Deadsplinter Up! All Night : Superstitions

its probably bad luck to leave the red bar empty

13/11/20 farscythe 60

friday the 13th….bad luck for all im told… tho ive never quite bought into that one…i dont know why 13 is considered bad luck (i have a strong superspicion someone just made that shit up and it stuck) and 13 or not…its still friday…i love fridays

but then…same thing goes for black cats..they’re bad luck..but i just think they’re cute and wanna pet them….. that said..black dogs are apparently death…ive seen black dogs everywhere my whole life and im not dead

least…i dont think i am….i never met the creepy kid what sees dead people yet in any event

anyhooooo…..

anyways believe or not..today is the day for superstitions..maybe even portents and omens

and now to steal megs line

Thanks for your continued support of Deadsplinter!

(ha! blatant copyright infringement…china style)

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60 Comments

  5. I will readily admit that I have superstitions to the point of high-functioning OCD.  The good news is that they change frequently and don’t hurt.  My wife could tell some stories, though.

    • i mostly just believe walking under ladders is bad luck
      but thats mostly coz i know most people up on ladders are idiots that drop shit
      me finks luck is mostly selfmade

    • A couple of weeks ago I heard a DJ going into the whole history — Jeff Beck was in the studio playing for Stevie Wonder on Talking Book and was messing around on the drums during some down time. Stevie Wonder heard him and told him to keep going and he started improvising on top of it, and together they came up with the song within a day.
       
      Stevie Wonder gave Beck the rights to release it first, but then Beck’s label delayed the release of his album and Berry Gordy pulled rank and had it released on Talking Book in the interim.
       


       
       

    • haahhjahhahahhahahahhahah *dies*
      its like the safety videos i have to sit through at work
      to make us safe er….allegedly
      ive actually got homework this weekend…after 3 years of hooning the thing about someone noticed i dont actually have a forklift license
      so their making me read up as i have my exam on monday
      welp…thats a cert that will come in handy if needed 🙂

      • @farscythe

        We have to watch a video and take a test every year. It still hasn’t stopped people from running into the vending machine, breaking the main water pipe, taking a chunk out of a concrete wall, running into the garage door, breaking a pipe on the sprinkler system, and banging into several machines.

        I really want to do a forklift rodeo.

  11. …you mentioned the black cats & loveshaq the thing about “my lucky number is 13” & somewhere in my head I thought “I know I’ve heard that somewhere…turns out it was elvis

    […note to loveshaq…given how he ends the song I just want to be clear I’m not trying to imply anything about your natural born attributes…from what I can make out you’re a pretty lucky guy?]

  15. Sorry y’all, it’s just been a day, and I need to ramble a bit–feel free to TL/DR!💖
    No songs from me yet, I’m hoping to find something later on, I just needa use the OT side of the DUAN to ask, do we have any Oppo folks around tonight/this weekend, whose brains I could perhaps pick a bit before Mon., if need be?
     
    My tranny went out today on my Grand Prix… so she’s now basically a  3,477lb paperweight🙃
     
    On the BRIGHT side, my Friday the 13th luck held pretty damn well!
    On the bad side, tho, I need a different vehicle🥴
     
    She just… stopped accelerating as I made the turn onto a 2-turn-lane freeway entrance ramp, luckily there was NO one behind me, & she didn’t drop out of gear *on* the freeway, so i didn’t get into an accident. 
    The tow truck arrival time was MIND-BOGGLING!😉😁🤗 I was expecting 1-3 hours, because I decided *fuck it,* that since State Farm is dropping my towing coverage, THEY could pay for this tow…
    And the truck was THERE within 15 *minutes*
     
    I STILLLLL don’t quite understand how I was THAT lucky–the driver had just dropped someone off, so all he had to do was turn around onto the freeway!🤣
     
    Then, I lucked out AGAIN, because my mechanic didn’t even need to try running the codes (had her in on Tues, no codes popped then, but it WAS a 500+ dollar brake/air filter/rotors/tires revealed & re-valve stemmed job🙃. He couldn’t get her to run funny like she’d been doing for me, sooooo I was in white-knuckle/drive her ’til she dies mode the last few days!)
    The car started up for my mechanic just FINE, went into gear fine, too….
    Buuut she drove about a half a block (3rd gear!), before she was ALL rev, & no forward movement🥴
    So my mechanic got *his* truck and pushed her back into the parking lot, called me, and said YEP, Tranny coupling!🙃
    That means there’s metal flowing through the whole system & she’d need a 3K rebuild…
     
