places my brain has been of late

[chanaleh]

Oh, so tired. And I still have not done dishes. Or rewritten my very extensive (half-crossed-off, then augmented) to-do list.

My little brother turned 31 today. Happy birthday, Rick.

Last weekend I finally fixed the blinds in my bedroom -- or rather, took a pair of pliers to the broken knob, and TURNED it so that the blinds actually darken at last. They've been broken as long as I've lived here. I don't know why I didn't try this sooner. Ever since, I have been going to bed at 11:30, setting the alarm for 7:45, and waking up *exhausted*. I actually think this means I am sleeping more soundly, and feeling groggy because I'm interrupting the sleep cycle at the wrong point. -- Or maybe it's just a reaction to my elevated daytime stress. But it is strange. Even the Mother Of All Thunderstorms the other night woke me only far enough to feel a little unnerved, and otherwise to wish it would go away and let me go back to sleep.

Someone in Marshfield is selling a 1987 VW Cabrio (convertible), automatic, on Craigslist. *pines* My longtime dream car. For not too much money. I could very nearly pay cash for it. *pines* And it is shiny and green. Go ahead, say it: pine green. Yuh-huh!

Yesterday evening (after blowing $40 at the Body Shop; thank you, retail therapy) I went to B&N looking for a Hebrew phrasebook, which I found... and then I found myself in the neighboring Psychology section, and I looked at books on coping with a couple of different topics which I shall not specify, except to say that they provided some illumination. I was standing there reading with tears in my eyes. I hope I learned at least one or two things that will prove valuable. At least I have some avenues to pursue.

A week from Friday, Tiger Boy will be home again.
A week from Sunday, I fly to Amsterdam, and thence to Israel for 10 days.

I am of course excited to see Jerusalem... and it really is kind of a shame (since beaching is one of the things chanalehs like best) that I won't be staying longer to go down to Eilat with ablock and jweiss... but looking ahead, it is Tzfat that is calling to me. Art and angels and alef-bet. In the mountains. (And did I mention the klezmer festival?)

I need to clean house.
I need to pack.
Perhaps I need to take up meditation.

EDIT: Okay, well, at least I did some dishes. Good enough. *zonk*

Comments

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I may be missing something, but, why didn't you want to look at the car?

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

When you get to Israel give a shout :)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't say I wasn't going to look at it! 8-) I e-mailed the person yesterday. We'll see what happens.

All it is, is that I am a bit nervous about private-party sales, and about the concept of taking on my first car in general. But, I am a competent adult, and people do it every day...

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Cool! We're about to get a finalized itinerary (as in, based on our real-life flight times and stuff), so I will let you know which days are where. But I think we go straight to Jerusalem upon arriving late Monday night 8/15 (though the next couple days are largely spent day-hiking), and we're definitely there over Shabbat 8/20.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

I'd way rather buy private party than through a dealer. Dealers steam-clean their cars' engine compartments so that oil leaks won't show. A private-party car's engine compartment will be dirty, but if it's just dirt and not oil you'll know the seals are all good.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but, see, I am sadly naive about cars in the first place, so the ability to look for such things does not really help me. :-}

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Do you know of a mechanic you can trust? You should never, ever buy a used car without first taking it to a competent, trustworthy mechanic and having them look it over stem to stern. Ask them to tell you what, if anything, is wrong with the car know, and what's likely to go wrong in the next couple of years. Ask them, more importantly, if they would buy the car, and if not, why not.

Of course, you'll have to get permission from the current owner to do this, but I strongly advise you to make that a dealbreaker.

I know of an excellent mechanic near where you live: the Good News Garage, 75 Hamilton St. (it's run by Ray Magliozzi of "Car Talk"). I don't know of any near Marshfield, but go to the Mechan-X Files on the Car Talk website and plug in 02050 and you'll find plenty.

[thevortex.livejournal.com]

I would be happy to discuss meditation with you (see nom de guerre for details =P)

Huzzah!

The Vortex

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Good point, thanks!

The Marshfield lady actually wrote back this morning to say she has someone lined up to buy the car now, but if it falls through for some reason, she'll let me know. Still, it's put the bug in my ear. :-)

[queendeb.livejournal.com]

doitdoitdoitdoit!

(also
we know some veteran cl buyers
who i am sure could give some help...)

[pressburger.livejournal.com]

hey've been broken as long as I've lived here. I don't know why I didn't try this sooner.

It's funny the way something can be broken for months or years and then all of a sudden one day it bothers you and you fix it in five minutes.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that I can recommend a good, honest mechanic in Allston if you're willing to go there. Don't know whether that's still relevant, but... good luck on the hunt!