My Life

There’s nothing like coming home from a great vacation to find the litter box overflowing, the food and water dishes completely empty, and two kittens starving for attention. I guess I can only blame myself for the poor planning.

This vacation is the first time I’ve seen my mother, brother and my mother’s boyfriend in almost three years. Yesterday, for Thanksgiving dinner, was the first time I saw my aunt, uncle, and two cousins in probably closer to… I have no idea how many years. I just know that I last remember my younger cousin being a baby and he’s 15 and a sophomore in high school now.

So my cousins are both into music now, and they play guitars and piano and seem to have a big interest in sound design and MIDI. The older cousin is a music major and will be going into entertainment law. It’s so interesting how everyone in my family — my mother’s side and my father’s side, but more on my mother’s side — is into the study of music.

Well, I’m seeing Cirque du Soleil tonight and I have to go get ready… Happy Thanksgiving to everyone…

We arrived in Las Vegas today after a four-and-a-half hour drive from southern California. There hasn’t been any gambling yet though. There’s a bit of an issue. My brother lost his license a week ago and has no photo identification. Like me (27), he looks a little young for his age (22) so he has an issue with being carded. Thus, he won’t be gambling unless the Las Vegas Police Department are able to provide him with a photo ID. He has all of his papers with him, so maybe it’ll work out. He was supposed to teach me all about Roulette…

Not much to say today other than this: (1) The case for my new computer arrived. It’s nice. (2) My law class won’t be so bad. (3) When you’ve broken up with a girl, whether it’s been two months or two years since, it’s still upsetting that you won’t get to see any of her cool friends and family you admire.

I’m still continuing on the car-buying saga.

$5,752. That is how much I would pay each year for insurance if I were to get a 2003 Toyota Corolla financed. That is 50/100/50 liability (something about personal injuries up to $50,000 and total damage up to $100,000, I think) and a $2,000 (the max) deductible for collision and comprehensive. If I could pay cash for the car instead of financing through an auto loan, I could get liability-only coverage for $2,150, but I wouldn’t be covered for collision and comprehensive. Getting a 2000 Corolla instead of a 2003 raises the total to $5,833.

Looks like it’ll be a long time before I’ll be able to afford to drive in New Jersey.

Here’s a story that deals with the topc from yesterday, cost of ownership of cars. It answers my question regarding the Hyundai, anyway. It even has a chart built in, specifically comparing the Honda Civic LX to the Hyundai Elantra GLS.

I’m looking to by a car, and I’m trying to keep my expenses down. The other day, I visited a Toyota dealer and a Honda dealer to see what they had available in the “used but less than 50,000 miles” category. I’m looking for something that’s going to last ten years. I may not keep it for all of that, but I don’t want to worry about its reliability, and I don’t want to spend a fortune in repairs.

My old car, a Honda Civic (1997, not the 2004 linked) was really great, but so far I have a better feeling about the Toyota Corolla. I talked to the AAA auto insurance agent to get an idea the price of insurance. The problem here is that since I racked up a bunch of points, I’m considered a “high risk” driver, and will be for the next three years. Ouch.

If I were to own the car outright, without any loans, then I can get liability coverage for $2,150 a year. The price for high risk drivers is set by the state, so I can’t shop around for a lower price. If I were to take out a loan to get the car, I would be required to also purchase collision and comprehensive insurance. I’m not sure of the total, but it is likely over $4,000 a year.

I was set in my mind that I would pay for the car out of the cash I have saved up, thus not needing to bother with the loan. My father seems to think that I would be better off getting a loan instead of using all the money I have saved up, getting the extra insurance so I don’t have to worry about setting money aside for car emergencies, and buying a new Hyundai for about the same price as a used Corolla.

I’m not sure that his advice makes the best sense. So, this is one of the rare occasions I’m looking for thoughts (not advice) and opinions (not correct answers). Anyone?

Do I really want to spend $40 on taxis to go to and from my dentist appointment tomorrow? I guess even taking into consideration the occasional taxi ride, riding the bus every day, and my monthly train pass, it’s still cheaper than owning a car and paying for car insurance. I just don’t like the idea of laying out that much money from to have my teeth cleaned.

In other news, the following phat words have been added to or changed in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, probably a while ago, but I haven’t been paying attention: Waitron, barista, oy, NIMBY, punditocracy, McJob, goth, brewski, tweener, tankini, funplex, and bubkes.

Here is an example. After realizing I make bubkes from my McJob as a barista, I quit and headed for the hole downtown where the goth waitron offered me a brewski and complained about the local NIMBY punditocracy, but all I wanted to do was make my way to the local funplex where all the tankini-wearing tweeners hang out.

Happy new year. I think I’m feeling some “spiritual renewal” coming on and maybe some atonement to prepare for the next Holy Day.

Last week, I got a call from a casting agency. They had read my application for Queer Eye For The Straight Guy and wanted me to come to an open casting call. So I did. That was this past Saturday.

That morning, my father called and I told him what I was doing. He had never heard of the show. I explained the concept, and he asked me which part I was going out for. Right.

So Denise and I headed to a mall in Paramus. I met some interesting people who also wanted to be on the show, mostly because their wives or girlfriends suggested they go on. The girl who interviewed me was very nice. She thought she recognized me from somewhere.

That happens a lot to me for some reason. For example, the first time I saw Dar Williams she talked to me as if we knew each other and said she recognized me. I told her I had never seen her before. Then I talked to her the following night and she didn’t remember me. Anyway…

The interviewer said that some of my issues would be good for television, and she wrote down some notes about that on the form she gives the producers to help them select. I’ll get a call “soon” if I’m chosen to move on to the next step: an interview at my apartment with some of the people involved with the show.

In an effort to look a little scruffy, I didn’t shave for a few days (which is normal) and wore a pretty strange yellow plaid shirt which I may have worn once in the past year. I wore some older pants that had a little bit of fraying at the bottom. Most people there had tee shirts or jerseys.

We met Jai Rodriguez from the show and talked to him for a little bit about RENT… And had him sign the playbill I got when I saw him in the show last year.

I’m not building up my expectations, but it’s been fun so far.