Car, Woods, Story
Jan. 4th, 2015 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothI took my car in for service; it was time for the 75000 mile service check thing, and also the check engine light was on which is usually nothing serious but you can't pass emissions inspection without resolving it.
Apparently, this time it was serious. The check engine light is on because the IMA batteries are dying, which I'd sort of noticed separately although I wasn't sure if it was really them dying or if they were just getting overstressed because I've started parking in a garage at work.
Fixing them would run about $4000. The line item is $2500 but there were a bunch of other add on things on the list. Given that this is the second multi-thousand-dollar maintenance bill in a row, I'm thinking that maybe I should not try to keep driving this car. The 'service advisor' said the same thing, although of course she wanted me to go buy another car from them on the spot.
I'm not sure I want to buy another car from the same company when the last car suddenly became undrivable after ten years, though. Maybe that's just normal for old cars? At least this time it's 'if you keep driving with a bad battery the rest of the engine will get overstressed' as opposed to 'you can't steer or use the brakes, suddenly, while on the freeway'.
While waiting for them to do fuck-all but tell me my car needed thousands of dollars in repairs, I went to see Into the Woods, which is apparently a musical about a bunch of old fairy tales all mashed together. It was clever! Some of the songs were interesting. They managed to wrap everything up and have a happy and satisfying ending for everybody, except for Cinderella's sisters although despite being lame and blind they didn't seem that put out.
"And then they lived happily ever after... or did they?"
No. No, movie, stop. What are you doing, movie? STAAAAHP!
It didn't stop. It dragged on for another hour, destroying everything and killing everyone off camera, including most of the main characters. All the on-screen 'action' consisted of people standing in a single clearing (or maybe it was different clearings but it all looked the same), singing a single horrible song, while people ran on occasionally and gave them updates about what was happening elsewhere. FOR AN HOUR. Then, at the end, Jack kills the giant in two seconds and there's another five minutes of them worrying that someone important had been killed by a falling tree but it turned out no one had.
No, if you show a kid knocking over cans with a slingshot, that is not Chekov's Gun.
By the time the credits rolled I hated the movie intensely and really wished that it had ended while it was still good. If you see this movie, leave in the middle.
I also posted another chapter of Pathfinder Ponies in which the characters talk to each other and get railroaded. It's called Shattered Illusions.
Apparently, this time it was serious. The check engine light is on because the IMA batteries are dying, which I'd sort of noticed separately although I wasn't sure if it was really them dying or if they were just getting overstressed because I've started parking in a garage at work.
Fixing them would run about $4000. The line item is $2500 but there were a bunch of other add on things on the list. Given that this is the second multi-thousand-dollar maintenance bill in a row, I'm thinking that maybe I should not try to keep driving this car. The 'service advisor' said the same thing, although of course she wanted me to go buy another car from them on the spot.
I'm not sure I want to buy another car from the same company when the last car suddenly became undrivable after ten years, though. Maybe that's just normal for old cars? At least this time it's 'if you keep driving with a bad battery the rest of the engine will get overstressed' as opposed to 'you can't steer or use the brakes, suddenly, while on the freeway'.
While waiting for them to do fuck-all but tell me my car needed thousands of dollars in repairs, I went to see Into the Woods, which is apparently a musical about a bunch of old fairy tales all mashed together. It was clever! Some of the songs were interesting. They managed to wrap everything up and have a happy and satisfying ending for everybody, except for Cinderella's sisters although despite being lame and blind they didn't seem that put out.
"And then they lived happily ever after... or did they?"
No. No, movie, stop. What are you doing, movie? STAAAAHP!
It didn't stop. It dragged on for another hour, destroying everything and killing everyone off camera, including most of the main characters. All the on-screen 'action' consisted of people standing in a single clearing (or maybe it was different clearings but it all looked the same), singing a single horrible song, while people ran on occasionally and gave them updates about what was happening elsewhere. FOR AN HOUR. Then, at the end, Jack kills the giant in two seconds and there's another five minutes of them worrying that someone important had been killed by a falling tree but it turned out no one had.
No, if you show a kid knocking over cans with a slingshot, that is not Chekov's Gun.
By the time the credits rolled I hated the movie intensely and really wished that it had ended while it was still good. If you see this movie, leave in the middle.
I also posted another chapter of Pathfinder Ponies in which the characters talk to each other and get railroaded. It's called Shattered Illusions.
