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so Eric got the car fixed. Cost over a thousand. Turned out to be the alternator afterall. He also needed some bracket thingy for the battery and a new connector to the cables that run to the battery cuz all that was corroded. They put in a new gas filter or something like that. Some thingy that holds up the serpentine belt was shimeying so they replaced or tightened that thing. They said he needed a new serpentine belt, cuz the one it has is cracked, but he can do that himself, for less than $50.... They did a tune up, a transmission drain and clean and refill, tire rotation and balance (not sure bout allignment, though the car still pulls right so I doubt it)... anyway he gets all this work done, we get the car back around 4pm yesterday, and today around 5pm it breaks down again. I was picking him up from work, he was trying to sneak out early and I was waiting for him out front. The radio got weird, the speakers hummed, the clock went in and out then the a/c died followed shortly by the car dying. First thing I said to him is "You're gonne freak out" Maybe I shoulda said "Please dont freak out" (though it wouldnt have done any good). He gets security to jump us. There's a super walmart across the street, and he has a lifetime warranty for the battery there. See the first time the car died he bought a new battery and we'd been driving on only the battery Monday afternoon through when it died again Tuesday afternoon. It was probably drained passed the point of where it can hold a charge, and that's why it died again today (hopefully). It's just bullshit that the car cost so much, the same week Eric's taxes were due (almost another grand). It also sucks that it's taken this long to get fixed, who knows hwo much longer it'll take. After security jumped us we went over to walmart but eric didnt have the receipt for the battery with him. I dont think they'll give him another battery anyway, but he seems to think that his warranty guarantees as many batteries as he could ever want.... So I was pulling out and some guy in a huge truck comes whipping out at the same time and he had to stop to let me go seeing I was already most of the way into his lane. Then eric starts yelling at me about how shitty a driver I am. I admit I'm a careless, even reckless driver, but I'm not shitty. He drives exactly the same as I do.... And at that moment it wasnt my fault for being in that guys way. Eric kept bitching so I ended up slamming the car into park and getting out. A car almost hit us from behind and that guy was bitching at me. I was still getting evil looks from the asshole in the pick up at that point too. Eric drove the rest of the way home, up until the car died. We werent THAT far, but it was a very awkward spot to breakdown. We got the car into the main entrance of the apartment complex and park it into a space. We came inside and I went straight to bed. Eric called the dealership where he had the work done and they said theyd send out a tow truck and would check it out. It took an hour for the tow truck to get here, so now its too late for Eric to get a rental/loaner car through them. I also doubt many/any other places would have rentals available being a weekend and a holiday. Eric didnt even bother going to the dealership with the tow truck. He wouldnt have a ride back and he said there wouldnt be anyone there to even look at the car until tomorrow. I dont know why he didnt just get a new battery. That's gotta be what the problem is. If the garage did everything they siad they did then the battery is the only thing left that it could be. If not then we could be without a car all weekend. We had plans for dinner and karaoke tonight. We don't have much groceries.

Just a bad day overall. I had a really promising job lead, doing the same exact thing I'm doing now, but I'd be working for the Houston READ Comission, they're the people who help fund and manage my Americorps program. Come to find out that they have some rule that you cant work for Americorps and the Houston READ Commission at the same time. My first reaction "Well I'd quit Americorps for $11 an hour..." Yup, eleven fucking dollars an hour, of course I would quit, who wouldnt? The job posting was for part-time only, but working part-time through Hou-READ would pay more than AmeriCorps would if I was ever hired on full-time with them. Well they take that into consideration and the HR person who does the hiring for the Houston READ Commission knows all the names of everyone in Americorps, so that even if I was willing to quit AmeriCorps, they'd know what I was doing and not hire me. "You already work for us for free, why would we pay you $11 an hour?"

THEN I've been thinking of trying to get on food stamps, or get rental assistance so I can help eric out with the rent, or maybe cash assistance to get some warm-weather clothes and some decent working clothes. Right now even if I managed to land a job interview I wouldnt have a decent outfit to wear to it, let alone a decent outfit every day of the week to wear to work if I got hired somewhere (yeah right). So I check out stuff online to find a place to go to. I know from other experiences that you usually have to go to an office within your home county. I put my zip code into their little thingy and it tells me my home office is way on the west side of houston. we live south-west, but across the county lines. The website also says this office covers everything that I would need. So I get way the fuck over there and turns out they only do childrens medicaid AND I need to go to the office in my county. I mentioned the website and she says "C'mon lady, its the WEB" like the web is a bad place or something.... The county we live in is now like an hour away, it was after 3:30 and the office closes at 5. I call eric and ask him to look up the office in our county and he pitches a fit about me getting on welfare. He thinks I wouldnt qualify anyway cuz I live with him and the state would say that he would have to provide all the shit I need to live. Seems the state considers prostitution legal afterall.... Really getting tired of having to depend on penises in order to have someplace to live and food to eat. tired of always having to feel like a whore. I dont see how they would expect a boyfriend to fully support their girlfriend, just cuz they live together. That's what marriage is for.... Not even that... marriage should be 50/50. anyway my knees really hurt and other crap I dont feel like whining about again. I didnt even mention the civil war we had at work this morning.... At least the kids liked the cookies I made for them at 1am. At least I can cook. well duh.

Always remember to quit while you're ahead.

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