Shopping For Cars...

I know there's snow outside, and I know that I haven't posted my christmas tree picture yet..... but I thought I'd take a moment to inform you of the dangers of shopping for cars.

I had a very very low budget to work with, so one of my first stops was used car lots. Hey guess what, mom says, I used to work by this used car lot. Its a park and sell lot, she says. Its for sale by owner, and people park their cars there and you go look at them...

Cool, I say. Lets go see.

We pull up to this lot that has a mysterious gate around it. But its open so we drive in. We park, we wander, we write down ID numbers... all the cars are listed online, so you take the ID and look up the car numbers and find out how to contact people that way.

Suddenly, without any warning at all, the mysterious gate closes.

Its ok, mom says, it should open like an apartment complex... we'll drive up to it and it will let us out.

Suddenly, like clockwork or something..... THIS appears from out of nowhere...



and suddenly we become very aware the 'beware of dog! Guard dog on duty' signs

TIME TO GO! mom says

Agree! I say

We jump in our car, and rev it up. We pull up to the gate to leave...... but it doesn't open.

Pull up closer, I say

Do you want me to make this gate a hood ornament, mom says

Suddenly....... another thing becomes painfully obvious. A keypad on either side of the gate.... to let you in, and to let you out.

What do we do? mom says

Pray that Kujo doesnt chew through metal? I suggest

So we're stuck...... and our lovely 4 legged maneater is waiting for us.

There's no one to call to get a code.

Then I say, OH I know! The cars! The ID numbers! I can call someone with internet access, and they can get on that website, give me a number to call a car owner, and BS them a little and say, I want to buy your car, but now i'm locked in... whats the code to get out?

Mom says, Great Idea! But Kujo might disagree with you.... so I have a plan.



What?? ALMONDS?? I say

Yes, she confidently proclaims as she pulls out her leftovers from lunch. Give kujo these almonds, and he will be nice.

Uhhh.....

You have to watch this video, right about two minutes into it....



I kind of laughed at her suggestion like that.

Then I had to stop because Kujo didn't like it..

Anyhow, after some time Kujo gets distracted long enough for me to run out of the warmth of our car, jot down a phone number that is listed on a pontiac, and run back without being eaten.

We explain to the car owner that we want to buy his car/are interested, and wouldn't you know it, we just got locked into the lot.... does he know the code to get out?

'Oh Golly! Wow! I can't believe they locked you in.... Let me find a phone number to the owner of the lot. But while I'm looking... let me tell you about my car..'

Oh my gosh oh my gosh DUDE! Just get us out of here!!! We don't care that its a v6 turbo standard engine with custom rims and can do 0-60 in 3 seconds. Nor do we care that the steering wheel is custom, and that the seats were newly upholstered, and that the engine was modified to sound louder. We're FEMALES! We don't care how it works or how it runs, we just want a way out so we can PEE!

Anyway a good 10 minutes on the phone with this guy leads nowhere and the phone number he gives us goes to voicemail.

Kujo is still lurking in the darkness, waiting for us, and its been a while since we left the owner a message. No luck in reaching anyone at home with internet to find any other phone numbers.

So we called the 'five-oh', and in two hours [after passing by several times due to the bad not very visible location] they finally rescued us. GI Joe must have retired and picked up a badge because the guy that came to our rescue scaled the 8 foot fence in a single leap, and hotwired the fence from the inside to let us out.

We were locked in for about two and a half hours.

We contemplated sleeping there until someone found us.

We debated on me attempting to scale the fence myself and go stand in a visible area to flag down a policeman... but Kujo didn't let that happen.

There were a lot of 'maybes' and 'what if we do this' suggestions.

All in all....

Don't ever go shopping for a car that is surrounded by a gate.

EVER

No good will come of it, and Kujo will eat you.

Anyway, consider this post your Lesson One for car buying.

Fortune time!!

AS THE BIG HOUND IS, SO WILL THE PUP BE.

In the brightest day, in the blackest night, no HTML shall escape my sight...

The weekend is coming to a close, and as I sit here behind the computer screen, several things come to mind..

1. What did I accomplish this weekend? Did I learn anything throughout the week?

2. What are my plans for the coming week?

3. How come there's still so much laundry??? I felt like I did that all weekend....

4. Why so sad that the weekend is over? It should be ended with a positive note... Surely the coming week can't be that bad...

So here I go.

What did I accomplish? HTML! Behold the new and improved blog by Jen! If anybody was here just a couple of days ago, you can see that I drastically spiced up the look of things. The title image still needs some work but it'll do for now. Shameless plugs go out to HTML Goodies and HTML Dog for their awesome services that have continued to help me build on my html knowledge for the low low price of FREE.

No no... in actuality, I accomplished something quite big. I began real work on building up my photo studio. My first backdrop arrived in the mail, and inspiration just filled the entire weekend up once I held it in my hands. Ideas ran wild, the creativity just came to me like it never has before, and I was able to visualize alot more than just the one big project that I've got lined up at the beginning of next year, and the smaller ones waiting for me near the end of this year.

I'd like to share something that I heard in church today and looked up for myself... The Great Stone Face, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Visualization is a powerful thing. :)

It is, actually, the lesson for the week, I'll say. It seems lately that I just haven't really tapped into how important visualization is for daily and long term goals... Its always been a very important tool to me, and I've tried to teach to others. Best example I can give is buying a car. The person who says, I'm buying a car, will have a harder time finding it than the person who says, I'm buying a current year model of a Mitsubishi Lancer, blue, with sunroof, leather interior, tinted windows, cd/mp3 player, bucket seats, and a keyless entry keychain.

When you know the specifics, and have that picture of what it is you want for yourself, the stepping stones and walls that were in the way of getting it become alot easier to climb. Nothing is impossible, so long as we visualize that we have the ability to do it. Very glad to be reminded of it again. :)

Plans for the coming week are Packing! Pack pack pack pack pack! A box a day, and a load of laundry a day, so it doesnt scare me when the weekend comes up again. Moving so close to the holidays is a bummer, but at least its *before* the holidays and not *during*

And to end the week with a positive note...

This week went great, actually. I know I did a lot of worrying about what each day would bring, but to sit here at the end of the week and look back, it went alright... This coming week will go better if I don't stress about what is to come. One day at a time.

Anyway, its fortune time. If you didn't read the first post, fortunes come to you courtesy of my various taipei and mahjongg games.

SEEING IN THE DARK ISN'T DONE WITH ONE'S EYES.