It's been a while since I wrote last, and I always end up apologizing, whether it be here or in my handwritten diary. Yes, I keep a handwritten diary and have been since 1986. Yes, I'm old. I keep the truly personal things in the handwritten diary. You can read them after I'm gone, which won't be for a long while yet.
But for now, I have a lot to write about. I have thankfully recovered from my car accident. The ribs healed, and I was able to start sleeping on my bed again, albeit very painfully at first. It was another month before I was able to sleep more comfortably, but now it is like the accident never happened. However, I still have flashbacks and I am very protective of my left side when I drive. I have driven by the intersection where the accident occurred on several occasions and I wonder to myself how it was that I survived.
I did, and that is what matters.
I ended up replacing my beautiful Sentra with, get this, a 2016 Nissan Versa Note.... exactly like the one I traded my in for my Sentra in the first place. A bit of irony there if I ever heard it. That was a short-lived car adventure. But, a rocky one. No, I wasn't in another accident.
This car I bought from a dealership in Boise, and I'm not going to name names, but I will NEVER buy another vehicle from that place ever again. Before I had even made my first payment on it, it was beginning to stall out on me. It did it on Halloween, but I thought nothing of it at the time as I was taking Raven and a few of her friends to beg for candy.
It did it again a few days later, and I took the car to the service department of the dealership. They told me that they couldn't even look at it because they didn't have the correct hookup to check the check engine light. Well, there was no check engine light to be seen anyway and they told me that there wasn't anything they could do. So, I went on with life.
The Versa continued to stall intermittently and I got to the point where I was thinking it was the transmission. Nissans are notorious for their bad transmissions. The transmission place couldn't find anything wrong. Go figure.
A few more months went by and it was getting worse. One of my now ex friends convinced me that I needed to take it to his mechanic so reluctantly, I did. The mechanic had my car for two days (two days which I was now out of work again) and only managed to recreate the issue once. Everything he tested came out fine. He basically told me that I had a gremlin in the car and the best option would be for me to take the car back and get something else. Seriously?!
I wasn't going to do that, not when I had only had the Versa for such a short time. So, I went along. The last time I had the Versa's oil changed they Nissan dealership told me that my battery had failed their test. Well, that was strange as my car never failed to restart after stalling. But, if the battery was failing, it was worth changing. Nothing something I wanted to do, but it had to be done. Oh, the dealership said they could change it out for $200. Yeah, I told them they were smoking crack.
I went to the auto parts store nearest to my house. I explained to the manager what was going on and he said he wanted to retest it. He brought out the tester machine and hooked it up to the car. All tests turned out to be positive, at first. I told him that either he or the dealership was lying. He went back inside to look at the specs of the battery for this car and did a retest. It turned out the the batter only had a quarter of life left. That was probably the reason why the battery failed the dealership test. So, I bought a new battery and the manager installed it himself! All for only $140. Suck it, dealership!
I really and truly thought that would have been the end of my woes with the Versa stalling out intermittently. Not only did it not solve the issue, it began to happen more frequently. Talk about frustrating. Finally, after a day of several stalls, I decided then and there to take it back to the dealership and rant and complain until they did something about it.
And, they did. They traded in my Versa for a 2014 Toyota Corolla. They made it so that I didn't have to put any money down on it, because I told them I wasn't going to do that and they'd better make this right or else. My payments are a little bit more than what I wanted, but that's because I was talked into a service package which I think will be okay. I don't really feel comfortable taking my car to their service department, but my deductible is only $100 when I need something fixed. Except for my stereo's touch screen apparently.
I hope you have the time to read all of this ranting...
When I was looking at the car at the dealership, I noticed that the bottom row of the touchscreen did not appear to be working. The salesman said that I would be able to control the touchscreen with buttons on the steering wheel. I blindly accepted that. Yeah, that's not how this works. At all.
I got it home on that Friday and called the salesman and explained what was going on. I had done research after I got home and it appears that the touchscreen fails more often than not on these cars. Well, he didn't believe me and asked me to bring the car into the shop the next day. Which I did.
He had said that he knew the trick to getting my phone hooked up to the Bluetooth, which was the ONE thing that I told him I absolutely needed in my car so that I could work properly. When I got there, he discovered what I had already told him, that the bottom row of the touchscreen was dead. He did a quick lookup online of things I had already tried, and by this point I was pissed off. Why do guys think that just because I am a woman I am automatically wrong and stupid?
He told me that he worked with someone who used to work for Toyota and that he would have him call Toyota and see if there was a work around or some sort of other way to fix it. I was supposed to get a call LAST Monday. A week ago. I heard nothing. On Tuesday I happened to find myself right around the corner of the dealership so I stopped by. Big surprise, he wasn't working so I left a scathing message for him to call me. Wednesday came and went, no call.
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| Obviously not a pic I took. :) |
Thursday came and I decided that the asshole salesman wasn't going to call me back, so after I got done working I decided to check out the local audio install place. So, this Saturday I am having my entire stereo replaced with something every more awesome than anything I could have imagined and I'm having a 10" sub installed in my trunk. I know, it's going to be obnoxious as hell but in my opinion, way worth it, and at least I'll get what I want. Not to mention a new USB port that will hopefully work properly. The one on the Toyota wasn't working very well at all and would only read a few songs out of 5000. That's okay. Everything will be fixed and working properly THIS Saturday. I'm so excited!
I had tried dating a bit more after the accident. One guy I even moved in with and that was a disaster beyond anything I had ever experienced. Suffice it to say that I really needed to rethink about aspects of my life at that point. There were a few others after that, but truly, none of them were what I really wanted in a partner, and so I decided to give up on looking for love again.
I was <<<<this>>>> close to moving to Texas to be near my mom. I even had all my stuff in storage and we were ready to move when a female friend of mine called me up and said that Raven and I could move into her 3-bedroom duplex with her. So far, things are working okay. I haven't had to have a roommate in a very long time and there are some things that I am not happy with, but they are small and I have just learned to live with them. Otherwise, things are going well. Raven seems to be happy in her own room again.
I have been active on an app called Cuddle. It's not what you think. It's like an audio only version of Twitch. I'm an official host there and I stream a lot. Mostly music. If you want more info, download the Cuddle app and come find me. UID 1085235 Cuddle has been keeping me very busy and honestly, I prefer it to sitting alone at home feeling sorry for myself and why I can't seem to find love. Cuddle is not a dating app, but people try to use it as such.
Although, I have been talking to this one guy. He's an interesting fellow from the East Coast. We talk daily and honestly, I fall asleep in his ear more often than not. He doesn't seem to mind, but we do talk in the evenings. He's quite funny, smart, and well put together. He's also a tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy which makes him come off as being an asshole sometimes, but I know better. He's just a huge teddy bear. I know there can never be anything between us other than friendship as I do not believe in long distance relationships, but he's a great friend and we've gotten to know each other fairly well over the last few months.
I'm getting ready to take a three week road trip. Down to visit my mom, over to pick up Raven from here dad's house then up to visit my dad. It's going to be fun. Sorry I'm being vague, but you know, too much information could be detrimental to my health. LOL
I suppose that other than that, there's not much to tell. I've been working since before I probably shouldn't have, but I needed to continue making money. And, work has been very busy and therefore good to me. I really can't complain. I still overprotect my left side and I still have flashbacks once in a while, but they are becoming fewer and less intense. I suppose that is part of the healing process. And, I know it will take time. It's the worst accident I've every been in and I've been in a few.
I am not sure there is anything else to say. I might get back to you after I see how awesome my new stereo system is. And not a moment too soon! I can't be on that road trip for three weeks without proper music!
