I was eating breakfast when the doorbell rang. It kept ringing so I eventually went down. Our door sorta has a refracted glass thing so you can kinda see the shape of the person outside. The person was wearing brown so I thought it was the UPS person I know. Since I know one of the UPS people, I waited by the door a bit longer and then opened it. Turns out it wasn’t him. It was this tall guy who was wearing thickly dark wrap around sunglasses. (and let me tell you, the sun wasn’t out in this guy, it wasn’t even shining outside as well) He said with no emotion, “package pickup” Then he held up a reciept like it was a FBI (or the like) badge. He looked like Agent Smith from Matrix . . except he was wearing brown.
Monthly Archive for August, 2005
Page 2 of 5
At 10:30 in the morning, we decided to go to San Juan Batista before the new car smell faded. When Grandma came back from the hall, we packed up the car with ourselves and puttered off to SJB (cool eh?). I tried sitting in the very back seat (since there’s three rows of seats, you call the 1st seat: front seat, the 2nd: back seat, the 3rd: very back seat OR back, back seat) since the windows reminded me of an airplane. The trip there was nice and smooth. I started to fall asleep but didn’t. I fall asleep quicker with the ‘76 truck ’cause the truck is very . . . bouncy and that helps me nod off. (as they say)
When we arrived at SJB, it was hungry time, also known as lunch. We went to Dona Eshter’s ’cause we went there many, many years ago for Grandmas birthday. Back then when we were there, we said that it was her birthday (which was true) and the staff came out singing happy birthday and Grandma said, “oh shut up!” When we suggested telling them about her birthday again (since it’s her birthday today), she declined with confidence. We wolfed down those fried chips pretty quickly (well, I did at least). I saw another basket of ‘em on a table but somebody quickly snatched them away before I could attempt it. We ordered the usual mexican food (not usual to that place ’cause we’ve only been there twice). Enchelada (spelled something like that), that thing that’s usually wrapped in a corn leaf/husk, tostada and such. All the ceiling fans were running but the fan right underneath us looked a little fast and a little off it’s rocker. Seriously! It was spinning faster than the others and wobbling unsteadily and I thought it was gonna come down and slice us into tortillia thin fleshelada (haha! . . ha?).
As we were eating, they had this Maharachi music playing but after a few minutes, I noticed they were playing the same song over and over again. It was like the thing was on Loop Mode! I kept hearing the same trumpet doing the same up and down break and the same ending and the same beginning and the same in-between! It was 3:20 long and we memorized it until now. Somehow I just forgot it (I can still remember the sound of the trumpet) but I’m sure it’ll come through in the middle of the night. After we finished our food, I thought for sure that once we stepped out the door, that fast ceiling fan would crash on our table and they would change the song.
We stopped at the 2/300 year old Mission for a little Siesta. There was a real nice lawn and I wanted to do a little sparring but Luke was enthralled with his animal book and I kinda had to go to the bathroom.
We stopped at Billy’s house to get some seeds that Sarah had. She had thousands of packages in the trash bag which she wasn’t using (the seeds that is. She could’ve used the trashbag somewhere else).
That was pretty much it. We came home and I started writing all this down. (now that’s called dedication to my loyal-ish readers! Why don’t you donate something to keep me writing so promptly?)
Sooooo. . . While Luke’s goofing off at San Fransisco, We’ve decided to get the car! We want a van to haul as . . . I mean instruments and to have head room. We also want windows that roll down in the back so we’ve settled on a Mazda MPV. Since We were looking at a used 2004 MPV at a dealer and we managed to use their price to lower down the price of a brand new 2005 MPV at another dealer! Booyeah! First time in a brand new car and it still has that new car smell! I found a MP3/WMA player at circuit city for a very reasonable price (not to mention free installation) which will add the final touches on the coolness factor. While I was working on my Minstrel banjo, I heard the car pull in. We were gonna get a white van (which is good for the paint ‘n all) but I saw a black-ish car there. I saw Mama and the car dealer (he was pretty slick) checkin’ out the car. It even had a DVD player in the back! . . then I found out that it wasn’t the car. They just brought it by ’cause it’s like the car we’re getting (without the DVD).
