Car Question

Thursday December 6th, 2007 - Chicago, IL/Lake Villa, IL

Another day all over the place. If I wasn’t a comedian I couldn’t begin to get any of this stuff done. My work day boils down to 45 minutes on stage and that’s never a bad thing. I usually love that part but the other 23 hours and 15 minutes is another story. That’s tough. Today I had to clear up a lot of things and it took my mind away from focusing on jokes.

The unfunniest thing about everything is the nasty cold spell we’re having. I’m sure it’s a right wing conspiracy according to Al Gore and his global warming psychobabble and if he was here today I’d tell him he was a complete idiot. It’s COLD and that’s no theory. I had a van full of furniture to unload by myself and I wish Al was here so he could have helped.

I was on a time schedule because I had to have the van back at the rental place and then go to the car place to hopefully pick up my roller skate so I could get to work tonight. I’m trying to get all of this stuff fixed at once so I don’t have to be bothered with it. I will take care of getting the computer and the car situations fixed in the same week and that’s that.

Until the next thing blows up. There’s always some pending crisis situation and as much as I try to think ahead a step or two a surprise bomb always gets dropped out of nowhere to keep me on my toes even more. Today it was the car. The mechanic told me I would be looking at about $625 to get it up and ready to pass the emissions test. That’s a bit steep.

It’s a great car and has served me very well but that was my sign to at least look around a little before making the decision. The guy at the garage wasn’t thrilled when I told him it was too much to stick into a car I bought at the auction for next to nothing and he tried to convince me to spend the money to fix it. I told him I needed a few days to think it over.

I’ve got a couple of options here. I can get the Honda I sold Jerry for his son. He hasn’t told his son it’s for him yet and hasn’t changed the title. I passed emissions with ease with that car and I could keep driving that one. Or, I could go back to the auction and see what else I could find that’s worth an investment. Or I could get the Mitsubishi fixed for $625.

My gut says to go to the auction and see what‘s there. If I could scrape up a Toyota or a Honda that‘s got less miles I would take it and have something to keep for a while. I really should ge more stable with my car situation. It‘s fun to wheel and deal but the smart thing to do is go out and find something halfway reliable. The Mitsubishi was very reliable and it still is but that kind of money to fix it is not worth it. The brakes are a little bit spongy and it isn’t the car I’d pick as a show car. It’s got a few dings and that’s why I got it so cheap.

I thought of all this as I drove downtown to have dinner with Bert Haas. Bert and I have had disagreements in the past about comedy stuff but he’s always in my corner as a friend. I really appreciate that and tonight we just hung out and talked about life. Comedy classes have been good for both Zanies and me but it’s time to take a break and he understood. It really feels good to be able to have bookers like Bert and Marc Schultz who I also am able to relate to as personal friends too. I don’t take that for granted and we had a great dinner.