Occam's Razor, My Honda, and the basement.
on 2002-12-03 at 2:45 p.m.
Living with the rents. Back in the basement again, a return to the dark, damp, cold hole that is our underground dwelling. Except now, it is no longer damp or cold. What the Fuck? That was the part I really liked. Being just cold enough to need the comforter on the bed, but not cold like my old place where my snot froze and my lips turned blue at night. I like the temperature somewhere in the high 50's to low 60's. And we are talking my bedroom here folks, not outside. For some reason, now that I have moved back home for the time being, the old basement is now too warm for me to sleep comfortably. I find myself waking up sweaty every few hours. This never happened before. I used to spend so much time down here that I think I actually lowered my core body temperature. Now, I can't stand to sleep there, I used a fan last night. Everyone in my family has heard this complaint and their solution is "close the vents". Well, Jesus Christ on a Saltine, how many times do I have to tell you, there are no vents! That's why we put in baseboard heaters when we finished the basement. Dad tells me that it must be getting heat from upstairs. Well, last time I heard heat didn't travel down and all the way to MY ROOM. It's not that hot in the rest of the house. I don't mean to pick on them for looking for solutions, It just seems like people always pick the worst times, like when your already pissed, to try to make you look dumb. I'm a fairly intelligent person, according to the tests, and friends who tell me what I like to hear. What people don't understand is that I do not like to ask for help, so if I do, it is fair to assume I have tried all the obvious fixes first. That last thing I'm looking for is some smart ass to ask me 20 questions on the things I've already done. If I've gotten to you, I need help, not for you to tell me what to check over. This is not a rail on my family, but moreover the state of society. I'm guilty of it myself, and I think people do it to make themselves feel smarter. I personally subscribe to Occam's Razor, the scientific priciple that states "one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything." In laymans terms, "all other things being equal, the simplest answer is normally the right one." However, I feel the "all other things being equal" part is where I come in. I'm not equal, I don't like to ask for help, It makes me feel as if I'm no longer in control, therefore it is tougher for me, and the simplest answer is for you give me the benefit of the doubt, that I have tried all obvious solutions, and start by giving me a hand, instead of an inquisition.
Oooooooohhh, that reminds me of another real life example of this from my past. I owned a 1993 Honda Prelude (Thanks Mom!) that my mom bought when i was in highschool and was given to me when I went away to College. I'd still be driving it today, except for fatal engine failure a few years ago. So, I'm a senior in highschool and on the soccer team. We don't have facilities for sports at the school so we have to drive about 5 miles to practice. I drove myself and two other guys to practice. Across from the field is a gas station where we normally stop to buy gatorade, water, etc... This random day we stop, I turn off the car and go in, with the windows down, and the sunroof open. I come out and my key will not longer turn in the ignition. I spend a good 15 minutes trying to find the problem, jiggling the ignition, steering wheel, all the obvious things. Then I let all my friends try to jiggle the steering wheel and shit, cause obviously to them, I must be doing something wrong. None of them gets it to work either. Then I breakdown and call my mom, and AAA. Well mom says to go to practice and she'll stop by on the way home, so I went to practice until the AAA truck showed up, right about the same time as mom. So i jog (those of you who know me now, may not believe this, but I actually jogged that day, maybe not a day since, but definitely that day) across the street to where mom was waiting, in my car, jiggling the steering wheel, and the key, still to no avail. Then, as if brought out of some redneck time machine, "Bubba" the AAA guy walks up to the car, and the first thing he says "did you jiggle the steering wheel? You did? Let me try it." I almost lost it, but kept my composure at the time. And he tried it, to no avail. So he put my car on his truck, took it to the dealership, who thankfully was still open and could park my car inside since the windows and sunroof were electric and I could not start the car. The next day I was vindicated, something had happened to the tumblers in the ignition and they weren't lining up properly. Covered under warranty, and I was vindicated!
I'll figure out why the basement is damn hot, and I'll be vindicated again, at least in my own mind, and one things for sure, it's not the vents.
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