I'm sure if it's a good thing or not, but I don't think I get phased much anymore. I like to think that I don't let bad/negative situations get to me, no matter how stupid or unlucky or inconvenient it may be. Like the saying goes, "Shit Happens". I get that. I also get that it doesn't just happen to me, it happens to pretty much everyone. I've also come to realize that the quicker I get over the whole "why is this happening to me?!?!" phase or even the more demoralizing "why is this happening to me AGAIN?!?!" phase, and not dwelling on it, like forever, the quicker I can actually resolve the problem. So now, it's more like "Oh, something shitty happened?! Ok, how do I fix this?"
Here are some examples from this past couple of weeks:
1. The X5's check engine light turned on while driving to Reno a couple weeks back. I checked it with my obd-2 scanner, and it was a p0369 code, which is a bad exhaust cam shaft sensor. Not too major, just a simple part replacement. So I ordered the part, replaced it, and now everything's a-ok.
2. While doing a simple air filter cleaning on the mini, I noticed some kind of oily/greasy substance that seemed to be sprayed all over the engine bay. After some investigation, it looks like a torn/busted cv boot on the passenger-side front axle. Again, not too major, still drivable, but it will need to be repaired/replaced soon. My mechanic's in Dublin, and my dad works one city over (in Pleasanton), like 2 exits over, maybe 10 miles away. It would be soo incredibly convenient for me if he could just take it in, but for whatever reason, he can't. Since my mechanic's not open on weekends, I'm going to have to schedule an appointment during the week, only after conferring with the my boss (who more or less likes me, so I shouldn't have a problem with getting the time off. I could also telecommute since I can remote in with with laptop). The mini's got almost 150K miles on it, with the original front axles & cv joints, so they're bound to go sooner or later. Still on the original clutch, too, and I'm expecting that to be the next major service. But yeah, no biggie.
3. At my apartment in Sac, I have a sound bar that sits in front of my tv. The base of the tv stand isn't too tall, so the sound bar kind of covers the bottom of the tv. When watching anything with subtitles, sometimes the sound bar with block the bottom lines of the subtitles. I could live with it, but it's kind of annoying cause I watch a bunch of stuff with subtitles. I tried free options, such as putting thick text books or phone books underneath the tv stand, but the base of the tv stand is wider than the phone books, so it wasn't stable. I happened to stumble across a MacGyver'd solution on the internets, and it didn't cost too much since its was just putting some (non-associated) Ikea parts together. I bought an extra shelf (that's originally supposed to be used on a bookshelf) and put 4" legs on the bottom to make a custom tv riser, so now the tv sits above the sound bar. Easy peasy.
All this is kind of awesome. I like to think that being patient, prepared, and knowledgeable helps, but it also makes me wonder what exactly will phase me, and if I'll be able to keep my shit together long enough to get through it. I hope I never have to find out (Of course, I'm just talking about material things breaking, bad luck, breaks not going your way,and things of that nature, and not things like family issues or health problems).
edit:
After posting this, I realized that this can be construed to look like I don't feel or convey emotions, which may or may not be true according to the situation. Crap, does this mean that I'm a robot?
