Separation Anxiety

I miss Baby. Nothing against Toyotas or anything, it's just that I'm worried that the bodyshop guys are harvesting Baby for fresh parts and then replacing them with substandard ones. The first car I drove -- legally -- was a Toyota Corolla. I'd get it up to 80km on the highway and it would shimmy. This one's a little different, but there's something unsettling about driving an automatic. It's like piloting a glider, I feel like I'm sailing. The engine doesn't compress nearly as quickly or as strongly as a manual, and well I've grown accustomed to compression braking.

Yesterday I was fitted for contacts (again) and after some nagging I went for a wax. One problem -- Trey went to Miami for the weekend so I was forced to get my bits done by someone new. I went to a place about a block away from the gay bar where I saw Rabbi Weinstein, and met a delightful little Iranian woman who hemmed and hawed when I asked her for a Brazilian. She said that she could do a bikini wax for 50 bucks. I said okay, and that was probably a mistake. She was a little nervous and later admitted that she didn't have many male customers. She told me that she was going to leave strip because a bikini wax only takes care of what the bathing suit doesn't. Well, she left a strip the size of Tulsa Runway #1 and if you've ever been to Tulsa - you'll know what I mean.

On the way downtown, Ali nearly shit her pants because, while walking on the concourse of the football stadium we came across a five car show n' shine. You might laugh, but it was for a niche market and Ali recognized it right away. I thought it was just five dudes trying to get free parking until Ali said, "Look closer, you big dork. They're all Skylines -- and they're all right-side drive. Eeeeeee!"

My head would have snapped around, but for the excruciating whiplash from last week's shunt. I spun on my heel and quickly scanned for the charcoal Skyline that frequents Ali's shop. Absent. How about the white one that was traded in for the charcoal one? Absent. Too bad, but the good side to that is that there are more and more Skylines popping up around town. The Skyline is (one of) Hank's dream car(s). Allegedly, Nissan made them so fast that they could outrun Japanese police cars, and were thus banned in Japan unless they were modified to limit horsepower. I'm not so sure about that story, but they have nice grunt.

I told Ali to ask the guys if she could try one on, but then I remembered that she is a two-footer. Left foot for brake and right foot for gas. That passes in racing, and in certain off-roading situations, but my mum always taught me that two-footing is dangerous on the street and I'd have to agree. I had to pull her away from the cars before she developed an unhealthy attraction, much like the one she has for Haley Joel Osment.

Another weekend and another one of Ali's friends returns to Japan. This friend knew more about me than I thought, because Ali told her everything when they went to Mexico together. When we finally met, she said I looked like Waldo from the Where's Waldo series, on account of my new summer do. She's gone now, and Bobby's back. The boat looks good in the harbour, but I have yet to take a closer look at it. No eagles yet, but in a few days there should be one or two. Ali's sister also went back to Japan a few weeks ago. I'm so glad she left before the shunt, because I'd never hear the end of it if I had to drive her around in a Corolla. In the end, her sister was not so much of a princess afterall. We got to know each other better and accept one another for who we are. She really relaxed after that. Maybe Ali said something. This summer has started with a little bit of a speed bump, but as long as I get my Jeep back before the 4th of July, I'll be happy.

A Banner Weekend

I watched a few movies since my last abbreviated post, including Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion which I figured would be a good one, and a Japanese copy of The Bourne Identity. Maybe I'll discuss these movies in a later post, but this is more a post about my killer weekend.

Ali's best friend from highschool had planned to visit from Osaka on a 4-day vacation and so I cheerfully volunteered to collect Julie from from the airport and that's when everything went Pete Tong. The main artery between the downtown core and the airport is notoriously congested due to the excessive number of stoplights, or is it the lack of turn lanes? Either way, traffic in this street is always an adventure.

Julie's not even in the country for an hour before she gets a faceful of GMC Sierra - sans airbag. Three cars in front of me decided to inexplicably stop short in the centre lane. I was checking my mirrors and missed the GMC's brake lights. Julie started shrieking something in Japanese which was my cue to slam on the brakes. Well, I didn't have enough room to stop, and shunted the GMC up front into the second car in the queue, which then shunted the first car in the queue. Julie and Ali were okay, I was okay, the driver in front of me was okay so we pulled over to exchange information. This was my first accident, and I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do. Thankfully, the driver in front of me walked me through everything. The other two drivers were fine as well, but my nerves were shot - especially since Julie's vacation, and Baby's front were now ruined.

I was able to continue the journey in the Jeep which was a good sign, leaving bits of headlight and halogen lamp all along the route. Apparently this is acceptable, which I'm glad for. Ali made me a nice cup of tea to help me relax, and Julie regaled me with gifts which, since I had already lost so much face, I accepted. The rest of the day was kinda weird. I felt really bad about being able to walk around town after what had happened. That was Saturday morning - Saturday afternoon I was accused of being a purse snatcher, but before all that escalated, Ali sorted it. I went to sleep Saturday night dreading that I might wake up with a stiff back from the accident, but surprisingly neither I, nor Ali nor Julie had any problems. Sunday was karma I guess because a bird shit on me, but thanks to my bucket hat, there was minimal collateral damage. Julie and Ali were able to have their vacation together which was important, and I was left to deal with the insurance company.

I took the day off work today to take the Jeep into the inspection garage, and they told me it would cost about $5000.00 to fix, and that the damage was purely cosmetic. I'm glad about that, and I'm also very happy that none of the other drivers have filed injury claims. I'm most worried about the driver in front of me due to his age and his size but he said he was okay. The whole insurance claim process has been quite painless so far, I watched Spain score a penalty kick against Tunisia as I sipped a coffee and an information officer told me what to expect next. It was all quite reassuring.

The insurance company told me that the work should take 7 working days, but the body shop told me that Baby wouldn't be better until the end of next week. So until then, I have an automatic transmission Toyota Corolla at my disposal in case I have to run errands. Either way, it could be worse and I'm glad its not.

Blog This

Blogger eats poo. It's been quite a while since I updated my blog, so last night I started an entry and got almost to the end of it when a pop up from Blogger notified me that my entry may be lost when I try to save it. Sure enough, it disapeared when I tried to spell check it. It wasn't a huge entry and I could probably re-write if I wanted to, but there's no point. The past is the past. But the present is the present, and presently Blogger eats poo.

Cocksuckers.