My roommate wants to meet everybody. Because I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm making Dwight up.

[snapdragon76]

Update on the car sitch:

Well, it looks to be the fuel pump. However, due to the positioning on the particular make and model of car, we'd have to move the fuel tank. Not something that the average home mechanic can really do, in addition to it not being allowed in the parking lot of our apartment complex.

So, we have to wait at least a couple of weeks to take one of the two cars (whichever one is the less expensive fix) to the mechanic, so we're bumming rides off of people to get to and from work. Mom said she was going to call someone she knows who knows about cars to come and try to pinpoint the specific problem. I doubt she's going to do it. She has a tendency to "forget" to do such stuff and I can only remind her so many times...

Also, some friends of ours had some professional pictures of thier new baby taken and posted them on Facebook. They're very nice. Mom is a little discouraged because she'd done a photo shoot as well and hers look... different. They're good, just of a different caliber than the others. I sent her a message saying that while the other pictures were nice, she's still an awesome photographer and that she didn't have a formal "sit-down" with the subject to present her ideas. Starting up a new business from scratch isn't an easy prospect, but it can be done.

Then yesterday I found out that my youngest cousin ran away from her group home/school. She has severe emotional problems and can no longer live at home, so she was sent to a special school for emotionally damaged kids in St. Petersburg. She has no social skills whatsoever. She'd never survive on the streets. But, it turned out good and she was found, unharmed and is back home. Temporarily at least.

Sorry if I seemed a little pissed at people. Given the circumstances, I think it's somewhat understandable... Still, I apologize to everyone.

So my weekend has pretty much sucked. How was yours?

Comments

[coastal-spirit.livejournal.com]

Sorry about your car situation, sorry about your weekend.

I haven't been on LJ since Thursday (can't access it at work), so totally missed the whole thing.

Hope the upcoming week is better than your weekend.

*hugs*

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I can't access LJ at my work either.

Well, we're helping a friend of ours move, so it'll keep our minds off of things, which will be good.

Someone is supposed to look at our cars tomorrow morning. Maybe we can get the ball rolling somehow. I dunno. I'm glad, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[coastal-spirit.livejournal.com]

Good luck! *keeping my fingers and toes and eyes crossed*

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Well, things seem to be looking up a little. Progress is being made on the car front, even just a little, so that's good to hear. I guess we needed to ask the right people...

[elantis.livejournal.com]

Yeah... sucks to hear about the car thing. If I were you I'd patch up one of the two cars, if not both of them, just enough they can be driven to a dealership that is partaking in "Cash for Clunkers" and go that route. You'd be back to only one car... but at least it would be reliable. And the newer cars are required by law to have better fuel efficiency than previous years.

As for your mom and her photo business. A lot of how things look depends on props, backdrop and presentation. You can actually manage some awesome photos with a crap camera and minimal backdrops/props. Its all in presentation which requires a bit of practice. I'd say let her practice on non-professional things for free... like family. Thats what a friend of mine does.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

We can't do the "Cash For Clunkers" anyway since one of the requirement is you have to get under 18 miles to the gallon. Both of ours get 22-23.

Well, mom's main issue is she didn't get to talk to the subjects about her ideas. She kinda basically took candids. I told her she needs to present her ideas up front so that they can get an idea of what she wants to do and stuff. Besides, she's going to ask another friend of ours who lives in Ohio and is also a professional photographer and get some tips from him. Since they're both in different areas, there's no competition.

She doesn't like to rely too much on props. Her goal is to take pictures in a natural setting, with natural lighting and natural poses. She also wants to try to figure out some coloring techniques that she can tweak here and there.

[elantis.livejournal.com]

sounds to me like the Cash for Clunkers... as far as I've been hearing on all the ads for it... is a load of crap compared to what it really is. Someone should complain to someone about false advertising or something.

But you could probably still fix at least one of them up pretty and trade it in... or something... or talk to a dealership about trading both in for... something. I don't know... I'm dumb when it comes to cars and such.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Well, we're looking into the getting fixed part but I doubt we'll be ridding ourselves of them any time soon. For one, they're both completely paid for, whereas even if we trade them in, I doubt we'd get all that much for them even to buy a decent "new" car, such as it is.


So we're still keeping our options open at this point in the game.

[elantis.livejournal.com]

Forgot to add. I have a friend who does that sort of photography... in Tennessee, though she doesn't do it professionally. I'll see if she can't give any pointers about it or something that I can share with your momma.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

OK, sounds good. I hope we don't end up competing with her when we eventually move up there (which is gonna happen sooner or later, I tell myself).