    And knowing she STILL needs a brake system flush, the Evap sensor in the gas tank, two new mufflers the rest of an exhaust system,** a left rear taillight housing, AND that damn right-rear window clip fixed… 
     
    It just isn’t *worth* the cost of a 3K rebuild, what with allll the $$$ for the rest of the repairs she needs.
     
    I got somewhere around 150K miles out of her over the years, maybe more (bought her at about 78K, she’s somewhere between 220-250, iirc?
    And had her for *almost* 8 years (Dec 28th would’ve been a full 8!)–so I got FAR more out of her, than I ever expected to be able to.
     
    But i’ma miss driving her.🥺🥺🥺
     

    She was a DAMN fun car, an EXCELLENT sport, and just sooooooo much fun to drive!!💖💓💞 Nice & responsive to your hands on the wheel, tight in corners, and smooth on the freeway. She had a nice tight little cockpit–that front bucket seat HELD me, and i didn’t ever slide/slosh around–which is a BIG deal, when you’re a 5′ 1/2″ tall woman.

    And aside from car-sized blind spots from the triangle-shape of the front door/windshield/roof pillars, she had VERY few bad  blind-spots, either. (Seriously, I lost entire TRUCKS in those spots sometimes, if the intersection/crossing road angle was bad!😬, but *overall* she had very few *OTHER* blind spots!)
    And the fact that she came LOADED, so she had the sunroof, and the Monsoon 6-disc changer & sound system (maybe shitty, but Top of the Line for a Pontiac!😉💖), meant that she was literally a JOY to drive when I was in a bad mood, and *feeling* the sound in my spine meant that once I was able to hit open road & turn the sound up, my heartbeat would settle in with that 4/4 bass, and the tension literally left my body–because it’s IMPOSSIBLE to *not* relax, when your heart starts matching up with a nice, slow, steady tempo.
    She was a GREAT car, who responded SO well, to everything i ever asked of her, and I’m both incredibly glad to have had the joy of driving her for so long, and just bummed & sad, that this is the END of her.
     
    And now, this weekend, I needa bust my butt, to try & see if i can find anything I can afford, that’s roadworthy, safe, and which has decent heat (MN winters can be HELL!!!), ‘cuz i can TOTALLY live w/o AC, but *not* without heat!😉, and see if that’ll be possible under 3-4K.🙃
     
    Because SOMEDAY I want to finish this damn teaching degree… but if I have a car payment, I don’t know if I can DO my student teaching next fall, like I’d hoped… rent is gonna be hard ENOUGH to cover, working 16 weeks w/o pay. I can’t swing a car payment on TOP of that😕🥴
     
    But In spite of the car troubles today, some amazingly good;
    1. It didn’t happen last night, on the dark, n the freeway after work–because I called out, worried she wouldn’t make it either *there,* or back home
     
    2. That FIFTEEN MINUTE TOW!😁😁😁(NEVER gonna see a tow, THAT FAST, ever again in my life I’d bet!😉)
     
    3. The fact that my mechanic/shop is AMAZING, and he’s letting me borrow a shop loaner until Tuesday, so I can get financing done, get to my bank up home Monday, and get my Grand Prix junked, too.
     
    4. He let me have my keys back (remember, PAPERWEIGHT!), so I can get her emptied this weekend, so she’s all READY for Junking on Monday,
     
    5. I got to run up to my grocery store, say goodbye to my grocery manager in person, say goodbye to my assistant manager, AND found out they got the transfer stuff done, so the switch of stores happens SUNDAY!🤗🤗🤗
     
    and 6. I ALSO was able to pick up my ADHD med, AND my ‘beetus sensor at that store’s pharmacy, so that i don’t need to go days w/o my sensor, or wait for my ADHD med to transfer to the new pharmacy–if it takes a couple weeks, that’ll be ok.
    AND 7. I learned that our payroll person up there put in to get me transferred to the close-to-home store, for the 15th, so *hopefully* I can start WALKING to work, early next week!🤗
     
