Posted in A Moment in My Life

“What Magnet Is Yours?”

A Moment in My Life – Thursday, October 29, 2020

Different make. Different model. It didn’t matter. Car after car, I had the same issues. Not bad ones, but they annoyed the heck out of me just the same. I have two recurring problems—one being a sinking driver’s seat, and the other a clock that consistently falls behind by four minutes.  

It happened in my Toyota MR2, then in my Nissan 200SX, and most recently in my Hyundai Veloster. It was annoying but never enough to justify taking them in. I got fed up when it happened again in my Veloster. I brought her to the dealer a couple of times, hoping they could solve these issues. I left my baby with them to inspect. When they returned her to me, they were baffled as to the cause of my problems. It might be harder to determine the culprit with the clock since it loses a minute at a time over a few months until it reaches its four-minute cap. Although, I was hoping they might find some little thingy that was faulty. Alas, it was a waste of time. I was no more insightful than with my last two cars. 

These annoyances kept me on my toes. It’s just a shame that I had to learn about them the hard way. I couldn’t see out of my side mirror because my seat was too low. Luckily, I didn’t hit that tiny woman standing at the curb. Once I established this, I knew that periodically I needed to pump the lever to raise my seat to avoid those blind spots, then I was in business. As for the clock, I realized after showing up late a few times that I needed to validate the time on that clock occasionally, especially before I meet someone. The other option is not to rely on that clock. 

In comparison to Mark’s problem, mine are annoyances that I could live with. Mark had one issue, and it was a doozie. He was a rock magnet. Everywhere he went, the little rocks and pebbles found him. The fellow drivers on the freeway generously whirled them off their tires towards Mark’s windshield. Each stone made sure they left their mark on his windshield. Mostly harmless nicks, except for one time when that little tiny nick cracked the whole windshield. Ouch. That wasn’t fun. I cringed when Mark drove my car. I knew when he was behind the wheel, them there pebbles were lurking close by. Ugh.

My friend, Iggy, recently picked up another nail in her brand-new tire, making this the fourth nail this year alone. Mark was the only one that I called a magnet. Now, I need to add Iggy to the magnet family. She’s a nail magnet. Ouch. I think I have been a magnet all along, too. I am the fallen seat and slow clock magnet. Of the three, mine is the least expensive. However, mine is just as dangerous as theirs. I could have hit someone because I couldn’t see them. That’s an ouch, too. Come to think of it; mine could be costly as well.

The sad thing about all this is that we are not alone. The good thing is that we are aware of which magnet we are preconditioned to attracting, and we can prepare for them when possible. It makes me wonder, though, do you know what magnet is yours?

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