[OOC][Info] Status Updates

[Black Aeronaut]

Burning oil is fine so long as you check it. So long as it's not smoking or down on compression you're cool. 1l/1000km (1 quart per 600 miles) is probably not a problem - some cars just do that.

I'd be worried about that Uber REats stuff. Just be aware that you've basically no employment rights whatsoever (depending on how the States works that shit) and the system is set up to rip you off. At least it is with Deliveroo's here which do the same basic thing. (and ruin places for paying customers by clogging up the counter). IOt's far to easy to get ripped off in the gi economy - or just burned up like a cigarrette.

I'm in a low paying job sure but at the same time, the company handles all my taxes and shit, and I have rights in law as an employee and will actually get the full dole if the company collapses because the company pays insurance to the state as part of its taxes. (There's a long rant here about spurious 'contractors' that I won't get into....)

Car is what it is. I knew it could die when I bought it. They're notorious for dying from bearing faults or seal faults. I spent my 'Fix that shit' fund on not killing myself so it was my own choice in that regard but fuck is it annoying that it picked the worst month to do it. I think the snow got water into the oil somehow - it's not coolant.

Regarding the oil, yeah, it's about that. Thing is that these cars had a tendency to do that brand new off the lot. It's so prevalent that Saturn owners like to joke: "What does a Saturn owner do at the gas station? They check the fuel and fill up the oil!" It's not really that bad like you said. Just... very VERY prevalent.

As for Uber Eats... They must have different policies here, because I've never heard any of those complaints. I've been talking to the drivers, and they have nothing but glowing things to report. Granted, the tax is a bit of a bother, but I think the IRS has a relatively painless means for sub-contractors to pay their income taxes on a regular basis rather than have a huge tax bill every April. (Honestly, I'd just go all anal-retentive and have ridiculously granularly detailed accounting spreadsheet.)

I could fix the bearing issue but I would need the room to pull the engine which you say you don't have.

BA, that sounds killer, better than me wanting to shoe horn a corvette engine and tranny into a Geo Tracker.

(Yes it will fit, but you have to make so many changes to the vehicle it is insane, emission control, Ac what are those?)

Heh. And here people thought I was gutsy for toying with the idea of sequential twin turbos in a BMW E34 with the M50TU engine. (Gotta have that VANOS. It sexay.)

Wow, uh, y'all's problems are not my problems.  I have extra cars and computers, for one.  Not new ones, but extras nonetheless.

I live with my parents, because hey, it's coastal California, and if you want to live here and not throw away money, there's only so many options.  My mother is suffering from the latest set of mystery ailments, which when you start with fibromyalgia, it makes it pretty difficult to isolate the signal from the noise.  While her heart surgery went very well, she's been in a lot of pain lately.  My grandmother died a few months back at 101 years young, and I still think it's a little hard on Mama, being an orphan now.

I've been helping out a friend of mine, who's taking care of her grandmother in a mobile home -- but she's been having back problems, so she's been needing help to get the place cleaned up before management puts the boot down.  She's pretty cool -- lots of charisma, and not dumb, did a stint on an entertainment TV show.  Name drops celebs a lot.  She's recovered most of her life after being in an abusive marriage with a powerful man, which impresses me a lot, but she lost her daughter in the fight and that still stings.  She's too blunt, too opinionated, and talks too much -- but these are flaws I can live with, and probably match well with my own selfishness.  But I still can't make out whether or not I want to date her -- I feel like there should have been a spark, but I haven't noticed it.

Either way, she has me out and meeting people, and that's great.  It's too easy for me as a programmer to sit in front of a screen all the time.  I'm in my mid-thirties and if I want to start a family, I really need to get started soon.  Like, if I keep going on the path I'm on, I'm pretty sure I'm going to die alone.

Nothing here to cut into creative time too much, though.  And it's not like existential issues aren't good for writing. ^_^

Honestly, I wish you luck, Labster. I've certainly not had much of that lately.