Saturday, but not in the park

Chilly day, but no snow overnight :-(
Got the car back from the shop, where they fixed the dent from vanessa getting backed into, but it's running horribly badly. Not sure why, and haven't really the mechanical aptitude to do much about finding what's wrong. Unfortunately, haven't the budget to have someone else look at it either. :-(
Hockey games start at 4- not sure what's being shown tonight, but I'm fairly sure that the late game will be less interesting than Iron Chef.

Automotive Malaises

Well, new plugs, distributor cap and rotor later (not to mention nearly $50), and still it's running badly. Sounds like a timing belt is the next step :-(
Having dealt with them before, they're not cheap, and definitely beyond my capacity to fix.

Finances

Damnit, I'm sick of continually living from payday to payday, and never having any money . If it's not one thing it's another. It's not as if we're wasting an inordinate amount of funds on trivial stuff- it's a rare thing when we treat ourselves even as little as going to a movie. People our age and younger are thinking about buying homes, and have things like car payments. We're nowhere able being able to do either, and don't have anything to show for it, either. If we'd just been irresponsible fiscally, I could understand it- like the people we know who spend $2000 on winter holidays (we spent less than 10% of that!) in spite of being two months in arrears on their rent and having a car with no brakes- *and* they're talking about buying a house (fat chance, that).
I don't expect regular windfalls, but just once, it'd be nice to get the odd break in our favour. As it is, it's almost like trying to climb out of a well- if we ever managed to break even, things would take care of themselves. I'm sick of treading water.

Not Hogie Carmichael

Just finished re-reading Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust for the nth time. Such a sweet story, and everything a faerie tale should be. If you haven't read it, I can't recommend it strongly enough- it's a wistful, beautiful story, at times reminiscent of the best of the Victorian-era fairy tales. I hope to at some point to be a tenth as able a storycrafter. Must make time to write again shortly.