Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

A few months ago, I noticed that part of Click's skid plate had popped off. Being unemployed and not able to go to the mechanic to fix it, I simply popped it back into place and promptly forgot about it.

During yesterday's roadtrip, after about 130 miles, I put my car in reverse and heard a terrible grinding noise and my car leaving a freaking GOUGE in the gravel driveway I was pulling out of. After checking the car, the part of the skid plate had popped out, and it caught the gravel, pulling a huge chunk out which was now dragging on the road, and on top of that, pulled another huge chunk out.

I did my best to pop everything back into place and beelined it to the nearest town, Cle Elum. After driving around to find a place that was open at 10PM on a Sunday that had duct tape, I found some, and taped it up.

Then I drove home, which was about 70 miles. Somewhere on that drive at 70 MPH, the skid plate popped back out dragged on the freeway (which I didnt' hear), and tore off multiple pieces. When I got home, what I found was a huge part of the skid plate not broken, cracked and very conveniently, "shaved" where it hit the road.

Thankfully, it wasn't too hard to make a fix on it. It looks like one of the bolts fell out causing the skid plate to droop to begin with, and one of the sections that was torn off had a lone bolt just hanging there. Took that bolt, and refastened the skid plate on the front. This looks like it'll keep the remaining skid plate bak where it needs to be, for the most part.

For the parts that are no longer fastened to anything, I used duct tape, in a fix my dad would be proud of. Which means I probably should get it to a mechanic as soon as I can afford to.

A lot on my mind today. Thinking of old friends....

Two ladies who don't care for diamonds and gold
Who love the boys when they young or they old
Who always got something to say for themselves
Who put the high heels back on the shelf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tvwj9VmQdY

Blue line: Jenn's path down the 1923 alignment of US 97
Thick white line on the right: Current, much saner, less WHEEEEEEE alignment.

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find duct tape on a Sunday night in Cle Elum.

Minor emergency repair on the car, but I don't think she's liking even paved county roads these days....

Where I am now.

My original support group, the Boulton and Park Society started as a straight crossdressers support group only. It wasn't until I joined that they had their first openly trans member and while not everyone was onboard with that, nearly everyone else was. And it turned out the reason they were willing to support me? One of the founders came out as trans a few few years after I left.

https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=News&sc=Commentary&id=326804

Remade the yeast rolls after finding out that I copied the recipe wrong that may have led to them being dryer than I'd like. So I remade them and...they're still dry.

But I really had to think...I think Luby's Dinner Rolls are actually kinda dry, too (my memory is fuzzy as I haven't been to one in almost half a decade). I think they're more flaky dry than bready moist. So I may be making them correctly...for Luby's.

I think I have a Threadgill's recipe I'll try next time to get a closer to school cafeteria roll.

Also, these rolls are teeny tiny since when re-did the recipe, I knocked it down to 14g carbs per roll, which is the amount I use for "snacks" (the originals were 33g).

Hey, Mark Hamill in 1972!

So, tonight, we watched the movie Vibrations. A movie about a musician who loses his hands, leaves home for no real reason, makes new friends who make robot hands for him to play on keyboards. Wierd movie.

One thing it had was a lot of rave scenes in it, and, you know, they were pretty authentic. And then I thought to myself: How do you know that, Jenn? You didn't do raves back in the day.

But I did. Sort of. Back in the my university days, when I was going to college alongside Amy and Umber. She was in Amnesty International at the time, and would set up these AI fundraisers, many of which were kind of proto-raves, being very early 90s.

While it wasn't my scene, I got involved because I Had A Great Big Pick Up Truck. I usually ended up hauling giant amps to clubs, helping setup when I could, and since I wasn't too interested in dancing, I usually ended up counting folks who came in and collecting covers charges.

I think one of my longest days, where I was awake for 36 hours running errands to pick up amps and music equipment for a full day straight, then going to the show for the whole eveing, then having a very late (like 3AM) dinner at Jim's and continued to stay awake until the morning so I could drop off the amps again.

I missed out on a lot of "culture" back then. I was very worried about being involved in any scene, because I felt like a nerd and out of place, even when I was encouraged to do so. I remember talking to Amy and saying I was always worried about drugs and alcohol (to this day, I still don't drink or do drugs), and she really encouraged me to get involved anyway by calling me "Straight Edge." I think at one of the shows, she even markered my arm with the sXe Straight Edge symbol. :D

I tended to float in my own world and wasn't too interested in getting involved outside that world. But I never fully turned it down. I'd look into that world, be it punk, alternative or non-music stuff like polyamory.

It's made me very friendly to folks who you wouldn't think I would be. Steph the Punk, Amy the Grunge Queen, Fashionistas, Liberal Politicos, heck I was even a friend to the goths and the nerds. Because I was curious. And didn't make fun.

I never really found my niche. But I did find my friends.

Every year, I spend my birthday getting food from Pennsylvania and Canada as I do miss my time there. North sent some stuff the other day, actual physical reminders of my time in State College. Made a memory shelf out of it all.

Well. This is a worrying thing.

I tend to anthropomorphize inanimate objects, and honestly, I kinda have that same attitude for Lisa here. I don't hate her for replacing news anchors, but at the same time, I'm not liking how she got there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZP88jB95c

Kirby! Snorlax!

An evening in State College, Pennsylvania, 1997, twenty six years later.

Tired of not seeing your candidates on the final voting ballots? PRIMARIES ARE COMING UP.

Vote the heck out of the pirimaries, and who knows, your guy may show up on the final ballot. But you gotta get your votes out there.

If you have a primary coming, please vote.

I love how some folks are trying to discredit Fran Drescher because she was anti-vaccine. Like a bad take invalidates everything else. Yes, she was wrong about being Anti-Vax. She's right about the strike.

Something I was thinking about recently after a conversation with a friend.

I love a good conspiracy theory. Big fan of Art Bell before he went all right-wing, and enjoyed alternate viewpoints even if they were a bit wacky or far fetched.

Thing is, I don't really believe them. They're a fun mind-exercize in viewing things from another angle. Sometimes I will lean harder into at least considering a conspiracy theory to be the correct theory, but if shown or told something that contradicts it, I'll go with the more plausible explanation.

I want to believe in ghosts and UFOs and the bermuda triangle and the Bell Witch and Mothman. But I need to see proof and plausibility to go with it....