I got a lot done today. I changed the oil in my car, washed, hand waxed and detailed it, cleaned a guys house for 4 hours, cooked dinner and sewed a cool shirt for myself.
Changing the oil took a lot longer than I thought it would and cost more than I anticipated. I bought slick 50 and the synthetic short trips blend oil which added up. I usually change my own oil, but last time I had a gift certificate for Jiffy Lube so I took it there. They put the drain plug and the filter on so tight I had to hunt through the garage like crazy to find tools I could misuse in a manner which would allow me to get those two items off of the car. I was getting so mad. Thankfully I gave them my own filter at the Jiffy Lube last time and it was one of those K&N ones which has a bolt on the top I could get a grip on. What I didnt have was the inch drive extender rod thing long enough to get a ratchet and socket in there to turn it. I finally found vice grip pliers and a pickle fork (it is a thing for separating ball joints on a suspension) and totally abused both tools until I managed to get the damned filter loose enough to get it off. I was able to use my foot and leverage myself on some component of my A/C I think in order to get the fucking drain plug loose. It was a nightmare. I want to go kick some Jiffy Lube ass. Well, I did finally get it changed and my car is better off for it, but it sure was frustrating.
I have been kind of down all day though. Productive, but really melancholy. I was sitting here sewing and thinking about a guy I saw at the VA hospital last time I was down to visit my dad. I and my family were sitting in the rose garden discussing my father when we heard horrible noise. Like a drugged bull staggering through an antique store it sounded. We looked up to see what the racket was about and we saw a young guy with a white cane who had stumbled into a food service cart left out in the walkway. This guy was not more than 22 years old if that, obviously a veteran of this most recent conflict. The entire left side of his face was gone and a mess of scar tissue and then his neck and arm were all an equal mess. He did not have eyes anymore. You could tell from his build and what was left of his face he had been a sharp looking guy. Now here he is, missing his eyes and his face. It made us so fucking sad to see that. The rest of this guys life is totally fucked. He probably joined the military to get money for college, and now he is relegated to trying to learn to read brail and tripping over a carelessly placed food service cart. After he managed to get around the cart, he ran into a wall. My brother got up to help him out when someone from the VA came and helped him. Every time I hear shit about this fucking war I think about that guy now. It is one thing to hear about it in the news, or see photos of dismembered children which really tug at your heart, but then to see this little moment up close it takes the atrocity of this to a whole new level. What the fuck are we doing over there? Why the fuck are humans so aggressive? Throughout history we as a species seem to just go from one war to another. We measure time by it and romanticize it. What is romantic about a 22 year old guy having his face blown off? What is romantic about him never getting to see his childrens faces? Maybe never being able to find someone who can see past the horrible disfigurement? Fucked up.
Ok, Im done, now Im even more sad
Changing the oil took a lot longer than I thought it would and cost more than I anticipated. I bought slick 50 and the synthetic short trips blend oil which added up. I usually change my own oil, but last time I had a gift certificate for Jiffy Lube so I took it there. They put the drain plug and the filter on so tight I had to hunt through the garage like crazy to find tools I could misuse in a manner which would allow me to get those two items off of the car. I was getting so mad. Thankfully I gave them my own filter at the Jiffy Lube last time and it was one of those K&N ones which has a bolt on the top I could get a grip on. What I didnt have was the inch drive extender rod thing long enough to get a ratchet and socket in there to turn it. I finally found vice grip pliers and a pickle fork (it is a thing for separating ball joints on a suspension) and totally abused both tools until I managed to get the damned filter loose enough to get it off. I was able to use my foot and leverage myself on some component of my A/C I think in order to get the fucking drain plug loose. It was a nightmare. I want to go kick some Jiffy Lube ass. Well, I did finally get it changed and my car is better off for it, but it sure was frustrating.
I have been kind of down all day though. Productive, but really melancholy. I was sitting here sewing and thinking about a guy I saw at the VA hospital last time I was down to visit my dad. I and my family were sitting in the rose garden discussing my father when we heard horrible noise. Like a drugged bull staggering through an antique store it sounded. We looked up to see what the racket was about and we saw a young guy with a white cane who had stumbled into a food service cart left out in the walkway. This guy was not more than 22 years old if that, obviously a veteran of this most recent conflict. The entire left side of his face was gone and a mess of scar tissue and then his neck and arm were all an equal mess. He did not have eyes anymore. You could tell from his build and what was left of his face he had been a sharp looking guy. Now here he is, missing his eyes and his face. It made us so fucking sad to see that. The rest of this guys life is totally fucked. He probably joined the military to get money for college, and now he is relegated to trying to learn to read brail and tripping over a carelessly placed food service cart. After he managed to get around the cart, he ran into a wall. My brother got up to help him out when someone from the VA came and helped him. Every time I hear shit about this fucking war I think about that guy now. It is one thing to hear about it in the news, or see photos of dismembered children which really tug at your heart, but then to see this little moment up close it takes the atrocity of this to a whole new level. What the fuck are we doing over there? Why the fuck are humans so aggressive? Throughout history we as a species seem to just go from one war to another. We measure time by it and romanticize it. What is romantic about a 22 year old guy having his face blown off? What is romantic about him never getting to see his childrens faces? Maybe never being able to find someone who can see past the horrible disfigurement? Fucked up.
Ok, Im done, now Im even more sad
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cause i do.