I’ve noticed something unusual in my time unemployed. Incredibly expensive stuff breaks all at once. It’s almost as if your possessions have been waiting for the moment you cannot afford their upkeep and then, snap–broken.
Our Saturn just had brake work done, had a battery replaced, and now it’s not so good at starting, so I’m going to throw in some fuel injector cleaner. Hopefully that will finally make it possible for Sarah to drive the damned thing.
The Alero needs rotors replaced, the whole brakes deal. Also, I went and got myself stuff in Rocky Mountain National Park and had to be towed backwards out of some snow. I hooked up the tow line and couldn’t find anything really solid. So I hooked it up to a bar that runs along the axel. I’m not 100% sure what the name for it is, but I bent the hell out of it. I’m taking the car to be fixed right now, but they wouldn’t even give me an idea of how much it would cost to replace that metal bar, but they did say it cannot be replaced on its own.
I haven’t had to do this much car maintenance in years. Perhaps it feels like everything is breaking all at once because it’s such a pinch on us to have shell out hundreds out of savings to pay for the repairs. Unfortunately, not having two decent running cars isn’t an option around here, especially if I might end up ultimately commuting to Denver. Sarah once sat down and figured out the bus route to where she works, and despite it being a 20 minute car ride, it’s a FOUR HOUR bus ride. So not really an option there.
I would not mind one day having one car that we use on the weekends, and then taking some kind of public transportation the rest of the time. It’s one of the appeals of Portland to me. At this rate, we’ll never live there though. I have wanted to live there for so long, and so badly, but fate itself has repeatedly conspired against us.
You start to feel like the world is kicking you when you’re down after a while. The hits just keep on coming. I keep getting back up and putting my shoulder to the wheel again. But it’s not easy. I’m lacking very much in hope.
It has now been 9 days since I filed for a payment with unemployment. I still have not received a dime. I call the center 20–30 times a day, but it is always busy. I have not gotten through inside of business hours when a real human could talk to me. It’s not that I’m on hold. I can’t even get through to be put on hold. Local news reports that people have spent up to 4 hours waiting on hold to talk with a real human being.
I think I’ve got some projects lined up for March so I won’t have to rely on unemployment. At least my clients can pay promptly 95% of the time.
Tags: car repair, job search, laid off, portland
