The car has a new clutch! Well, not technically the clutch, but the master and slave clutch cylinders. The clutch is now very firm with a completely different friction point than before. The change is so drastic that I feel like I’m 16 and have never driven a stick shift before. I haven’t stalled it yet, but I’ve over-revved it quite a number of times.
I did my civic duty today and went to my Neighborhood Association meeting, now that I’m a fancy-schmancy homeowner and such. Is it civic duty? I think “civic” implies government, and the association is supposedly a conduit between the neighborhood and the government, or so I was told tonight. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was sort of expecting an official bureaucratic Rules Of Order type of event with motions and movements and seconds and minutes and action items. It was sort of that, but not in the way I was thinking, in more of a general guideline way. The meeting was mainly about cultural diversity in the neighborhood and how to get everyone involved in the community (both in an informal “say Hi to your neighbor” sort of way and in formal events like block parties, the street fair, and such.)
The meeting was interesting. I can’t say it was particularly good, but it was not particularly bad, either. I’ll give it another shot next month. Given the hours I work, the start time is a little awkward for me, so I will likely miss the first 15-20 minutes each meeting: the meet and greet, welcome, review of minutes, and part of the first speaker. I get the impression that the end time is a strongly fixed value. People were clock-watching toward the end and very eager to adjourn at 8pm on the dot, not 30 seconds after, no matter what.
I stopped going to mine after the whole “you guys are racist for not changing Interstate to Chavez” thing. It kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like the Arbor Lodge neighborhood association has been marginalized by City Hall because of that.
Maybe that was the Mayor’s office’s intent, I dunno.