All of a sudden things went mighty pear-shaped yesterday. I was heading out to see my sister for dinner and while on the 5 north in Sunland--home of concrete, gravel, sand, and rocks--my car made a very unhealthy noise. A red light went on, the temp guage shot up, and I got the hell off the road posthaste. The pulley on the generator/fan broke. Shit. Smoke, bad smells, the whole deal. Fucked. I won't bore you with the wheres and whatsits, but as I stood there under the awning of a truck stop I'd pulled into, the nightmarish scenarios began unspooling in my head: new engine $5,000 summer ruined no road trip no way to pay no car no job no mobility no way to get groceries no nothing really really screwed...

And then I caught my breath and realized that maybe it wasn't so bad. My trusty mechanic in Santa Monica (convenient, yes?) graciously referred me to a good nearby shop in NoHo, we towed it there, accompanied with good salty conversation with the driver, I left the car there, my sister and her husband came and got me, we went to dinner at a nice Mexican joint, ate, endured Karaoke (including someone doing "Tainted Love" so badly that even the cats in Ventura County were howling), went to their house, chilled, drove me home, then sleep.

Preliminary report this morning is that the engine was spared any truly horrific damage. We'll see if that holds up. Fingers crossed.