2 Mechades ≈ 0.20 Centureasons for Change

Mercury is apparently in retrograde through September, which, for those not into divining astronomic conditions, usually means things are about to get ugly. At least, it is the reason I attribute to any extended SNAFU, and thus far, it's been pretty consistent. In any case, yesterday's was worth mentioning, even going so far as to provide an excellent lesson in escalating obstacles, keeping me from my internship at 9:00 AM. Allow me to elaborate:

• 6:10 AM - Eat breakfast in room, because friend is sleeping on couch after taking refuge from an apartment full of toxic vapors.
• 7:17 AM - Leave abnormally late, only to find roommate's car still parked behind mine in tandem spot.
• 7:30 AM - Run upstairs, grab roommate's keys, return downstairs to switch cars, run back upstairs to drop off roommate's keys, lock apartment from inside, run back downstairs, and realize my apartment and garage keys have fallen onto front seat of roommate's locked car.
• 7:42 AM - Arrive at parking garage by gym and roll down window to take parking ticket, only to find that window will not roll back up.
• 7:50 AM - Decide to follow Mom's advice and take it to dealer.
• 7:55 AM - Return to car, realize I have to prepay to leave garage, further realize that with only $1, I have to leave car with window down and go across two streets and down an escalator into gym to get my ticket validated so I can get out of garage.
• 8:05 AM - Return to pre-pay machine, which immediately eats half of my money.
• 8:20 AM - Arrive at Honda Dealership down Figueroa, where representative immediately estimates $500 to $800 to fix window. He pops hood to find everything leaking, making car no longer road-worthy, and offers to run an inspection to tally up cost. Should be an hour or two.
• 9:00 AM - Would normally have been at internship by now.
• 9:30 AM - Finish reading "The Terrible Vengeance" by Nicolai Gogol, while trying to drown out Telemundo in lounge. People have been coming and going, shuttling home, but I have stayed, since inspection will be done soon.
• 9:50 AM - Inquire on status of inspection, and learn it will take only half an hour more. Decide it would be better to wait half hour instead of take offered shuttle home.
• 10:50 AM - Inquire again on status of inspection and learn that representative will have details after lunch, for which he immediately departs.
• 11:35 AM - Ask for shuttle, tired of 60-degree lounge and Telemundo. Representative says there will be a shuttle ready in ten minutes.
• 11:50 AM - No shuttle, no driver, but inspection should be completed soon.
• 12:15 PM: Receive estimate: $3,000 to fix window, motor, and shocks. Representative suggests trading it in for something newer.
• 12:45 PM: Leave office of salesman, who spoke just enough English to tell me repeatedly to buy a new car and not hope to find anything under $10,000 at that dealership.
• 1:20 PM - Rent car and start driving to internship, which has been gnawing at brain since 8:00.
• 2:00 PM - Find parking spot after roaming neighborhoods and run to lunch.
• 2:45 PM - Finally get check and run to internship.
• 2:45 - 7:00 PM - Receive no questions about six-hour delay nor any kind of project or assignment at internship.

So now, apart from the increasingly desperate hunt for employment and the push to finish this script and send it to the increasing number of people requesting it, I may have to fly home and find a new car. Taking a step back from astrology, it just hit me how big of a change this is. Apart from the nearly two decades the Accord has been in my family, I've been through a lot with it since I started driving: four driving tests at 16, a near-death experience on the freeway at 17, driving across the country, working, exploring, falling in love, driving away from love... It's heard singing and laughing and crying, the likes of which I would never allow another person to hear, and though its gradually fallen apart over the years, its heart has stayed strong enough to keep me going from Point A to Point B, C, D.

Now that it's not coming back, I'm feeling a little melancholy. I'm embracing the idea of letting go of possessions, but there is a certain intimacy with this car, like what a Mongolian nomad has with his horse. Losing it draws a strange parallel to losing a friend, which is making the idea of picking a new car unexpectedly difficult. I've been offered a 2002 Acura, a racing car, a powerful car, but, to me, for now, it feels soulless. How very strange that a mechanical device should seem to have a soul...