CONSOLIDATING: A 2 for 1 Thread!!!

I'm one for conserving. I didn't feel like creating multiple threads. Actually I was only going to create one about the fun part, but I'll get to that soon.

Choose your thread!

Thread 1: Ahhhh, I get up tomorrow for the earliest time in months. What do I get? The first day of the end of civilized jail. It's my stoopid senior year, and I ain't looking forward to it. Too many factors; choosing colleges, applications, essays, retaking SAT's, ACT's, SAT II's, AP tests. And that's just college stuff.

A senior year is supposed to be fun. You are supposed to be 'king' of the school of sorts. But this school, and school board and system for that matter, sucks. It's the first year of the 'new' school, where the huge high school (second largest in the state) was broken up into 3 schools. 2 of which are new. I'm going to the older, closer one. I was told I would be editor of the newspaper. But with scheduling I won't. This school is the smallest of the three. Why am I closer to this one, but not zoned there? Racial breakdowns. The other 2 schools are predominately black. My school is 99% black. I'm white. It's not a problem, but they hired the ROTC instructor as the principal. 7:55 is on time. 8 is late. This guy is nuts, this school is nuts, this year will suck.

So I try to enroll at the other school that I'm zoned for since I can't be editor. I can't. The idiots over there say I have to commit to that school before I can get a schedule.

So then I decide, you know I think I'll enroll at UA.

Spectacular idea. Once again, roadblock.

They suddenly change their policy saying that you must have a 3.5 GPA and a 28 on your ACT to enroll in this 'program' where you don't get a high school diploma, but you do get into the university. They did this because apparently too many dropouts were enrolling there. Understandable. Well, I don't quite have a 28.

So now I get to look forward to a year in hell. I already hated this year. 2003 sucks. Counting the outpatient procedure in December, I would have been under general anesthesia 6 times on 5 operations (1 on Ilium removal, 4 on chest which was supposed to be one).

When will it end?

Maybe the Astros will make this year worthwhile .

Thread 2: Much less b****y and self-sorrow.

For the past, oh, 15 years or so, what has been in the driveway just sitting there, rotting?

My dad's 1967 Ford Mustang.

Ahhhh, what a car.

So considering I drive but don't have any wheels, you and everyone else who's seen it would think, 'Well why don't you have it'?

I never really thought this. I'm not great at putting 2 and 2 together.

So my doctor (who is a classic car nut; owns a deplorable, yet nice '78 AMX) decided that we would fix it up. So, 2 weeks ago, he comes over. We wash the 50 layers of dust off it, try to crank it up. Of course it won't start. It has been just sitting there. For about 3 years. Right before we moved from Houston, my father decided to send his very first car to a Mustang shop in Bellaire (and maybe you guys could help cuz I might need his name again). So, about 6, maybe 7 months later, it's all nice and kind of in driving condition. By this time, we were already transplanted in Alabama.

So it's driven around the block maybe a couple times. See, my father is absolutely opposed to driving, he HATES it with a passion, he's scared of driving, he thinks it's too dangerous to drive in this place (which, granted, is true).

Well, maybe another few months go by, as it sits idle, collecting dust. It;s washed and driven down the main Blvd and up to 50. For a 3-speed manual, it's doing pretty well.

Of course once again, neglect comes into the picture. It's not washed or cranked up until 2 weeks ago. This is when a new battery is put in. So, after 4 trips to AutoZone, my doctor decides to drive it across the river, maybe 5 miles, to his house where his patient, a mechanic (but we call him the master technician ), looks at it. Well, he decides to drive it 'round the block and, uhh, 'test' the brakes. Well somewhere during the 'test', he kind of realizes only the front brakes work and then finds out the rear brake lines are rusted through, thus not working. So somehow he makes it back and up the driveway 5 blocks in first gear.

I think we were lucky it didn't happen when it was driven across the river.

Anyway, I just ordered an undisclosed amount of money on a good bit of parts for it from Dallas Mustang. Question is, do you think it will get to be in great driving condition? What is the limit on time/money spent on fixing it? And if any of you has suggestions for it, please let me know. Any input is pretty much needed.


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Well, that's 2 long stories that were too long. I suppose I'm off to bed and somehow find a way to enjoy this next year. Later all.

 

Well I made it out alive.

It's not scary or anything to be such a small minority (considering the only cluster of white people were in all the same classes lol), but it's a bit threatening. Only when I got on the bus to go to the local Technology Center for another class was it bad. I tried sitting down and the guy told me no I couldn't. These are also the ones that don't want to be at school and hate the world.

Reverse segregation is very, very awkward.

But anyway, I finalized the parts that I ordered as I forgot the master cylinder. It will be a fun project. If anything, it would be a car to just drive around novicely. I don't plan on driving it cross country or anything (unless it's in great condition ). But yes, it will be fun.

Of course, my doctor wanted me to drive it to school the first day (if there were brakes, heh), but then the worrying mother decided the car would be broken in to, keyed, dented, or whatever. She might be on to something though...