Fall semester: day three
In "things are starting to suck again" news, my trusty Monte Carlo is acting up again. This time it's more than likely dying and/or dead sensors and/or fuses that run said sensors.
The car's running rough and loud on occasion, and it's having trouble giving me power/speed at times when I press down on the gas pedal. Oh, it does it, it just takes its time to do so -- gradually increasing in power and speed instead of its normal 215hp V6 get-up-n-go. It's not running hot, transmission seems to be shifting and working as per the usual, it's just...well, sluggish at times, and it's noticeable. Other than that the car seems to be working just as fine as it ever did -- with one little exception. Tonight, on the drive home, the "security" light came on my dashboard for several minutes while the car was being sluggish.
This is odd, as it's never happened before while driving. A few minutes later, it went back off, and the car resumed its normal performance.
That in itself, more than anything else, led me to the it's-probably-a-sensor-or-fuse hypothesis, knowing what I do about cars, and especially my car. I looked up "security light" in the manual for the car once I got home (because yes, I do own the manual, I'm not an idiot) and it says this:
If you’re ever driving and the SECURITY light comes
ton and stays on, you will be able to restart your engine
if you turn it off. Your PASS-Key II system, however,
is not working properly and must be serviced by your
Chevrolet dealer. Your vehicle is not protected by the
PASS-Key II system.
It also mentions, as I figured it would, that if the light comes on at odd times that it's a good time to check the fuses. Which I was pretty sure of anyway.
Ah, the PASS-Key system. How delightful. Let me explain that one a little bit.
The PASS-Key system is a little nub built into my ignition key as a security device, similar to the electronic keys newer cars have now. Inside that nub is a chip that interacts with my car's -- and only my car's -- specific ignition system via electronic code. It's a theft-deterrent. It also means that because of that electronic code, I cannot get a replacement key made for my car anywhere but a Chevrolet dealership, or a locksmith/keymaker who can make those specific keys, the latter of whom are few and far between. The ACE Hardware here in town is known to make them, however, and I've been meaning to get a duplicate key made for a long time, but haven't done so yet.
Anyway. The car will run and drive even if this system is malfunctioning (obviously), and basically the only reason it would malfunction is if one or more fuses have blown in the car's fuse box, or if they're about to blow out. I already have at least one fuse that's out, the one that provides light to the left side of the dashboard when the car's headlights are on, and the one which provides electricity to the radio system. I'm guessing the ones that are wonky or are trying to die on me are not only the ones which control that security system PASS-Key thing, but also the ones which control things like the O2 sensor and/or other car electronics.
Fuses are kind of important. Most of them just power little things (like the aforementioned dash light and stereo), but if they blow out, they can definitely screw with a car's performance, especially stuff like the ones that would properly run things smoothly, like the O2 sensor. I thought it would be something like this from the start, but this reminds me that more than ever I must, must get that car into the shop soon to get repairs before something else goes wrong, something possibly catastrophic. Yes, right now it's running -- it may be sluggish at times, and only for short periods at that, but it still needs major work done to it. I've been planning to do that work as soon as I can get just a little breathing space, but this week has been horrific on many different fronts (which I plan to write about over the coming weekend). It's 10:51 PM, and I just got home about an hour ago -- and that's early for me on Wednesday nights this semester. In a little over six hours, six hours, I will be getting up again to start my Thursday of teaching. I've not been able to relax or get any true downtime since last weekend.
I've told both Rae and Jay that depending on how the car acts, and if it's going to want to run normally, I may not make it to the EGSA and journal meetings on Friday afternoon. This comes with a heavy heart, of course; I've tried as much as possible, when I have the time and ability, to help with the school's literary journal -- and I've been on the editorial staff in some capacity ever since I started grad school -- but if this weekend may be the only time in the foreseeable future that I can take my car to the shop and say "hey, fix these few things at least, because the thing's going to blow up if I don't get them worked on," then sadly that has to come first. Yes, I planned (and still plan) to go to the meetings if I can make it there without issue, but I'll also be calling the shop tomorrow afternoon -- especially if the thing's still acting up -- to see when/if I can drop it off. It may be expensive and/or time-consuming, but I need that car to last me as long as possible -- it can't up-and-die on me during the first week of classes, of all times. It almost would've been better if it had died on me during the summer, when I didn't have the mountain of responsibilities I have now, even though I didn't have money to replace/repair it in the summer. I did, at least, have time then to figure something out.
So yeah, add that to the list of "shit that's gone wrong" this summer. It's a big list.
My Playwriting professor canceled class this evening, on the second night of the class itself. We weren't given a reason, just that class had been canceled. We still haven't received any explanations via email, either, which is odd. I was fine with this until I realized that was really the only reason I'd been on campus all day -- that and my evening Surrealism poetry class -- aside from a few small errands I did on campus and in my office this morning (such as paperwork and paperwork-like things). If I would have known class would be canceled, I could've gone back to bed and driven to campus around 6PM or so, instead of 7AM.
I did, however, have my Surrealism class, which is taught -- not exactly coincidentally -- by my head thesis advisor. He gave Jay and I instructions after class on what he'd like to see of our theses and when. I will be providing him with five of my best, representative "samples" from my thesis sometime next week, and Jay will be working with him on another schedule at a different pace, as he's making his an all-new project (apparently). In about a month we'll be giving him our comprehensive exams focus guides of sorts, as well. This is a pretty good pace, really. I'm cool with it for the most part. I'll be juggling so many things over the course of the next month that I'll just add that to the "to-do list" pile.
My brain is already fried and I'm seriously feeling the fatigue, and the semester is only three days old. I haven't had time for anything else, really -- it's been get up, go to school, come home, eat/shower, and go to bed for the past three days now. Tomorrow I hope to be able to come home after class and pass out after I call the shop about the car...provided I can make it to and from school safely and without incident.
Oh, there are definitely more things to write about, but I am so tired and burnt-out that right now, I just need rest. Sleep. For a little over five hours. Oh, how wonderful, right?
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