Good Luck

BLOOMINGTON, IL - Let me preface this by stating that I have never believed in good luck. Not truly. Life is what you make it and we can't walk around blaming bad things on luck or giving luck credit for what we accomplish. But yesterday made me question that a little bit. What a day.

First thing after waking up was placing yet another call to an insurance company that has been dicking around with me for a while. I spoke with a very nice lady who seemed genuinely concerned for how long this process was taking for me to be taken care of after their customer got into an accident with me. She put me through to yet another helpful individual who immediately took care of what seemed impossible for anyone else to handle. A check in my name is coming in the mail and will allow me to properly take care of my car and do this trip the right way. An awesome start, right?

Then I start looking for health insurance because I really don't want to take any chances out there. I may not believe in luck, but I do have a habit of being incredibly accident prone at the worst possible times. I had recently heard all kinds of outrageous figures for getting insurance on your own. After a brief search however, I found reliable insurance that is not only equal to my insurance through my last job, but is also PPO rather than HMO. And to top it off, it ends up being $15 less a month than my insurance through TK. How's that for something? Any TKers out there, look into getting your own insurance because you might be getting ripped off. So far, so good. Time for lunch.

My mom ends up wanting to go get lunch so I head out with her and my sister to Michael's for something to eat. Good food, good times. We say goodbye and I head to my car parked down the street. I glance down just before I reach it and there's a $5 bill on the ground. I looked right and left but no one was around, so I picked it up and pocketed it.

Since it seemed to be insurance day, I decided to update my car insurance. I'll be traveling with some valuable stuff, so I decided I need to have full coverage. After meeting with my insurance guy and changing my address to Blooomington, again I was greeted with good news. I'm still covering all my stuff in storage and changed my car from liability only in Chicago Heights to full coverage in Bloomington. Yet somehow the price dropped. I guess sometimes it does pay not to live in the ghetto, as sad as it is to leave.

Can the day get any better? Of course it can. Most people that know me know that my car hasn't liked me much recently. I got a quote for work to be done on it and was told to fix my awful shaking/vibrating problem, it was going to cost $1300. I've been seeking second, third, and fourth opinions ever since. Anyway, I didn't think I would be able to get the repairs done before leaving. I've been looking for a mechanic forever to do work on the side who won't rip me off. Well, I just happened to talk about some of the car stuff with Meighan yesterday and, lo and behold, I find out my friend Mat's brother does just this. Finally! Gave him a call and found out I can get what I need done on the cheap. What a day!

I talked to Melissa yesterday and after hearing about the day, she suggested I use that $5 I found to buy a lottery ticket. It certainly seemed the day for it. Well, I did and I didn't win. It's probably for the best though. I already spent all $26 million in my head and it would have been ridiculous. I did hit two numbers though, which seems like a lot to me.

I went out to dinner with some friends and hung out for a while with some after that. I wasn't sure what would be going on for the remainder of the night... plans weren't really coming together. Then I talked to Chris and heard about a small gathering in a hot tub. Now, is this my usual thing? No. But in the spirit of the trip, no turning down invitations. And I had a good time. And pizza. So, therefore, a good end to the night.

Today went well also. Good lunch again with my parents. You can never get too much Fiesta (you BloNoers all know what I mean). I got in touch with Nate, the guy who was going to work on my car and met up with him. $280 later, the problem is fixed.

Original quote: $1329.
Fixing a tie rod and two lower ball joints with your dad: $137.
Getting all new calipers, pads, and rotors done by a friend's brother: $280.
Getting to spend ten hours shooting the shit with your dad, swearing at inanimate objects, getting dirty while learning some new car stuff, discovering that your wheel bearings are going to be okay and don't need replaced, and not giving $912 to some asshole at a shop that is trying to screw you: Priceless.

So, it has been a good couple of days. I still don't believe in luck, although it is tempting. It certainly does seem as though the universe is giving the go ahead for this trip. Everything is falling into place.

What do you think, Magic 8 Ball?

All signs point to yes.

Rock 'n' Roll.