The time had come…
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Back in April, the reverse shift cable in my car broke. It turns out that my car is so old that the part is discontinued and is apparently impossible to find. Even the junkyards in Sun Valley didn’t have one. So it appeared to be time for a new car, for the first time since 1990.
Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I went used this time. Not wanting to deal with typical car salesmen, I went to Carmax. Very easy and simple. The only non-simple part of it was that the car I decided on was at their store in Buena Park, and couldn’t be transferred. So in the end, I had to figure out how to get myself down there to pick it up.
It turned out that Metrolink has a station in Buena Park, not far from the car place. So after work, I took the Gold Line downtown and got on the first Metrolink train going out that way. The Metrolink automated ticket machine was displaying a BSOD. So I had to buy my ticket at the regular window. It was an easy ride. Not very scenic, but pleasant. And when I got there, it was about a half-hour walk. And I bagged my car.
I’m turning 50 this fall. And I know that the stereotypical thing for men my age is to buy a sports car. But I’m embracing middle age. And what could be more middle-aged than a Chevrolet Impala? My mom had a ’62 Impala when I was a kid. Somehow, when I was very young, I figured out that an impala was an animal, but I always envisioned it as something like a hippopotamus. A great blubbery wallowing beast. Because that was my mom’s car. The new models now are not quite such great lumbering beasts, but they still retain the ‘comfy living room on wheels’ feeling. And I think that’s just fine for my middle age.
