Elastica

Connection

Elastica – Connection

I woke up early this morning but still was nearly late for this recurring Monday morning meeting at the office. When we were fully remote I was never late for anything, but I am not a morning person and the physical effort involved in all the things one must do to arrive at the office in time for an early meeting, on a Monday no less, is just never going to be easy.

I live along a popular jogging route and every morning I see people out there super early walking their dogs and getting their exercise in before getting ready for work. That will never be me. I can wake up, I can get out of bed, I can move around the house, slowly. But I need to have my coffee and give my body and mind the time they need to actually function.

The best way to get myself to a more conscious state is to sit down with a cup of coffee and hit my usual word games. This gives my brain enough of a little challenge to get those synapses firing. Start with Wordle, then move on to the Spelling Bee, when I hit a wall there I do Connections. Connections sometimes drives me crazy. But when I get it right in the first four guesses, I hear this Elastica song in my head and I make a sneer just like Justine Frischmann. Somewhere in there I am actually awake enough to get ready for work.

If I have to, really have to, I can get showered, dressed and out the door quickly. But my brain is not really working, it’s all muscle memory. I am definitely not firing on all cylinders. And I still need that time for my brain to catch up with my body, so I can be at the office, or airport, or wherever, but without having had that time in the morning I am not really all there, mentally, until about 10:00 a.m.

Occasionally someone will suggest that I can train myself to be up earlier and get moving faster in the morning. To which I say, why? Why is it seen as better, more virtuous, to be an early bird instead of a night owl? My dad once worked for a company that had a policy of flexible work hours with a common block of time from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. You could work any 8 hour block you wanted to, so long as you were in the office during that common block. Meetings could only take place during that time frame. To me, this is a great idea and one that I wish would really catch on. You can get up at 5 and go for a run and be in the office at 7, meanwhile I will try to get the Connections in four guesses while sipping my coffee.

Car Song

Elastica – Car Song

I need to replace my car. It failed inspection, which was not a surprise, but when I took it to the garage to see about getting it fixed, they advised me not to bother. It’s a 15-year-old car with 180,000 miles on it and the problem that caused it to fail is far from the only thing wrong with it.

I bought this car from my sister four years ago when it had 65,000 miles of hard city living on it. It had a lot of scrapes on the bumper from years of parallel parking on Brooklyn streets, the rear windshield washer has never worked since I’ve owned it, the glove compartment requires a special touch to get it to shut, but we needed a car and the timing and price were right so I didn’t complain.

I have put 600 miles a week on this car just getting to and from work. It’s nearly all highway miles but that’s bound to take a toll. Other problems have developed, as much from age as neglect on my part. I’ve bought new tires, new spark plugs and connecting wires, maybe brake pads once? It smells mildewy, the side view mirror is held together by duct tape, it burns oil, and the odometer light burned out a long time ago. It’s got manual windows and door locks. My kids think it’s so cool that they can roll down their windows without the car being on.

Looking for its replacement, however, is making me see it in another light. I don’t have money to spend on a new car and I can’t really take on a car loan right now either. I’ve been looking on Craigslist and wondering about the chances of finding anything reliable, let alone something that can take my commute. Nearly all the listings say things like, “Runs and drives good. No reverse.” or “Excellent car, great on gas, needs new motor.” Um, no. It is not an excellent, or even good, car if it needs a new motor or you can’t put it in reverse. The ones that don’t appear to have major mechanical flaws have 250,000 miles or more and that just seems like trouble to me.

Today I happened upon a listing for a car that is the same model I currently have, one year older, but with only 100,000 miles. I have never really liked this car but the pictures show it looking in better condition than the one I’m driving. Is it foolish to consider it? I feel like it’s the devil you know. Maybe I could get 80,000 miles out of that one before it succumbs to a similar fate? I should probably stick to looking for old Toyotas and Hondas but ones that are cheap enough for me to afford are so high in mileage that it doesn’t sound smarter. Sadly, public transportation for my route doesn’t exist or I’d jump on that in a heartbeat.

My family has a long history of car problems. When I bought my first car I only looked at new cars, hoping to avoid all the issues that might arise from buying a used car. Twenty years and two kids later, I just want something that isn’t going to fall apart while I make my way to the office. I want to be sure I can get home at the end of the day. Is that too much to expect from a 15-year-old used car? Is history doomed to repeat itself or have I paid enough dues in the old car wars to come through unscathed? Stay tuned.