Saga of the Cars

As if it isn't difficult enough to get up and off to work on a Monday morning, this past Monday I was greeted with a "special surprise" as I reached my car in the parking lot of my apartment complex. 

A shattered car window --- It was still too dark to get a good picture but it looked similar to this




How lovely.  Altogether, about ten vehicles in the complex had similar break-ins and there was no apparent rhyme or reason as to why certain cars were targeted.  The contents of my glove compartment were scattered all over the passenger seat of my car, but since I'm start enough not to keep anything in my car worth stealing, nothing was taken. 

However, this latest fiasco led me to look back and recall the implausible atrocious luck I have had with my cars over just the past four years and I could do nothing but laugh to keep myself from losing my damn mind.

- November 2015: Engine seizes on my 2013 Chevrolet Aveo while driving on I4.  After three tows and a saga detailed here, the car got a new engine and was returned to me in December.  

- September 2016: The air conditioning on the Aveo breaks. It works during some intervals, but not others. 

- February 2017: A short somewhere in the 2013 Aveo leads to the  turn directionals intermittently not working either. Not a huge deal unless your trying to merge into dead stop traffic in Orlando!!!!

May 2017: The battery on the 2013 Aveo COMPLETELY dies; cannot even charge it. Decide it is time to have it towed and get rid of it! My son, who got a new car, let me have his old one (2003 Nissan Maxima)

September 2017: The air condition in the Maxima quits working. 

November 2017: Walk out to the parking lot in the morning to discover my passenger side rear view mirror hanging there...barely attached to the car anymore. I was able to wedge it and keep it on for about another month before I had to remove it completely. 

November 2017: Flat Tire

January 2018:  The sun roof on the Maxima starts acting strange. It will open intermittently all by itself and would not close.  Then later (maybe an hour, maybe a day, who knows) it would close on it's own as well.

April 2018: Maxima will not start and we are stranded at Buffalo Wild Wings. I decide it's time for a new car so the next day I car shop and settle on a 2016 Chevrolet Sonic. 

Mid May 2018: The air conditioning in my "brand new car" stops working.

Mid -June 2018: The low coolant alarm sounds so I add coolant to the engine. 


Late June 2018: The low coolant alarm sounds again so I take it to a dealer to look at. I am told there is a crack in the radiator which is leading to the fluid leak and given an estimate of $1,100. They top off the coolant. 

Mid July 2018: By this time, I could only drive the car less than 10 miles and had to add coolant to the engine every single day to keep it from overheating. 

End July 2018: Have the car repaired ($1,000) and was so happy to have air conditioning again.

Beginning August 2018: The air conditioner worked for one week. Took it back to the dealer and was told it would be another $600 to repair the air. After a few choice words, I surrender the loaner vehicle and RUN out of there without looking back! I still do not have air in my car. 

November 2018: Flat tire on I4 as we drove back from parents on the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thankfully it was a run flat so there was not a blow out and I was able to drive to a service station. But it took 4.5 hours to get it changed and I had a migraine complete with vomiting while waiting! 

September 2019: Car is broken into and window shattered. 

Oh yes, and I also have a slow leak in the rear left tire that I need to replace soon!  

See...laugh or go crazy!  

It's THAT Time of the Year

Of course I'm speaking of Halloween Horror Nights.


While I still mourn the demise of the Bill and Ted show, the atmosphere and houses appear to be enough to keep me obsessed. 

I am still hopeful that one of these years I'll have enough money to invest in a express pass (as I did my very first year), but this is not the year!  

HHN 2019 features 10 walk through houses

1). Us

2). Stranger Things 

3). Universal Monsters

4). Ghostbusters

5). Killer Klowns from Outer Space

6). House of 1000 Corpses

7). Depths of Fear

8). Graveyard Games

9). Nightingales Blood Pit

10). Yeti: Terror of the Yukon


Also this HHN features 5 scare zones

1). Zombieland Double Tap

2). Rob Zombie Hillbilly Deluxe


3). Anarch-cade

4). Vanity Ball

5). Vikings Undead


And finally, something I'm particularly excited about. In addition to of The Academy of Villains who are returning for the third year, this year will feature a new lagoon show called Marathon of Mayhem. 



Let the fun begin!


*All images from Google*

Worth It To Panic Over Nothing?

Well that was a great two days off from school for NOTHING! 

We got a little wind...we got a little rain.  
80% of Central Florida shut down Monday and Tuesday including theme parks in anticipation of this:

Which never happened Not even close...

Instead we got this:

Oh and when I say "great" two days off from school I mean by Tuesday afternoon I was bored out of my mind!  

I've spent the last three days eating and binge watching horror movies. 

I'm so ready to go back tomorrow. 

Just Hit Rewind

Here we are - in an all too familiar position - waiting on a hurricane. 

The third one in the last three years; thank you Matthew, Irma, and Dorian. 

The game we're playing here in Orlando is - will it won't it?

The projected path has changed about 562 times so it's likely we will not know for sure until it is basically on top of us. 
  

My parents are up in Alabama, but this time we are staying put and riding it out.

Got peanut butter, bread, crackers. chips, and lots and lots of water so maste in my apartment until this passes.