Do you ever feel like when something good happens, one thing or many things go wrong that can circumvent the good? I suppose sometimes it’s some sort of morbid self-fulfilling prophecy, or hell, Murphy’s Law. And oddly enough it always involves my car.
At the end of last week, I had a phone call for a job interview downtown. The interview is set for today at 1:30pm. So last night I decided that I wanted to run out to pick up some more shampoo and conditioner, as well as take a look at getting a new pair of shoes for the interview. Well, I hope my cheery ass into the car, turn the key in the ignition, and press my foot on the brake…
Oh, but wait, what’s this! When I press down on the brake, all I hear is the pressure from doing it. I’m supposed to hear the brake unlocking the gear shift so I can take it out of park. Since I’m a stubborn bull, I sat there for 15 minutes pumping the brake, turning the car off and on, and cursing the piece of shit to oblivion. No dice. My mom ended up pulling into the driveway, so I hopped in her Escape Hybrid, and went along my merry way.
As my family and friends know, anything that goes wrong with my car, I have my dad look at. It was already 9PM (and dark) so there wasn’t much he could do. So I did what any nerd would do. I googled the problem. I ended up finding a Yahoo! Answers page, which mentioned popping off a little cap, and manually override the gear shift lock. OH WUT.
So this morning, I wake up and the firs thing I did was go to my car to see if it was coming out of park. No dice. Cue me starting to panic, wondering how the fuck I’m going to make it downtown for this interview. So I hopped back online and googled more, then I finally came across the Owners manual for a 1999 Ford Escort (ZX2) (pdf link). Page 96 explains that if your gear shift is locked, there’s an override that you do for it.
I grabbed a mini-screwdriver and marched my determined ass back outside to get this piece of shit in gear (lol @ pun.) I found the little cap next to the gear shift, which oddly enough, I have honestly never noticed before despite having this car almost four years. Popped the cap off, stuck the screwdriver in and got the gear shift unlocked. WOO!
That little issue is fixed, and I’m hoping to God that nothing else happens between now and my interview at 1:30pm. I don’t think I can handle anymore “surprises.” Although if something does happen, it’s just further proof that A.) I don’t need a full-time job, B.) I’m going to be stuck finding my own work for the rest of my life, C.) I need a new car.
100% of me is leaning towards option C. I like it better.