Think I Will Marry This Guy

My 60 year old mechanic. After the debacle with Pep Boys, I decided to get a quote from some other mechanics and not ones that belong to a chain store. I did my research* and dropped it off.

I know you're all dying to know how this turned out - do I have a new car, did I buy a bike, am I stuck in West Hollywood forever, unable to go into the office** or did I get it fixed for the price of a small country?

Well - it's terribly interesting***. First of all, he noticed that my car is breaking the sound barrier and that possibly addressing that issue after 6 years of ignoring that issue might fix some of the multiple notifications that he picked up on when he did the diagnostic check on my engine light. That sounded correct. Expensive but correct.

My diagnostic check was correct, it was expensive. $900 part plus $400 - $450 in labor. I asked if he could get the part and then I could just install it using YouTube but after asking if I knew (a) what the part looked like and (b) where it went, he said no. Pretty sure I knew where I wanted the part to go at that moment...

And so I decided to be a grown-up and suck it up. If nothing else it would extend the life of my car since I have a fear of car payments. And also the bus****. So for 4 days I waited. And shifted money around. And sold the cat to pay for it.

Last Monday he called me and with heavy heart I went to pick it up. And that is when the miracle happened. Turns out this genius was able to weld the existing part back together and shove it back in the car for the low, low price of $566. I was ecstatic. He had taken pictures of it on his phone so I could see how bad it was. I'll be honest, it looked like a lump of metal and then another lump of metal with a solder line around it. The most exciting part was when he realized he'd flicked too far through his photos and landed on a picture of Asahi Beer. At which point, I think he may have asked me on a date to go get sushi. And beer. One of those situations where there was a language barrier so I just laughed and hoped that answered the question...somewhat of an awkward note to end on*****. 

*And by research, I mean I picked the first one that came up on Yelp, was a 2 minute walk from my house and were wearing the correctly embroidered mechanic shirt

To be honest, I think he was wearing someone else's shirt since his name was Ed and he's Eastern European.  But they're all in the same mechanic family of reliable names, so I can let it go.

**This seems like a very attractive option...
***For me.  For a little while and then it became terribly boring.
****I am bus ignorant.  I do not know how to use it and the thought of trying to figure out which bus to get, hailing it (and running after when it didn't stop or waiting hours for the next one because it seemed less embarrassing to pretend it wasn't the one I wanted), paying for it (with pennies - I think a bus ride is a penny each way, right?) and then getting it to stop when I what it to, gives me cold sweats.
*****Good news - got he cat back. 

Things I heard While Out Walking Yesterday

1. A mother trying to get her teenage son to smile for a photo. Her mistake was removing the classic yet proven "cheese" and replacing it with "bathroom sex!" To her surprise, this had the opposite effect. He most certainly was not planning on going home with them and had a nice line in evasion until he got caught by his Dad and they had a discussion. Not that I was following them. For very long.
2. My dog loves Crate and Barrel. In my opinion, her dog was somewhat indifferent to Crate and Barrel. Also, I don't think he had a very good eye for design.
3. But, I don't want to. I don't either.
4. My balloon popped. An initial look of surprise, what the hell just happened and then screaming and crying. You're right. I shouldn't have popped it. It's not up to me to teach life lessons. But life is fleeting. And so are balloons. Which was not actually the lesson I was going for - more, hold your balloon closer to you otherwise it will get popped.
5. What is this called? Sushi? What is that? It's rolled-up rice.  I wanted to go everywhere with these people.  It was like they were newborns.  They weren't from here...