And so it goes...

The past 10 days have been the most frustrating since I first got to LA. Things just haven't been going my way lately. And just when something seems to be going well... something bad happens again... (insert wavy-Wayne's World flashback effect)

After getting my car fixed, I was looking to the future and was happy knowing that I finally had a working car. The next day I took the car out to go run some errands, and after driving a couple of miles from my apartment towards Hollywood my car breaks down again. I instantly think to myself "here we go again, you have got to be kidding me". Especially since I just had the car fixed. To my luck, a kind hispanic man happened to be walking by and offered to help and try to get it started again. After try a few things, unfortunately it still wouldn't start up. I call my dad and he suggests putting gas in the car just in case the gas gauge is wrong and the tank is empty. So I walk down the street to the closes gas station and put an extra gallon of gas in the car. Unfortunately, the car still woudn't start so I called up my mechanic and he says he'll come get it in an hour and that I have to walk the keys to his shop. So, I ended up walking about 3 miles in the heat and it takes me about an hour just to reach his shop.

After looking at the car over the weekend, my mechanic Albert calls me and says that it's fixed. Apparently a wire had burnt out and it was caused by the relay switch being stuck on "on". At this point, I'm just thankful that it's fixed and he charges me another $130 for labor and parts. I pick up the car, take it work the next day and once I get there my co-workers look at me like I'm crazy and say "are you sure you work today?". I go to look at the schedule and to my dismay, my store manager had cut my hours from 30 hours to 18 including that day's shift, and to top it all of didn't tell me. I was happy that I was working 30 hours this week because I desperately need the money until I get a second job. But apparently my manager forgot to schedule this new girl she hired and had to take hours from me to give her hours. I take a deep breath, work a couple hours in place of one my workers who wanted to go to home early and returned home.

The next day, Tuesday, I get ready to take the car out once more to run a bunch of overdue errands. Seth came along and as we were entering the freeway, I joked to him that it was a fitting christening that I was taking my "now-working" car on the freeway. Unfortunately I spoke too soon. After only 15 seconds of driving my car on the freeway my car breaks down a third time. By this point, I couldn't believe my luck. Praying for an exit ramp to come soon, I cruised as far as I could until the car's momentum stopped. Luckily, a ramp came up and we barely made it to the light at the end of the ramp. Seth and I proceeded to push the dead car into a gas station and I call my dad... again. He can't believe it and says to call my mechanic again. So I call Albert....again. When I tell him what happened he simply couldn'y believe it. He tells me to put gas in the car just in case it's empty so I oblige and nothing changes. He tells me to stay put and that he would come and try to get it started. He comes, and of course he can't start it, so he tells me that he will have to come tow it later. He offers to drive us back to the apartment and I ask him if the car will be ok sitting there until the tow truck comes and he says it will be fine.

After reaching the apartment, Seth and I decided to run our errands with his car. After running to the bank, we head baack to Van Nuys, and I decide to stop by the car to get something from inside. I pull up to the car and I realize that the tow-guy is already there and I tell him I'm going to grab something from the car before he takes it to the shop. He then tells me that he's not taking it to the shop, he's impounding it. He goes on to say that he was called by the owner of the gas station to have it towed. Again, I couldn't believe my luck (or lack there of) and I plead to him to just help me out and keep driving. He turns out to be a huge prick about it and says that "someone has to pay him" and that either I get the owner to pay him or I have to pay him. I go to talk to the owner in hopes that he will understand my situation and he turns out to be just as much of an asshole as the tow-guy. He starts yelling at me and how everything is my fault. I explain my situation and how my mechanic said it would be fine to leave it until the tow-truck came. The owner then tells me that my mechanic is "stupid" and further insults me. The owner and I go to the tow-truck guy and I continue to plead to them to cut me a break and understand my situation. The tow-guy then insists that he has to get paid or he's taking the car and I ask him how much it would be. He then has the gall to ask me "how much do you have?". At this point I was completely disgusted with the both of them. What kind of person is so vindictive and selfish to ask someone that in that situation? I don't tell him and he says that he usually charges $125 but if I gave him $60 cash that he would leave the car. I accept my fate and give him the cash and he leaves the car on a side street. The most frustrating part of this whole ordeal was how rude the both of them were and how unhelping they wanted to be. I guess that's the one most infuriating thing about LA. People are only out to help themselves and it's super hard to find someone who wants to help you out. Anyway, I digress.

I then call my mechanic to explain the situation and he had to flag his tow-guy down and tell him to pick the car up from the new location. When this was all said and done I couldn't believe this was happening to me. To this point, I've already spent an extra $500 fixing this car up twice and both times it breaks down the next day. The only good news out of all of this is that when I talked to Albert about the situation and asked him to cut me a deal with looking at it for a third time and he tells me that he will fix it this time for no charge. So here I lie. My car is in the shop... again. I still need a second job. I can't really pursue acting stuff right now or a second job without a working car... so I wait. The worst part of all of this is that it comes down to money. I can overcome a lot, but money has always been the thorn in my side.

In the end, I still try to stay positive and think it has to get better eventually. I think everyone goes through a period like this in their life and you just have to get through it. And instead of whining too much about it, I just need to count my blessings and keep on keeping on. You're dealt the cards your dealt and you have to make a hand of it.

And so it goes...

Movie Reviews of the Day:
Marie Antoinette - 3.5 stars
Blade Runner - 4 stars
Juno - 4 stars