Hey, Big Spender

[xifeng]

So, the mundanities first: Took Callice to the vet this morning. The vet said that, from what I described, he thought it was likely behavioral in nature and would thus take longer for her to be broken of it, but he gave me an antibiotic anyway; if she's not sick, it won't hurt her, but if she has a bladder infection, it will help. (He couldn't get a urine sample from her, and anything I could bring from the litter box would be useless because all the litter would make it hard to analyze.)

Also, teh m0mmy and I saw the skinny little black cat who maybe doesn't have a home; this cat is a total spaz, though watching it is always fun. It's also fairly good-natured and once tried to follow Mom into the house: "Ooh, is there anything nice in there? Can I come in? Wouldn't you like to have a little cat like me?"

Went into work, played with Illustrator for half an hour. Bleh.

But now, onto the REAL event of today.


Mom and I went into town with the intention of just looking at used Toyotas. We did find one we liked, and I said I'd like to shop around and take my time, since I had never bought a car before and it is, after all, a major purchase. The salesman got points for speaking to me, not to Mom, and for not being too aggressive or condescending to me because I'm female-bodied. However, he did bring out the big guns: specifically, the general sales manager who wanted to make quota for Saturday.

The list price of the car (an '05 Toyota Corolla) was $14995, which was a little steeper than I wanted to pay. The trade-in from the old BMW would have been $600, and I was planning on a down payment of $2500.

GSM: What can I do to sell this car to you today?
l33: Depends on whether I can get it for $13500.
GSM: (clearly surprised) ...I'll see what I can do, ma'am.

Most of you never knew my father, and I don't know if dethorats or treyvadi will remember this about him, since they never saw him in this context, but this is very much the same kind of thing he would have said in this situation. The H***** blood breeds true, it would seem.

I did not get $13500, which was fine; I really wanted $13750. The GSM was willing to settle for $13800, and so it was that I signed the papers. Mom had to co-sign, because my credit history is very new and nonexistent, but that's pretty much a technicality because I will be the one paying for the car. The payment isn't as low as I hoped, but it is within my price range, and the interest rate KICKS ASS because they relied on Mom's credit, which rules.

What this basically means is that I made them take the BMW for almost twice what it's actually worth (we were surprised that they were even willing to give $600 for the BMW) and, in general, made out like a bandit.

The title should reach us in the next two weeks--after that point, I can register the car. Mom needs to mail the title of the BMW to them, and I need to call the insurance agent's office on Monday and see what they can do for me.

The car itself is silver (the official color is Lunar Mist, which I like to say in a faggoty voice to make Mom giggle) and in general says, "Ladies, I have a job. I am a good provider. Clearly, you would like to partake of my genetic material." Also, it has A/C, and I don't care if a car is made out of sticks and old cabbages as long as it has A/C. The gas mileage is comparable to what I got on the BMW, which is great--not too shabby for a non-diesel! All in all, it's a good car, and I look forward to driving it for many years.


Sorry, augustuscaesar, no pictures tonight, but maybe if you do your homework and learn your periphrastics, some will be up for you tomorrow.

Comments

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

I know how to MAKE them... I just don't ever remember how to translate the bastards. Which is fair enough, seeing as they seem to translate differently every single time.

Toyotas are easy to find parts for anyway, simply because they sell so many. I'm not sure if they're so big there as they are here, but I'm sure they're still part-tastic :)

That actually makes a lot of sense. Both the I'M NOT GOING TO WEE DAMNIT and the m0mmy explanation. It's probably a very lucky thing that she's been fixed, or else you'd have yowling to deal with along with the weeing.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Neither do I, actually. I am losing my touch! WOE. However, in fairness, I suppose knowing how to make them deserves some reward. It is dark now and the camera reacts poorly to low-light conditions, but perhaps tomorrow. :D

They do sell fairly well here--I'm told my particular model is the number-one selling car in the world so I assume we account for a certain amount of that figure. ;) The BMW held up well for years, but all the available parts were apparently kept in Murmansk and it took forever to get them.

Yeah, thank God. I like kittens, but not finding homes for kittens. D:

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

Oh goody :) Also, I have been trying to rote learn translations for them this afternoon, and I think the little bastards are finally getting into my head. Now I just need to remember that there's a wonky 'a' in the 3rd conjugation future active indicative and I'll be set ;)

Did you get the sedan or the hatch? I'm assuming we have the same current model *g*

Gah, no, not an easy job. We were lucky my aunt took Misty's brother and sister :)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, the joys of wonky vowels. ;)

Mine is a sedan. It's an '05 LE, if that means anything to you; I'm guessing it's the same model, just because model years are pretty consistent. *g*

I am sure I could get X-chan to take a kitten. Anybody else is up in the air. :)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

Stupid things. Every time I come across one of those, I assume it's a subjunctive.

I'm pretty sure that's the one we have here. One of my mum's friends has it, I think.

Perhaps you could get X-Chan to take ALL the kittens ;)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Well, X-chan always used to say she wanted to live on a houseboat (or sometimes in a Winnebago) with forty cats.

She never seemed able to indicate how she would clean up after them, though.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

I think a houseboat would be far preferable to a winnebago :)

Perhaps she could have magical cats that clean up after themselves.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

Can you imagine the cacophonous yowlings of forty k1tties surrounded by water? X-chan would be a candidate for the Cross of St. George if she managed to survive that.

Yes, and perhaps she could invent a device that would turn cat poo into solid 24k gold.

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

There's a cat that loves water - I can't remember which one unfortunately - and she'd have to choose forty different specimens of that breed :)

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[shake-the-stars.livejournal.com]

You might be thinking of Turkish Vans. They're pretty cats and like to swim. It's just the long!hair that I'd find difficult.

Callice has some longhair ancestry, but thankfully she's fundamentally a shorthair. It was bad enough to have to brush her when she first came home; I don't know if I could do it on a regular basis. O_O

Re: Look: I have a car icon

[tara]

Actually, I don't think it was those ones, so perhaps X-chan will have two breeds to pick from when she becomes a crazy houseboat cat lady ;)

I brush Misty these days, but that's only because her arthritis means she can't reach a few spots. She's got pretty short hair though, thank god.