Much later on, Mama pulled in with a silver MPV. They didn’t have the white one but that was just fine. Silver, chrome, all of those colors looks futuristic! It sure is purty! Plus! It comes with one of those remote lock/unlockers with the horn! PLUS, the remote also has a switchblade style key.
One final thing to mention, The back seat can turn backwards to make a couch facing the back for “tailgate parties.” . . Like we’d ever do that anyway.
It so interesting going to a car dealership and just experiencing how they treat you. We went there yesterday to look for a van (since the Suburu Outback was too small for the instruments) and the dealer came right up to us, we shook hands and then it got started. The first dealer didn’t use our names a lot but he was very positive and supported everything we did. We found this Mazda MPV van and we gave it a test run. Since the parking lot got repaved, our feet were jet black so we got our shoes. . . not that it would make a difference anyway ’cause our shoes just got dirty. It was a nice ride. Mama asked the salesman if he was ever nervous about being in a car that somebody’s test driving. When the guy said, “well, funny you should mention that,” we thought that he was talking about Mama’s driving (she’s a chamionship winning parallel parker mind you!) but he didn’t say that. This is what he said (and pay attention ’cause it’s a great story and I think he was telling the truth. you can never be too careful but he didn’t look that slimy) “well, funny you should mention that, about four months ago, somebody came in and wanted to try out a car. I came with him. suddenly he pulled up his shirt and I saw a gun there. He went over 100 miles/hour and I was hostage. It turns out he was a felon and had warrants out from all over. He drove all the way to Salinas and I finally bailed out at 60 miles/hour. I beat up my knees bad but he stopped to get me so I jumped and ran between houses and backyards and just kept running. Since the car had OnStar tracking, the nabbed him 15 minutes later.” Whoo! What a trip!
We came back the next day to look at the van and we got another salesman. He used our name a bit but not too much like those slimy salesman who say, “well joe, what kind of car are you looking for joe? joe, do you want a nice car, joe? Joe! you can get approved financing for Joe! . . . I mean for 56,000 G’s! Doesn’t that sound great Joe!?” I don’t care for people that slick. This guy wasn’t. I could tell when he used some salesman charm. We decided to keep the car overnight so we went inside to fill out the paperwork. I noticed that somebody did a horrible parking job. When we went inside, several cars were in the building! I mean come on! I may not have my license but I can do a lot better than that! I mean they weren’t even in the parking lot, they were in the building! I’m suprised I didn’t see any broken glass where the car broke through! Anyway, we signed some paperwork and then when he signed his name, some salesmen magic appeared. His last name was . . . well, let’s just say it’s associated with a tart fruit of some sorts. Mama said, “boy, that’s an unique name!” A nearby salesman thought Mama was talking about her (Mama’s) name said, “oh, that’s not as unique as mine!” and a lady said “oh, that’s not nearly as unique as mine!” and then the original salesman said, “well, hey!” (in a happily suprised expression, not a annoyed) AAAAAAaaaawkwaaaaaaaardDDDDD! It’s interesting to see how the salesman work together. It’s like a few years ago when we rented a car from Hertz. We saw a car we wanted and a Sman (salesman) was pulling it out to pick somebody out so our Sman ran to get it. Another Sman said, “I never seen him run that fast before!” Sure, it was funny but that made the customer subconciously think, “Boy! He’s doing that specially me! . . .Wow!”
When we took it out for another test drive, the guy opened the door for me and said, “hop in, boss!” I was thinking about playing with him. you know, acting all suprised, looked after and feeling all good from the praise. I didn’t of course ’cause I was gonna say, “I’m on to you!” or something suspiciousy. I dunno, Smen are too positive to be comfortable around. . . For me at least.
We were test driving this Mazzzzda MP3 . . . I mean MPV van. I brought a CDR-W to see if it played in the player and to test out the sound system. Since it didn’t work and I still needed to test out the SS. Since there was nothing good on the radio (besides KGO) on Monday, I put on the classical station (not my favorite but it’s more bearable than the crap that’s on the FM).
After listening for about ten, I came to a conclusion: Classical music is like one big giant musical mood swing. First it’s very quiet and slippery, later the obos are booming with the cymbals and just roaring! *BoOm!* than slow and quiet, then a build up, and than it’s like a trip down a waterfall. Just a thought.