breakdown Koreatown

Last night my car wouldn't start in the backstreets of Koreatown (near downtown LA) and at the same time my telephone died. A group of mexican kids walked up and started looking in the windows of my tattered vehicle and I realized that it might be time for me to get a better car.

Of course, the mexican kids were really cool. I rolled down my window to say hello and avoid negative confrontation and they were all "Hey! you need a jump? We have cables, we're right here" (funny how the media has conditioned us to be scared and judgmental in mildly untame situations). I was cool with them "nah it's cool man. It has this problem.. just takes a few minutes to start." He was persistent, but eventually they walked off and I just sat there in the Los Angeles darkness waiting to see if my car really would start.
Not good. No starting.

See, my car has this problem. It's called the Badfuelpump+ruinedstarter+unfixablehead=Nostarting+baddriving problem. Unfortunately, however, if you jimmy the ignition timing and pedals in just the right amount of steps, you can get the automobile to eventually fire up and drive away ("unfortunately" because if I have the ability to jimmy something to make it work I will continue to jimmy it until the end of time. Why do you think I purposely shattered my old Razr phone?)
here's the breakdown:

1 - pump the gas a couple times
2 - depress clutch, turn key *briefly* then turn off!
3 - pump gas couple more times, release and depress clutch
4 - turn key, turn off! release and depress clutch, turn key, turn off! (turn offs because the battery will die quickly otherwise)
5 - STOP. Wait about 14 seconds (check your Facebook)
6 - Repeat steps 1-5

this WILL work. I've been doing it since October. These steps, repeated, will get the car started in anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes. But last night, around midnight, in Koreatown, with a dead phone, after 15 minutes, it wasn't starting.
So I just sat there, eyebrows locked in a scrunch.

Occasionally a bum or strung-out person would saunter by. I stared ahead at the cross streets in front of me. See, usually when I park my car I do so with the awareness that this could be the last time I ever turn it off. But lately I've been running around between rehearsals and jobs so much, I've been tending to forget that my car has this terminal ailment that will, someday, eliminate my car's ability to function (I leave it running when I get gas. Pretty bad news). Sitting in Koreatown I realized that this is it. This is that day. And of course, what better place in my ever-lucky life to be caught carless and phoneless..

And then it started.

I REVVED that engine like an excited child! Brrrrrrooom brroooooooommm!!! and drove off.

Point is, I need a new or different car. Driving home, I was even thinking about what options I had. What options DO I have?
When somebody needs a car and has very limited funds to even pay their bills, what the heck do they do? Is it always a family member or friend that helps them out? What do you do when that's not available? I mean, a car loan isn't reasonable because I'm barely scraping by as it is! What is the norm here. I feel like I'm missing something.

Sidenote: When I finally get enough money to survive, here's exactly what I'm gonna do:

1 - get a better vehicle
2 - FILL my cupboards. I mean, completely stock every single one of them. I'm cashing that check and heading straight for Trader Joe's, buying 5 of everything, and the cart, pushing it all the way home and spending an hour just stocking all my food shelves and fridge compartments. Full. Brimming.There's gonna be food falling on the floor.
3 - go see a triple-feature at the Arclight

The catch? You need a reliable car to get a better job, which is where I'm at now.

Folks, let me just say this: sure there's a lesson or two to be learned when having to earn every penny of your own since you were 15, but if you're that guy or girl who's parents will help you out in a time of need and lend you a car/food/money while you're out living on your own then for goddsake APPRECIATE IT.

The end.

Mikie