A few months ago, Tara asked me if I’d be interested in playing bingo sometime.
“Only if we eat dinner at 4 p.m. and get back home in time for me to yell at those damn kids to get off our lawn,” I replied.
What can I say? I’ve always associated bingo with old people. Which isn’t entirely fair, because we did in fact while away an afternoon in a Rapid City pub playing bingo once, and had a blast. Granted, that might have had more to do with the cocktails and pub grub than the actual game itself, but I was down to give it a chance. Tara’s coworker Lisa and her husband Todd are regulars at Sunset Bar & Grill in town and invited us to join them sometime. Game on!
Only it wasn’t (for a while, anyway) because Sunset isn’t particularly spacious and their tables fill up quickly on bingo nights. Todd arrived there 90 minutes before the 6 p.m. start time a few weeks ago and couldn’t get a spot. He had better luck last week, so now it was game on.
I gotta admit, I had a decent time, once I got over my general introvertedness and reluctance to go out on a school night. It’s really no different than playing trivia, which we have done occasionally, except it’s better than playing trivia because you don’t have to think. There’s no skill involved in bingo other than scanning numbers quickly and apparently coming up with some goofy banter whenever a certain letter/number combination is called. The table next to us, full of older ladies, had this routine they did whenever B-11 was called. “Be eleven, be-be-eleven,” they would chant in unison, followed (disturbingly) by, “Smack that ass!”
Every. Single. Time. (You’d be surprised how often B-11 gets called.)
Naturally, this got me jonesing to create my own call-and-response. I settled on O-69, because…well, I shouldn’t have to explain that particular choice to you because I am a perpetual 13 y/o at heart. Next time they called O-69, I responded, “Oh, sixty-nine. Oh, oh, oh god! Yes!”
Luckily, our table mates found this funny. Whew! I barely know Lisa and Todd, so they could have been embarrassed or mortified by my adolescent behavior. Instead, they laughed, and even started joining in themselves.
The next day, Lisa told Tara I was really funny, and she said yeah, that’s basically why I married him. I’m happy I amuse her friends.
So, yeah, it turned out to be a fun couple of hours, even if we didn’t win anything. Most of the games paid out $450-ish, and there was a progressive jackpot worth 10x that, so there’s some real cash to be won. I had a tasty chicken burger and a couple of Old Fashioneds, so it wasn’t the worst way to spend a Thursday night.
I don’t think we’ll ever become regulars like Lisa and Todd, because at $5 a sheet it’s easy to drop a lot of money, but will we ever go back and play again?
Oh, oh, oh god! Yes!
Bite me, Hyundai
I drove my car for the first time in 10 days this morning. Just down the street to the auto shop to diagnose that pesky Check Engine light. My Kona had struggled a little to turn over initially and it idled roughly for a minute after starting up that day, so I hadn’t driven it since. I wasn’t too concerned, though. I’ve had good luck with cars over the years and assumed whatever issue my SUV was experiencing would be minor.
Guys…it’s not minor…
Don’t get me wrong; my car isn’t going to explode on the freeway or anything like that. They replaced the spark plugs and topped off the oil, so I can (and will) head into CheeseGov HQ tomorrow. But, the technician warned me I’m experiencing excessive oil consumption. I was down three quarts since my last oil change, which was only 6,000 miles ago.
Well, it turns out this is a well-documented issue with many Hyundai models from the last decade. It’s often linked to faulty piston rings, PCV valves, or–and this one is fun!–engine design flaws. This can lead to engine knocking, smoke from the exhaust, and premature engine failure. The tech said he’s seen it a bunch of times, but usually in older vehicles. Mine just turned five. The recommendation is to have a dealer perform an official oil consumption test to start a service claim, which involves taking it into Hyundai every 1,000 miles so they can measure how much oil is being burned.
“You might even want to think about trading it in now while it’s still got value,” he suggested. “Won’t be worth a cent with a dead engine.”
Cheery!
Ugh. We just paid her off last year. I didn’t have a new car on my bingo card (I love a good callback!) for at least another five years. My last Hyundai was still in good shape after 13 years.
(Much as I love my Kona, I don’t think there will be any more Hyundais after this one. They acknowledge the problem but have never issued a recall. And their vehicles are a favorite target of thieves because they were too cheap to add an engine immobilizer until a couple of years ago. Bite me, Hyundai.)
So, I don’t know. The tech said I could go another 60,000 miles without a problem. But since it’s already happened once, he hinted I’d be lucky to get 30,000.
Lots to weigh here. I need a dependable vehicle for my long commute but also don’t want to buy another car but also don’t want the engine in this car to fail, blah blah blah. Guess I’ll start the oil consumption test process and see where that leads, which means a lot of trips to Janesville in my future.
There is an Amish community here. Maybe I can hitch a horse-and-buggy ride to Madison every Tuesday and Wednesday.
Do you play Bingo? What do you drive? How old’s your car? Ever have to deal with a major automotive issue?
Mark My Words 
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