    Now I’m just I’m hoping that 1. I can find *something* driveable & affordable, 
    2. Something that’s not TERRIBLY ugly, if at all possible (YES, I am terrible, and a bit of a choosy-beggar, I’ll admit😖🥴 I don’t mind driving a rust-bucket, but FUGLY-fugly*** is a whoooole ‘nother story–and a minivan would be a soul-destroyer!😉)
    And that my luck will hold juuuust a bit longer, so I can get this all done by Tuesday at 5-ish.💖
     
    **thank GOD she’s a prowly wanna-be muscle-car lookin’ beastie, and folks just think she’s SUPPOSED to be a squidge loud!😉🤣
     
    ***think: Chevy Aztecs, or things like the mid ’90’s “Extruded from a playdoh machine” cars like the Chrysler Concordes, etc.
     
     

    • Oh, Emmer. I’m sorry you’re losing your car. I’m glad you weren’t stranded, or hurt in an accident. And a 15 minute tow is crazy fast. Good luck finding a new car. When you finish your degree and get a teaching position you can get another fun, fast car.

      • Wasn’t that tow time AMAZEBALLS?!?😉😂🤣
        Thanks for wishing me luck, I appreciate it, and can DEFINITELY use it right now!
        And agree, on the “get one i LIKE, once i have that Teacher salary level,” 100%.
        My only HARD-hard no’s are 1. No minivans or full-sized pickups–i SAY because a minivan is a soul-destroyer(true!😉), but really more that: it’s SO MUCH MORE VEHICLE than I need, and the parking spaces in our building’s garage are SMALL.
        And 2. No Impalas, because they’re apparently ENTIRELY built for Men from 5’10”-6’2″, with the accompanying blind-spots ALLOVERTHEPLACE, and even if they have split bench seat, that seat is WAY too “deep” for folks with short legs (you need a pillow behind your back, in order to reach the pedals!), and that seat is nearly as terrible as the land-yacht 1978 Impalas had on the *width,* too…meaning that the seat belt anchors are so wide/far apart, you can slide laterally 6″ in BOTH directions (1 foot total!), if you take a curve/corner at too high a speed!😳😬🥴

    • I’m not a car expert but have done auto mechanic classes & dealt w/ way too many car issues. That much miles & tranny issues, I agree with walking away,  my only tip is if u can find a decent Subaru (non-turbo) they last forever if maintained right.  Handle snow better than most cars too.  I got my daughter a 2003 Outback that is super safe & drives great for what it is. They are popular but if u search they r out there. 

    • @EmmerdoesNotrepresentme exactly what are you asking for here?
      (bare with me..im still on my first coffee)
      i can crosspost the whole comment and see if some of the more mechanically minded oppos are still about and willing to chime in 
      or if its just a new car your after if you give me a ballpark location and price range and maybe a preference i can make a post asking oppo to find cars….they tend to like those lol

      • I guess basically, what I’m looking for is a bit of “which cars should i stay AWAY from” 
        I.e., how the late 90’s/early 2000’s (iirc) Jeep Grand Cherokees were Jeep Dealer’s “Bread and Butter” vehicles–meaning according to one Jeep worker i knew, they broke down SO often, that that was basically what kept the workers there fed, because it *provided* their bread & butter😉
        And I know in the Grand Prix & Grand Am, that once the tranny started to go, ESPECIALLY if it wasn’t a rebuilt, it was typically because 4th gear was made out of some really weak metal–and once that gear went, it was either rebuild or stop dropping $$$ into her, and get something newer–because with the GP’s & Grand Am’s, once they hit that stage, they basically become land-boats, and you just keep throwing money into the hole, unless you can rebuild it all.
        And I KNEW that, going in to the Grand Prix😉 that either they seemed to hold up GREAT, or they became a money pit. Since I’ve dropped $1200 into her *both* in May and June, and another 520+ this last Tues, and am looking at a 3K tranny, plus at least 1.5K in the maintenence/repairs I listed above, *before* we start talking about the struts starting to go bad…. She’s hitting the money pit/”nickeling & diming you to death” stage.
         
