Friends and Cars and Lucky Money

Had a good week with A., my friend from St. Louis. We hung out with the JesusFreakCrazyCommuneCult kids Tuesday night, Wednesday she came to Our Daily Bread with me, Thursday we went out for sushi, Friday we had a scrambled eggs'n'guacamole breakfast and then she drove home.
I had smelled a sort of burning smell one day the previous week when I was driving; with A. in town I figured it'd be a good time to take the car in to get it checked out (as I'd have access to another car). One of the side benefits of the J.F.C.C.C. house is that Our Glorious Leader is knowledgeable about cars (but then, Our Glorious Leader is knowledgeable about EVERYTHING!. So I dropped my car off with him on Wednesday. That afternoon he called. In the call he used the term "living on borrowed time." Seems there's this thing called an "intake seal" except mine wasn't particularly sealed. And coolant and oil were mixing. And this is not a good thing. The good news is it should be all better soon, which is nice 'cause I'm planning a road trip.
Envelopes continue to arrive in response to our appeal. I have appropriated the role of letter-opener for these envelopes. Opening them is easily the high part of my day. It reminds me of Tet--tearing open the red envelopes to find out how much lucky money is inside.
I was just thinking of how nice it is that this job allows me to make use of some of my less desirable traits. It has been remarked before* that I am good at manipulating others for money and hospitality; if I am doing so for the benefit of a non-profit, it's all good. And taking delight in the acquisition of money? It's not greed here, it's a motivational tool.

*I had a letter of defamation written for me by one of my friends (hi Steve) when I was applying for admittance to a Girls Night gathering. The girls had to make sure I was of sufficient moral depravity to be welcomed to a night of eating, drinking and board games; thus a letter of recommendation would never do. The letter of defamation was a piece of fiction hinting at unseemly conduct when drunk and other proofs of wickedness, but whenever my friends read the line in it that said "She manipulates others for money and hospitality, they'd always say, "Whoever wrote this knows you really well!"