My first car is totaled. My second car is a mural. September 29, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a comment
I got a call from the insurance company last Wednesday. My blue Geo is officially totaled (the dent on the front drivers side - didn’t take much), and the other driver has accepted liability. Which means a $1513.18 payout for me! Nice. Not bad for a $300 purchase. Even after the $600 worth of maintenance and fees and emissions things, I’ve come out ahead! Plus, I’ve learned to drive a stick shift.
I even have the option of keeping the car, in which case the insurance company deducts the estimated resale value of the car. Which is $172.43. I wonder if they factor in the $20 of gas that I just put in it.
The car still runs as well as it ever did - I’ve been driving it all over Seattle. The problem is that to get a salvage title, I have to get it checked out, and while the body damage from the accident is not an issue, there could be an issue with:
- the broken turn signal
- the battery leak that forces me to disconnect the battery whenever I park
- the fact that I have to bang the dashboard to turn off the headlights
- the wrecked CV joint
- the fact the brake pads are at 1%
- the fact that the weight of the car is what’s holding the right front wheel on and if I crest a hill too fast it might fall off
So that’s that. Ten weeks after buying it, I am giving up possession of a perfectly serviceable (if somewhat dangerous) running car for the princely sum of one hundred seventy-two dollars and forty-three cents.
Even better, it took me less than twelve hours to find a replacement on Craigslist. I wondered how I would ever find a car with more personality than my last one, but the mural painted all over my new Corolla helps. It cost five times as much as my old car, but it’s nice to be able to run errands without fearing for my life. Things have worked out very well.
Your thoughts?I’m spotted in Seattle. Sort of. September 28, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Beauty and the Geek, Personal , 19 commentsAt a bar in Seattle:
Her: Hey, this is silly, but can I ask you something?
Me: Sure.
Her: My friend thinks you’re the guy from Beauty and the Geek.
Me: Now why would she say that?
Her: So you’re not?
Me: No, I am.
Her: You’re full of shit! (walks away)
My hair stinks September 27, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 4 commentsEvery time I shower the chemicals in my hair come out and the whole house starts to smell like a hair salon. I’m just about to keel over. I can’t get away from the smell!
This is a lot more hassle than I expected to deal with to dye my hair THE SAME COLOR that it already is.
Your thoughts?Groovy Tuesday, rocking the house September 26, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentThe Tuesday potluck finally came together last night as Craig and I envisioned it months ago. About 15 people, from old high school friends to Ironman competitors to the girl I met at the grocery store the previous night, came together for a great night of food and conversation. Some people we knew well, some people we hardly knew at all, but we now have memories of a fantastic evening and a refrigerator full of leftovers.
It’s time to step up the pace and meet some new strangers for next week - the Groovy Tuesday Potluck is going weekly.
Your thoughts?My career as a professional model begins: the trials and tribulations of being professionally really really good looking September 25, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal, Work , add a commentSaturday marked my first day at a professional model.
Alexandra’s agency sent her info about a hair modeling opportunity downtown so I tagged along for the auditions on Friday. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived they’d chosen models for most of the cuts they needed and Alexandra’s features were too “dominant” for the remaining cuts. But apparently no other guys showed up, so they asked me if I wanted a free haircut and $300.
Umm… yes.
I came back the next day to get my hair dyed. They elected to dye it the same color it already was, the end result being that about ten grey hairs on my head are now black. And a lot of my scalp.
I committed to five hours on Saturday, but fortunately it only took 90 minutes to dye my hair the color it already was, so I got to leave early and go to a concert, followed by Bellevue Fashion Week, of course.
Sunday was the real workday, though. 9 am to 9 pm. I had to wake up at 7:30 in the morning! I didn’t even know there was a 7:30 in the morning!
But I arrived at the venue right on time, where I then waited and talked and waited and read and waited for several hours. At one point I overheard the following conversation: “And is Niels ok?” “Yeah, he’s just about done.”
Just about done? They dyed my hair the same color and hadn’t even touched it with scissors yet!
In the end, I got about a 5-minute trim before we went down to sit/stand for about 2 hours in front of a few hundred hairstylists.
Whatever. $300 in my pocket, met some cool people, added a new experience to my list. Good day.
Your thoughts?