        One question–are 2012-ish era Fiat 500’s OK Engine and tranny wise, or do they run into really common problems–and if so, does that seem to happen at a particular mileage range (like how one can typically get around 100-120K miles out of a Grand Prix transmission, but after that, unless fairly meticulously maintained, they just give up the ghost?)
        I.e. I know Chevy Malubus are reasonable, and pretty dependable–much like the Cavaliers were “back in the day” (not a GREAT car, but a decent, solid, and “dependable enough” car, if one was commuting around 20-30 miles a day, round trip)–i’m looking for something on the order of that, recommendation/advice wise, if that makes sense, and isn’t too much?
        I’ll be driving 25-50 miles a day 5 days a week (most days 25-ish, a couple days a week 50), with the occasional 200-ish mile trip a few times a year, when i go “up home” 
         
        So for the first time ever, I’m open to smaller, lighter, 4 cyl cars (automatic!), and that means I’m completely OUT of my knowledge area/element.
        Because previously, I was driving 45-50 miles *one way,* on  sometimes snowy/windy freeways in a semi-rural area, and needed both the strength, but also the *weight* of a 6 cyl–since driving a tiny, light, 4 cylinder car in a blizzard means TOO MUCH DITCH–because if the wind gusts just right, and it’s icy, you’re gonna slide riiiiight off the road. (When i lived up in The Exurb for 12 years,all of my roommates with smaller/lighter cars ditched *at least* once, sometimes more–my cars never did, even tho we drove in the same storms, and i drove MORE than some of the roommates)
        I’m just ENTIRELY out of the loop for what cars in… probably the last decade or so, tbh(😖!) are like, because i bought mine 8 years ago, and the only folks I’ve known who’ve purchased anything have just gotten newer chevy Malibus.
        Like, should I stay away from the Dodge cars, because their motors tend toward terrible, like the older-model trucks & especially Durangos were a few years back?… or i.e. the advice I got ages ago to stay away from Coopers, because THEY ended up with all sorts of problems iirc in those ’00 years, once they hit–what was it, the 80-100K mile range, etc.?…
        That sort of thing is what I’ve missed keeping up with, since my cousins moved up home after they had their kids, and we didn’t get to meet up and talk cars as often anymore.
        On a personal-dtiving note, too, for the sake of honesty, I guess if there are any small, sporty, SUPER-zippy cars, I ought to know (like possibly the Fiat 500, if that fits?), because… i LIKE to drive… and i’ma be honest–i tend to have a lead foot…meaning years ago, when i had access to a roommate’s Geo Metro Sedan, when my own S-10 Blazer was in the shop, i drove her like my Blazer… 
        Annnnnd seeing a spot the Metro fit in, in traffic at freeway speed…accidentally cut off a bus!😖😬😱
        That was when I realized that “TINY!FUN!SPORTY!ZIPPY!!” miiiiiigght be a really bad choice for me, simply because I LOVE to drive, but can, apparently(!), get pretty caught up in the *this is FUN* side of driving a small responsive car😉

      • Thank you for this, Lemmy!!
        My cousin** called me back this afternoon, after I’d texted him with some questions about a car up home, to ask if I’d thought about going that route at all😉
        We talked engines, 
        I happened to be cleaning OUT my car when he called, so I was able to give him the odometer reading, exact engine model, and my Vin #, and he’s gonna do some calling/looking for me on Monday when he gets to work. He’s the parts guy at a dealership, and work’s been SLOW for them, due to Covid… sooooo he said there’s a good possibility that it may be a REALLY doable thing.
        I’m still researching cars, just in case, and trying to line up ones to check out if the used tranny should be a no-go… 
        But KEEPING my little, lovely-to-me beastie WOULD be pretty awesome!😉😁💖🤞🤞🤞
        (**in-law, technically, but it’s just easier to say Cousin😉), 

  18. Only just saw my mention. 
    @Emmerdoesnotrepresentme
     
    Pretty much anything Japanese of that vintage will be reliable if maintained well. That said, all cars can have problems, so there is no perfectly reliable choice. 
     
    And while I am/was(?) an Oppo regular, I am not mechanical at all, so I’m not a great help sadly. 
    Maybe try asking Automatch Tom on the Jalopnik front page?

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