Hopefully, if my request off goes through, Cori and I will have a long and much-needed vacation from Saturday the 15th-Saturday the 22nd. We will be going back to Virginia. I miss it.
I was telling my counselor yesterday about how, after the highway shooting that happened right behind me on my birthday (and although later it was deemed to be targeted, I didn’t know that when they sped past me and then kept firing back towards what looked like me), for the next couple weeks I kept telling Cori how much I hated Cincinnati. How ghetto and unsafe it was, how stupid the city was to put in a streetcar system when they have unused subway tunnels below some areas, how everyone is hopped up on meth or heroin, how vulgar and crude people are (I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve heard a parent shout “F**K” in some way shape or form to their >10 year old kids), etc… and although it’s unfair for me to let one incident (in particular) affect how I view an entire city, I can’t help but want to get out of here.
And it’s just sad because when Amanda lived in Mariemont, I visited her several times and thought I would like living in Cincinnati. Melanie used to live in a building about 3 blocks away from where I live right now and she misses Cincinnati. People tell me they’ve lived here their whole lives and have never even seen or heard a shooting, much less be involved in one.
I actually really wanted to move to Minneapolis. It’s WAY safer than here, and I probably would’ve enjoyed the weather more, too. I had so much fun when I was visiting Cori while he was there. I have relatives there and in central Wisconsin. But then I would’ve been even further from my parents, and a road trip from basically Washington, D.C. to Minneapolis is just insane. I know. I did it in May 2014.
There are nice things about living here. Our apartment, while not perfect, is perfectly fine for the two of us for now. Our landlord is nice and always asks if there’s anything he can do, and always asks how we’re doing, too. We can walk to several shops, a CVS, restaurants, a really nice library (they moved location in May and are a little further from us now but the building is gorgeous), a movie theater, and other things. We have a mail collection box a block up our street–something I’ve always wanted, as silly as it sounds. We have some really nice parks nearby. The architecture of many of the houses around here is gorgeous–no cookie-cutter houses, here. And we have occasionally taken advantage of free events at UC or downtown.
But the shooting on the highway, and the guy getting shot across from IKRON (also in May) and Cori heard the gunshot when it happened, and all the other shit around here… I’m just not feeling it.
Cori makes me so happy. I’m so lucky to have him; he’s better than what I deserve. We’ve been living together happily for over a year now and always talk about our future together. But neither of us feel like we want to stay here. He has his last summer class today, actually, then school starts back up on the 24th and he will be done some time in May, maybe even earlier. And hopefully he will find a decent-paying job and we won’t need to necessarily be living paycheck to paycheck and be able to save money and he can pay off his loans and I can pay off my credit cards (which really aren’t awful, but for me and what I’m making, they are).
Oh, last thing. Mom called me on Thursday to say that her car shut off on the highway. She coasted in the shoulder, as the brakes weren’t responding normally, either. She’s okay, but the next day they came back and said the engine basically exploded and it would cost $7000 to repair. It’s a 2002 Saturn and worth maybe $1100. Maybe.
So it’s a little bittersweet. We also felt it was too early. It has about 124,000 miles on it and really, only my mom and I drove it. We leased it in February 2002 and all it gave us was problems. We tried to exchange it under the lemon law (even though repairs were under warranty) but they said since we were leasing it, it didn’t apply. I inherited the car in May 2003 and Mom then bought an ‘03 Hyundai Sonata (I had just gotten my license and Dad was living in Alexandria, VA from 2001-2005 while Mom and I were in Beavercreek, Ohio). Since it was a very new car, and yes, I was lucky to have it, I took that car everywhere and whenever I was with my friends, I drove.
Eventually the car stopped having issues and my parents decided to buy it in May 2005 when the lease was up. For awhile, the car was okay. Mom and I moved to Fairfax, VA in August 2005 and I can’t remember how the timeline went, but some time in late 2006 finances were tough and my parents decided to trade in dad’s older Buick AND my mom’s ‘03 Sonata, and used the trade-in to get a great deal on a 2007 Hyundai Azera (which my dad still has). So until I bought my Hyundai Elantra in October 2011, Mom and I actually shared my 2002 Saturn.
But then in 2007 the Saturn started having problems again. Problems that weren’t under warranty. Battery leaked, three times. Gas tank had a hole and was leaking gas. Steering wheel stopped working (yes, you saw that right). Brakes gave out, ironically as I was going to get the oil changed. Broken axle. 4 replacement serpentine belts. Headlights constantly going out. Dashboard not lighting up at night. Speakers not working (I didn’t bother fixing this). Among other things. All in all, I spent, of my own money, about $10,000 in repairs. You read that right, too. I’ve probably forgotten all the crap I had done with that car. And of course I was working and in school and it was hard to share a car with my mom, though we had done it for about 5 years. And of course Saturn went under in 2009, so it became progressively hard to get spare parts and technicians who knew what they were doing. So in 2011, I was fed up. I bought a Hyundai Elantra, and mom said she would be happy to have the Saturn “back.”
But, even with all this stuff, mom and I frequently went on outings together in that car. We called it the “bummin’ car”, since we would call our outings “going bummin’ around town.” We thought it would last longer. Hell, mom and dad just had a brake job done on the car a month ago, so that was more money sunk into it.
Mom will have a new car when we visit in a couple weeks. I know what it will be, and I’m excited. She said she will make me drive it the whole time I visit :) But on the phone, she cried. That car had a lot of memories, and it used to be my car for about 8 years. She apologized for being emotional but said she may not have felt the same way if I were still there. I think, for good reason, she associated that car with me.
So… yeah. It’s just a car, but… it is a little sad, even though that car was a piece of crap. It was our piece of crap.
~Rachel
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