Gah… apparently my electrical issues with the car are not, in fact, resolved. Not completely, anyway. Yesterday when I went to leave uni, my battery was flat. Only just, but enough that it wouldn’t start. Rob gave me a jump start and I was off, and luckily the battery’s been good enough since… so obviously it is charging, just not enough… or something’s draining it. I’ll have to start measuring the battery voltage inbetween runs, to determine whether it’s a charging or a draining issue.
In any case, I’ve got the old battery, now fully charged again – there doesn’t seem to be anything at all wrong with it, thank you useless RACV – in the back, jump leads, the charger, and a toolkit. So I should be able to handle any battery problems.
Now I just have to hope the muffler doesn’t fall off. The exhaust makes quite a racket sometimes… probably just a loose bracket, but after seeing a Mercedes go up High street the other day with it’s muffler on the ground, trailing sparks behind it, I’m thinking more of it. :)
Also, I went to J.D.’s last night, the pool place in Frankston, where people tend to congregate every Monday. It’s the first time I’ve been, since back in the days when it was a Pizza Hut. Funnily enough, a few other people there said exactly the same thing. :)
It was pretty good – the pool’s actually cheap enough there ($8 an hour or something, apparently… split between a couple of people that’s nothing) – and I got to catch up with quite a few people. I amazed the crowds with my crazy luck, as I do… until it ran out of course, at which point I just kept the cue warm while my opponents finished sinking all their balls. Gus has dubbed my style as “nonchalant”, while he fancies his own as “drunken bravado”. After him winning the first three or four games, I started to catch up… after about eight or nine I think he was still ahead, but it was close. We had a great game where I tapped the eight ball right on the edge of the corner pocket… a mouse sneezing would have knocked it over. And of course, with only two balls left each, one each of which were right behind the eight ball, we both played rather nervously. At least, until Gus’ drunken bravado kicked up a notch, and he happily smacked the eight in. Hooray!
And Sket even confessed that after all her bitching and complaining about that group and how boring pool is, she was actually glad I’d dragged her down there. Take that, ironic non-committance! :D
I also played one race of Daytona… I remember that being a favourite years ago at Timezone, back when it was brand new and they had the full eight cars. Ah, those were the days. Apparently my newfound ability to actually drive a real car has hindered my racing ability, as I lost rather decisively… but there will be a rematch, to be sure… one day. :)
If only Daytona had a “Springvale Road in Peak Hour” track… then I’d be in my element. Sure, it’s not much of a race, the peak achievable speed being all of about 50, but I think I’d stand a chance there. If nothing else, it’d be great stress relief to run all the other cars off the road. If you do that in real life there’s all this damned paper work you have to fill in afterwards… ;)
And now I have to head down to Frankston – assuming my car feels like going anywhere today :) – and find stuff for my car… an owner’s manual, toolkit, jump leads… it’s probably going to be an expensive afternoon. Ah well. Tonight there’s kayaking again – apparently we’re playing canoe water polo against Monash, which should be interesting… time to show those hob-nobbing rich snobs a thing or to. :D Well, that and probably spend lots of time upside-down. It’s all good. :)
And Rob’s pinned down a date for Darkzone, too… Saturday, May 6th. So now I just have to round up some cannon fod- er, I mean, valuable competitors.. :D – for the challenge. It’s at Box Hill, which will surely elicit cries of “booo” and “I’m poor”, or “mwahhhh, I’ve never left Mt. Eliza”, but, you can’t please all people. Or at least, it’s surely never worth the trouble. In any case, I’m sure I can drag a few people out; there’s precious few people who don’t enjoy some good Darkzone. And those that don’t are just weird. :P
