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notjustmyfeet
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Name: Dylan
Birthday: 2/4/1985
Interests: Jazz -- Chess -- the NFL -- Theology -- Games -- History -- Current Events -- Gender Studies -- Bad Jokes
Occupation: wayward son
Message: message me
Member Since:
10/25/2006
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| Not much to report lately. The weekend was typical of the fall weekends I have become accustomed to having in the last five years. Football game on Saturday swallows up that day, and then rest and watch NFL games on Sunday. But really, it's better than it sounds. If I didn't like marching band or football games, weekends might suck. In fact, I'm pretty sure they would. During the football game (which the Bears lost for once) the band cheered and continued doing the crazy dances and reveling that have become part of the gameday atmosphere. My section leader knows that I have two games left (counting this past week) and let me go on the Roving Pep Band. Now, for those of you who haven't seen these...what happens is a small contingent of the band (maybe 20) disembarks and goes on a lone voyage up into different parts of the stands. This way the fans who are not anywhere near the band can hear us up close and hopefully get more excited and into the game itself. It took most of the third quarter. We ended by lining up in front of the enemy fans and playing our fight song for them. That was great fun, in a mischevious kind of way.
The only other main thing going on is the ever-present job of keeping the room clean. Mom visited a couple weeks ago and brought the bulk of my winter clothes contingent that was left in Detroit for space reasons. Last weekend I divided the mound into keep out/keep stored/donate categories; the only thing to do now is store and donate them. Then wash the rest.
Today I feel like going for a drive. I don't know where, but maybe to the west, in the direction of Toad Suck. Many people don't like driving but it's one of the things I really enjoy. It feels good to have the ability to travel more than a couple of miles and be free.
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| Well it is the 1 year anniversary of this blog. I just happened to catch this today. I have a few things to say.
I have no intention of letting this blog go by the wayside. It has been an interesting 365 days, days that have made me grateful for the things which do remain constant. Therefore I suppose it is out of some kind of nostalgic sense of constancy (at least in part) that I find myself typing on the one-year birthday of 'notjustmyfeet'. (I appreciate and take wonder in year-anniversaries, but that's another story!) Looking back, I remember the motivation that helped me in starting this blog: I wanted a fresh start, both off the blogosphere and on it. I also believed in the power of the mind-thought-flow-fingers-computer keyboard process. You laugh, but you only have to look so far as a pianist, or a musician of any kind, for that matter, to appreciate how language, even spirit, can be finely communicated through the fingers. So there it was. Ultimately, I launched this blog thinking -- knowing that it would be a good influence on me and on those whom I wished well. If nothing else, the evolution of discourse that came through would teach me how to teach others.
I have been very surprised at the lull. Whether it was mere writers' block, or the arrival of other, more appealing forms of expression I'm not sure. I do, however, know that many times I knew not to post. The only way to explain my absence from Notjustmyfeet is to ask for your understanding. At the risk of sounding somewhat needlessly cryptic, we all do what we must do. I simply felt a 'no'. The pump didn't work. Perhaps it is most ironic that, through other forms of expression that may have taken precedence and contributed to Notjustmyfeet's decline, I found inspiration and learned lessons about continuity that would eventually, inexorably lead me back to this website. | | |
| I am not dead, I assure you. You know how it goes. At least, if
you're caught up in the going-on's of this summer like so many folks
around are, you do.
More updates to follow. Maybe. Hehe. | | |
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Now that's wit. | | |
| Thanks for all of the support, guys. Definetely lifted me up.
After looking at the car, my stepfather was able to suggest a few things to me. The fuel filler is the only thing that really needs fixing, it's at about 310-350 dollars. But several of the other leaks or mount problems are solved with a little bit of improvisation. The leaks are not bad, nor do they look to get any worse. Ken pointed out that I could buy a new part for 800 dollars, or simply continue to refill the leaky power steering fluid. PS fluid isn't flammable. And you can buy a lot of it for the 800 I'd otherwise spend on a part. Another example is the front and rear mounts. Though they need work, Ken discovered that the car is not in any danger. It just won't ride like a Lexus. Several little things like that should make my car well within budget for fixing. Yes!!
I've learned something really interesting about used cars in the North vs. down South. A typical used car from 1990 or 1992 will go for about 1,800 dollars, in both places. In the North, what reduces the value is rust damage (due to the colder climate). As it snows, ground crews cover the roads with salt to prevent slippiness. Well, a car's wheels will inevitably rake up enough of that salt into the wheel covering and other places of the inside of the car to cause rust. Rust causes holes to be put in metal. So in those areas, chemicals from the road (dirt, salt, etc.) can enter the exhaust system, front engine area, and gas tank. As those chemicals from the road mix with the metal and other chemicals, the corresponding parts of the car are ruined. Cars in Michigan typically do not go much farther than 200 or 250k miles because of this. It affects every car.
Down South, where seasonal rust is not a problem in the least, a car's value takes the hit via its increasing mileage. Cars and even trucks will USUALLY go over 200,000 miles, at least if well-maintained. So you can see how a $1,700 Michigan car is starkly different and has vastly different problems/disadvantages than a $1,700 Arkansas car. The Michigan car could have only 92k miles and some rust, where the Arkansas car might have a fine body, but 192k miles. I am now that much the wiser. Maybe someone else will benefit from this knowledge.
I guess that's what travelling is good for. To borrow (and perhaps quote out of context) one of Snook's favorite quotes: "A man who has lived in many places is not likely to be deceived by the
local errors of his native village; the scholar has lived in many
times, and is therefore in some degree immune from the great cataract
of nonsense that pouts from the press and the microphone of his own
age." | | |
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