awillfulmuse.myfastforum.org ~ What did you do today?

So, I come from a family of 6 boys and 1 girl. 7 total Kids. The youngest of us is 22, and no thats not me. Somehow in a family that size, I managed to be the one that knows the most about cars. And when I say this, its not like I'm a mechanic, because I'm definitely not. I'm just the person everyone in my family calls whenever they have car trouble.

So, its Saturday. For me, that normally means a great, wonderful day. I have Saturday's totally free. I had intended to spend it, catching up on some anime, and cleaning some manga for Perch. Note the word intended. You see, everyone else in the family knows I have Saturdays free as well, and they just love to find things for me to do. I got a call this morning from my Mom, waking me up. (Ok yes, I was sleeping in.) She apparently has been hearing a sound from her engine and wanted me to take a look. Oh, and my Grandmother likewise needs something done with her car as well. As you can imagine, suddenly my day looks rather full.

So I take a look at my Moms car, and sure enough, there are a few things that need attention. A wheel on one of her pulleys that run the A/C is going bad. Also needs a new arial for her antenna. My Grandmother, needed her oil changed, a new fuel filter, a new serpentine belt, and the biggest thing, she needed her sparks plugs changed. Fortunately, none of this is really bad news, though I hate changing the fuel filters, as on most cars, its a horrible chore to pull em and put a new one in. It wasn't that bad actually. Though it did manage to spill about a gallon of gas on me when I pulled it.

Parts $200
Labor 3 Hours
Total Cost for a professional Mechanic Probably $600 or more.
Savings $400

Anyway, long story short, I stink of gas, am extremely dirty, and I don't think I'm going to get around to cleaning today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

I'm preparing to hunt down KMTS and force them to start releasing more chapters of Freezing.

Jill o'Lantern Joined: 01 Jul 2008 Posts: 888

I went to the library and picked up some manga (reading Shaman King and D.Gray-man), watched a movie with lunch (Ultimates), helped Jamboree give the cats flea baths again, and am now trying to get in four typesets before the day is through so that I can meet our fourteen estimated chapters and waiting for dinner to finish cooking.

Seriously, that sucks that you got roped into doing car maintenance. I come from a family of five and am the youngest at 28 so I know about getting stuck doing family favors on off days. <.<

Hmm... well, I slept in by about eight hours because I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight last night... so not much.

I re-organized the Project Status section some more, finished proofing chapter 3 of Ani-Com, took a nice, took a 90-minute bath, did a bunch of International Business homework, organized the PS section some more and realized that the more I over-organize it, the less I want to hunt down all the non-forum staff members and make them register just so they'll post there... and I went series hunting. Did I ever go series hunting. I now have almost 150 neglected series to sort through... such a bad habit, considering that the Suggestion Box is closed. But I can't stop myself!

So then I read parts of a bunch of neglected series and wanted to smack myself for it because they weren't completed and I wanted to know what happened.

Oh yeah, and I had a painful family discussion about planning a vacation in Mexico for next February, that too. *shudders*

On a side note, I'm an only child, so I can't really sympathize... *feels sorry for self* Though I really do like not having siblings most of the time, especially after hearing about how other peoples' Saturdays go because of family.

I don't mind working on cars. Its not that big of a deal. I've been doing it for years, and at this point, I have all the tools I need to do it with. Its more the assumption, that since I have the day off, that I'll be happy to spend it doing whatever my family needs to have done. Last week, I spent a bunch of time laying down termite stuff for my Mom. 2 or 3 weeks ago, the saturday before I left to go to one of my brothers wedding, I spent my Saturday doing my Grandmothers yard. The week before that, I was fixing my Mom's A/C. A few weeks before, I had to redo part of her roof.

Somehow I seem to be the handyman in my family. I have a bunch of brothers, all but 2 of whom live around here. I have 2 uncles with lots of kids that live right around here as well. And yet I'm always the one getting roped into doing stuff. Hehe, on the other hand, if I have a problem with my computer, I'll either call one of my brothers who knows about that kind of stuff, or my Uncle who sets up and maintains networks for a living. So it kind of balances out a bit. Its just on days like today that it seems like I'm the one doing all the work.

Nosferatu Translator Joined: 05 Aug 2008 Posts: 32

I got up at 5 in the morning to go out of town to buy a car!! It's hard finding the perfect second hand car that isn't too pricey. But I think I've found it and it's sitting in my garage now : D It's my first car so I'm really excited! I just got back and I think I'm going to try and get a chapter or 2 translated...

Nosferatu Translator Joined: 04 Jul 2008 Posts: 763

Well, I slept at 3ish am and woke up this morning at 9. Washed up and start surfing Internet - replying emails, reading new posts...Going to drive out for breakfast soon.

Meantime, I'm watching my hubby playing with his new toy. I just bought him DVICo, which allows him to play all formats of media. It's supposed to play High-Definition. Lots of frustration since the configuration is limited and the sound and picture quality is not as good as he expected.

