the everyday adventures of sabrina

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Browsing Posts published by sabrina

the car, again

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turns out that there’s apparently a city car towing scandal going on right this very second! i had no idea!

well, thank god i didn’t have any pringles in the car, at least.

and, in honor of it all:

“The Lincoln Park Pirates,” by Steve Goodman

The streetlamps are on in Chicago tonight,
And lovers a’gazin’ at stars;
The stores are all closin’, and Daley is dozin’,
And the fat man is counting the cars…
And there’s more cars than places to put ’em, he says,
But I’ve got room for them all;
So ’round ’em up boys, ’cause I want some more toys,
In the lot by the grocery store…

To me, way, hey, tow them away,
The Lincoln Park Pirates are we,
From Wilmette to Gary, there’s nothin’ so hairy
And we always collect our fee!
So it’s way, hey, tow ’em away,
We plunder the streets of your town,
Be it Edsel or Chevy, there’s no car too heavy,
And no one can make us shut down.

We break into cars when we gotta,
With hammer and pickaxe and saw;
And they said this garage had no license;
But little care I for the law!
Our drivers are friendly and courteous;
Their good manners you always will get;
‘Cause they all are recent graduates
Of the charm school in Joliet.

To me, way, hey, tow them away,
The Lincoln Park Pirates are we,
From Wilmette to Gary, there’s nothin’ so hairy
And we always collect our fee!
So it’s way, hey, tow ’em away,
We plunder the streets of your town,
Be it Edsel or Chevy, there’s no car too heavy,
And no one can make us shut down.

And when all the cars are collected,
And all of their fenders are ruined,
Then I’ll tow all the boats in Belmont Harbor
To the Lincoln Park Lagoon;
And when I’ve collected the ransom,
And sunk all the ones that won’t yield;
I’ll tow all the planes that are blocking the runways
At Midway, O’Hare, and Meigs Field!

To me, way, hey, tow them away,
The Lincoln Park Pirates are we,
From Wilmette to Gary, there’s nothin’ so hairy
And we always collect our fee!
So it’s way, hey, tow ’em away,
Now citizens, gather around,
And I think it’s enough, let’s call his bluff,
Let’s throw the bum out of town!

i never thought i’d be saying this, but:

THANK GOD THE POLICE TOWED MY CAR.

woohoo!

(oh, and i was still wrong about my plate number. i got three of the digits right though, although one of them was misplaced. sigh. perhaps i should have it tattooed on my arm.)

((niqui could smack the nice officer at the district one station who, when she tried and failed to file her vehicle recovery report, didn’t bother searching under the VIN, like the nice officer on the phone did right now, and who could have saved her all this plus the $80 or whatever the towing is going to cost her. BAD OFFICER! BAD!))

oh shit

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not a good way to start your monday:

  1. get ready for work;
  2. pack everything you need, lunch, etc.;
  3. walk out to parking lot to get car;
  4. discover that car is not where it was when you parked it last night at 11:30 after filling the tank — and have absolutely no uncertainty that you might have parked elsewhere, because that’s Your Spot.

there are two possibilities that come before the bad, obvious one:

  1. the parking lot management people moved my car; or
  2. the police impounded the car because of that time a year and a half ago i reported it stolen and was subsequently unable to report it un-stolen because they couldn’t find any record of it ever having been reported stolen, but maybe now they found the record of it having been stolen and towed it.

i think (1) is pretty unlikely. i had my january monthly permit displayed, it’s an unattended lot, and they’ve never even so much as put a reminder notice on my car on days when i’ve forgotten to put the permit up. i called and left a message with them, nonetheless.

i’m hoping for (2). there’s just one problem: i cannot remember my license plate number.

i don’t know what the hell is the matter with me. i just can’t think of what it is. 42-something-8?

i was going to go to work and deal with it there, but when i realized i was drawing an utter, unbreakable blank on the plate number i came straight back home to go through my files. and i still cannot find it. it’s not on my insurance paperwork, and the plate registration is obviously in the car. it’d be on my city sticker paperwork but that’s in the car too.

fuck me.

why can’t i remember my license plate number???

my poor baby car!

…well, i think it’s 4268. i’m going to call 311 and hope like hell the police can help me out, based on the previous report.

just ran through quicken doing my 2005 budget based on 2004 expenses, which brought unwelcome reminder of expected results, mostly. there won’t be any fun trips overseas for niqui this year, budget or not. alas. according to its estimates, february is the only month it projects me in the black. woe.

yeah, yeah, i budget $100/month for each of movies and music, and other stuff like that, but … i’d rather cut back on groceries than on records.

i should probably bug mom again (again, again, and again), but i wish i didn’t have to. because i wish i didn’t need her to contribute to the mortgage, but more importantly because i really hate asking. i wish she would just deal with it, or would have dealt with it the past times i’ve asked. it’s frustrating to feel this sort of guilt over a deal she can’t remember to deal with.

bah. less eating out, more eating in. and fewer records. bah.

i love you, james

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listening to james king‘s radio show this morning, wherein he first played songs in anticipation of 2005 film releases, and then had a call-in show where people could request their favorite movie songs… he just played the final song from his show before signing off.

James: hello, caller? what can i play?
Caller: i want to hear “everything i do, i do it for you,” by bryan adams
James: (disbelieving) what?
Caller: “everything i do, i do it for you,” by bryan adams!
James: (still disbelieving) why?