Availability and price with vary depending on what’s available near you but Toyota Camry, Toyota corolla, Chevy Cruze, Chevy cavalier, Honda accord, Mazda 3 are all great cars reasonably within your price range.

Avoid Volkswagen, Audi, bmw… German cars will run a long time if they’re well taken care of but they’re total money pits (I drive a vw gti and love it but even basic maintenance and repairs are expensive)

Avoid subaru for the same reason.

Honda and Toyota engines run a long time, even with poor maintenance but take care to keep up with maintenance and they will run forever.

Old fords are great, new fords not so much. Dodge makes engines built to die. Most modern trucks have catastrophic engine issues.

Avoid anything that came out after 2017, touch screens, capacitive touch, and other ‘luxary’ electronics are prone to fail and become expensive nuisances. AWD, cvt transmissions, and anything that turns the engine off when you come to a stop will come with expensive maintenance and repairs.

Ask about service history, ask if the timing belt or water pump have ever been changed, get a carfax or auto check report (cars with accidents will be cheaper but come with hidden issues), ask how far their average commute is (the longer the commute the better, short drives don’t let the engines warm up properly).

Look at the condition of the tires, look for even gaps where the body panels meet, turn the wheel all the way and check out the suspension and underneath the car for any serious rust (in Canada, everything is going to have rust, but you don’t want to see any cracks or chunky build up), after it’s warmed up listen for any ticks, chirps, knocks, or grinding noises. Look for water stains in the headliner.

Don’t be afraid to look a little above your price range and negotiate down, people want money, but lots of people just want to get the car off their hands.

Get something as close to or under 100,000 miles as you can but most importantly, get something you feel good in.

… not much.

My romantic life is painful and turbulent at best. My job is collapsing because of the tariffs. I owe too much on my car to keep it if I lose my job and it needs a new clutch anyways, which is about $3000 that I don’t have for the cheap one. Family is distant, cold, and unsupportive. My government is doing its best to make life (as a trans person) as painful as possible. Best friend died last year, my only other friend has just kinda fallen off the face of the earth. My hobbies are frustrating and unfulfilling. I have vivid nightmares nightly. My body is deteriorating to the point of near disability. I eat the same shitty $5 chicken sandwhich every day. Insurance won’t cover therapy and suicide seems more and more likely by the day.

My coffee was warm this morning though so, I guess I’ve got that going for me today.

I’m a manager at a small laid back warehouse. It’s not uncommon for coworkers to all go out as a group for drinks from time to time.

A subordinate and I became genuine friends at one of these outings and hung out for a couple of months. They caught feelings, I didn’t reciprocate and backed away from social time with them outside of work. Fast forward a few months and they tried to kill themselves in the parking lot one day after I said I didn’t want to hang out with them anymore because of our work dynamic.

I don’t go to work hangs off the property anymore.

Total eclipse of the sun

I’ve seen a number of partials and lunar eclipses through my life but I drove out to see totality last year.

It was the textbook definition of awesome, it took my breath away in a way I still struggle to describe beyond the words doom and divinity. Took me months to shake it.

15/10 will absolutely travel for the next one if I’m not dead by then.