In my country, most of us rarely fix the cars ourselves since we lack the skill and will just pay the mechanic to solve our problems. Probably another reason is we change our cars on a regular basis. Our government has this 10 year entitlement piece of paper (grr!) that we have to pay again if we want to continue owning the same car. We need to pay USD 10K ++ for this piece of paper for entitlement, depending on current market rates. That's why it turns out we prefer to buy a new car instead of maintaining our current one. So far I've own and driven lots of car from Toyota Corolla, Honda Civics, Toyota Rav4, Mazda RX8 and currently BMW 320. Yeah, I like driving but I have not even tried changing a car tire at all!

Well, my day started with me reading manga and checking the forum (I could only touch the computer at 12:30 a.m. since Friday..... ---> big family). I went to sleep like, at 3 a.m. and woke up at noon. Since my oldest sister invited us to eat at her house, here I'm. At the moment, I'm taking care of my godson, because my sis went out with a friend that came to visit her for the first time.
And I think I'm going to catch a cold...

Well, it is currently about 12:30 pm here, I have been up since about 6:00 this morning, taking in about 2 and a half hours of sleep. I spent the night at my friends so, the first thing I did the next morning was deflate my blow up matress. Then, I went and cleaned up... (I had just taken a shower, so no early morning shower for me today)... I put on my jeans and my t-shirt, my make-up (can't go anywhere without my face), deodorant and then I put my shoes on I start heading out the door when I realize I can't see anything. I had forgotten my glasses, so I got my glasses, and because I was in such a rush, because my friend seems to think that if shes ready I should be too I was brushing my teeth as I walked out the door.

Then I took a 45 minute drive to the college I attend. Set for 2 hours in an Anatomy II class taking notes on the cardiovasicular system and how it "pumps." Following taking a really quick trip to the library to return some books, I headed home on another 45 minute drive.

My friend had to pay a bill (we go to school together if I didnt mention that) and so we payed that, made a quick trip to Wal-mart and headed home.

Came home, throwed my book back on my bed, and decided I would take a nap before I had to go to my other class. (Its in a different city, same school, different campus 10 minutes away.) The nap turned into a complete failure, so I had a bite to eat, and played a video game.

At about 5:00 I left for my class that starts, mind you, at 6. We got to the town, and got stuck by a train. We set in traffic for about 30 minutes, then went to class. I left class early, because I am so tired, and ended up going to a clothing store (Goody's {dont know if you know the place}) and trying on a TON of clothes. After all, thats what most 19 year old girls do, right? lol. Then, grabbed some mexican and came home. Ended up in a huge argument with my daddy, because he wants to "refresh" the computer and I cant because I have a disc loaded on the computer that I have to have for my Intro. to Comp. Applications class. Then fought with my little sister to get the computer.(I come from a family of 4.... mom, dad, and 2 daughters, by the way.) All together.... my day sucked, lol.

@Molenir- Working on cars really does save money, where I live, I dont think youll meet a single person who doesnt know how to do something on a automobile, still thats a great skill to have. I dont know anything about vehicles, except how to change oil, put water and windwashing fluid in, and change a tire. lol. This is average here though. (I live in a very Poor community)

I kept hitting the snooze button this morning and had to rush because I had slept in a bit too late today, but I got to school on time. I had band practice out on the field today until 5ish, then came back here and had some divine shrimp scampi and watched food network, and now I'm reading manga and chatting, and procrastinating! yay!

Today, amazingly I had a day off. I did a bunch of chores around the house. Laundry, dishes, garbage etc. Sat down at my computer and finished cleaning vo5 c01 of Billion Girl, while watching Higurashi no naku koro ni. (Working my way through the series.)

Went to the gym around 1, got back around 3. Grabbed some lunch at Subway. Got a part for my Moms car. (The arial I couldn't get last Saturday.) Put gas in my car, and in my little gas can. Came back, gassed up my lawn mower, went and mowed my parents lawn. (Saturday I'll do my grandmothers.) Finally have a break. Going to work on Ani-com while watching more Higurashi. Have to wait til Mom gets back from work, then I'll go back over there, and change out her old arial for the new one. Oh, and I get to drill out her windshield so a crack doesn't spread any further. Hooray me!

What did I do today......? Besides sneezing all day long (damn cold), I slept around 3 hours, went to college until 1 p.m., got home, ate, continue doing a lab report (damn lab report!, it's taking me so long! >.<)... kinda the usual, and I'm still doing the report, I can't believe how much time took me....
Luckily enough, mom finished cleaning the entire house, so I didn't have to clean anything after I got home.

@Molenir

Wow! You're always working on cars! Inclusive on your day off, I really admire you!

Heh, actually I don't normally do that much with cars. I can go months between times I work on them. Its just when something needs fixing. I couldn't get the antenna mast last Saturday. The place that quoted me the best price was closed on weekends, so I put off getting it til today when I had time, and they were open. Took all of 10 minutes to change it out. Not a big deal at all.