u/Wise_Ad_5810

I was with Sprint. Sprint had service centers all over the place but I never needed one. T-Mobile bought Sprint, and they slid me into a $20 a month maintenance contract for my Note 10+.

Wasn't bothered at all. So I've been paying for this contract for the last several years. Last month the back panel on my phone started falling off. I guess the adhesive goes 'bad' after a while. Finally had a few minutes to head over to the T-Mobile store in my town. I get there and all they can do is upgrade me.. they don't work on phones. NONE of their stores have techs. I have to go to somebody who honors the T-Mobile contract.. like Best Buy.

I head over to Best Buy.. in mid day traffic it's an hour.. I get there and they tell me they only honor contracts for iPhones... NO-ONE will honor a non iPhone contract. They want me to drive 3 hours into Kentucky for an actual service Center that will honor the contract and work on a non-iPhone.

Just finished cancelling my maintenance contract.. I'm such an idiot

In the book, events unfold VERY differently. Like Nauls killing himself with a splinter of wood from the stall door in the bathroom when the Alien is trying to get him.

I had a thought... I don't think death is any kind of 'way out' for the expedition. I think, since the Thing assimilates on the sub-cellular level, it's going to get the contents of your brain as well as the body. I think the victims are fully aware once assimilated even after death, as part of the alien. It then draws on the kaleidoscopic cacophony of memories and experiences in an attempt to move around and interact while you're trapped as part of the Thing, unable to intervene or prevent events from happening.

Watched a couple vids on how to change out my headlight bulbs on my 2011 Juke SL. Ordered them, Also ordered some Mom's Mag polish as my headlight lenses are fogged to shit. The bulbs are those hi lumin LEDs.. those new fucking trucks 1st thing in the morning are getting a taste of their own medicine.

Everything arrived today so I head out to the car. Driver side bulb comes out easy enough.. but I can NOT get the replacement to set properly. I FEELS like it's in, but the lock-down collar refuses to catch. I struggle with it for almost 40 minutes... I take a break and fix myself a sammich and pet the cats in my chair in the back yard.

I start to feel better and head back to the struggle.... and the socket just slips right in and the collar locks like I imagined everything over the last hour+

What the actual fuck?

Ok.. Passenger side time... VERY tight space, it takes me at least 10 minutes to finally detach the socket from the bulb, it just would NOT let go. Finally I pop it lose and as I remove the bulb the lock collar slips out of my fingers and drops somewhere into the engine compartment.

I've got a general idea where it is, but I can't see because it's overcast. *grumble*. I go inside and grab my flashlight, come back out, flashlight clicks on and then goes out... will NOT turn back on. This is bullshit, I just replaced the batteries on this thing 2 months ago.

I completely take it apart, clean the contacts, reshape the trigger to make better contact.. WALAH! It lives! *sigh*

Go back outside.. can't see the collar. I search, climb underneath the car, search, climb around the top and look from different angles... and I finally catch a glimpse of the ridges of the collar. I can't reach it, so I crawl back under and try again. I can BARELY get my fingertips on it, but my wrist is at such a sharp angle I have no range of finger motion to get it. Several times I managed to knock it into a new location but can't seem to grab it. After about 30 minutes I FINALLY get a finger thru it and manage to lift it up and then out past the radiator.

I rest a minute, and then tackle the new bulb.

Again, I can not get it to lock in. I try for a good 30 minutes and my arms shaking and my back wont stop bitching at me. It simply will not set. I sit back in my chair and listen to the kitties demands as they clamber all over me. A slight breeze starts to blow and it's now almost 10am.. I ALMOST fall sleep...

I get up as the kitties voice their disapproval at losing their perch a 2nd time that morning.. press the bulb into the socket..... and the collar just slips in and locks down.. absolutely ZERO effort.

Mother fucker....

Fine, I break out the Mother's.. polish up the lenses for both headlights and test and make sure everything is good. While I feel good about getting this done, part of me is utterly exhausted and just wants to veg and watch anime all day.