need to tell Food Guy that fresh tuna is much better. Took nap. Woke up, Food Guy gone. Grooming. Ate breakfast again. Continued Food Box Door Handle Research Project. Note to self – need to acquire thumbs. Took nap. Ate lunch. Found catnip! Took nap. Food Guy came home. Attempted to groom Food Guy; he doesn’t seem to appreciate my efforts. Took nap. Ate dinner. It’s good to be the cat.

I’ve completed all my paper work for my teacher training for both Level 1 and Level 3. As soon as I get my confirmation letter from the hospital, I can send it all in and get official Important Pieces of Paper with my name on them. Fortunately, for the re-training, I don’t have to repeat either the student teaching or the take-home exam.

When I saw this article, I had to wonder if flying pigs are next, and if so, where does one acquire a very sturdy umbrella.

I’m now officially a Library Advocate for the local public library. I hope to have the opportunity to be a Radical Militant Librarian Sympathizer on the near future.

Courtesy of one of my coworkers…

“Practice random acts of intelligence and senseless acts of self-control.”

In order to complete my 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher Certification, I have to re-train Levels 1, 2, and 3, now that I’ve completed them. In addition, I need Level 4, two different one-day seminars and one half-day seminar. It looks like I’ll be able to finish all my seminars by August of this year, leaving me a good three months to complete any outstanding home study and paperwork.

So far, I’m signed up for Level 1 retraining in Lebanon, Indiana on March 4-5th, one of the required one-day seminars and Level 3 retraining May 12-14th, also in Lebanon, and the Level 4 training in Hood River from August 17-20th. Tentatively, I’m looking at Level 2 retraining April 8-9th in Louisville, a half-day seminar in Peoria, IL on March 10th, and the other required 1-day seminar on August 16th, in Hood River. That would make five consecutive days of training, which mean my brain is going to be very, very full by August 21st.

Of course, if NIFS here in town schedules any of the tentative items before mid-December of this year, I’ll choose those.  But I think that, even with that one week in March, it’s doable both logistically and financially, although I’ll need to find cheap accommodations in Hood River.

Here’s my first attempt at a 100-word story, after Andy’s proposed writing exercise.  I’m not making any promises as to a publication schedule, but I will try to write a hundred of them.

Dragon Bait

By the time the dragon approached the clearing, the last of the villagers had already fled, though not before checking the knots that held her to the post.

“Is it true,” she asked, staring boldly into a purple eye the size of a cart wheel, “that dragons can smell maidens from a mile away?”

“Can’t say,” he answered. In a trice, the monster was gone, and a very familiar young man stood before her. “I’m not really a dragon, you see.”

“What a coincidence,” she exclaimed coyly. “For I’m not really a maiden, you see.”

They lived happily ever after.

So, arenson9 has challenged sirvalence to write 100 stories of 100 words. Sirvalence is posting three times a week, and the first three stories are up already. Go read. Now!