PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

LOL

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@LocoLocal
@Iamraiderpower
@ChadsPride

My mom and her sisters had been tasked with finding a house large enough for the whole family at a reasonable price. "Malibu," "ocean view," "beach access," and "reasonably priced" generally do not appear in the same sentence. The house we ended up renting was much cheaper than similar houses in the area, but it never occurred to anybody (even me) why this might be the case. The first relatives to arrive found out the hard way that you get what you pay for. It was in the eighties that first day, and it was very warm inside the house when people started arriving. My cousin asked the owner of the house where the thermostat was so she could turn on the A/C. The owner said that the house did not have A/C. It had forced air gas heat, but no central air. It didn't even have window units! The house was miserable to be in at certain times during the day, but it was at least tolerable at night when everyone was sleeping. However, because there was no A/C, we kept the windows open. This house had a mysterious ant infestation that was only exacerbated by leaving the windows open, and one night I came into my room and found ants in my bed! I'm not the neatest person in the world, and I'll freely admit to this. I've snuck various snacks into my bedroom at home and gotten crumbs on the floor. I've even found entire long-forgotten pretzels days after dropping them, but no ants. I ate some crackers in my bed and it only took a few hours for the ants to completely colonize it! The owner, who lived right down the hill, brought me a new set of sheets from his house. On top of that, the house was under construction. It had been built in the 1970s or 1980s and parts of it, most notably the kitchen, had been renovated. However, a good portion of the house seemed to be partial or incomplete. The pictures on the rental agency website were obviously not recent, as the interior of the house looked different and the whole place was in better condition.

I'd gotten a bit sunburned down on the beach, and gotten a bit scraped up in the sand the previous day when I lost a fight with a wave. I was also sick of not having air-conditioning! Everybody was off doing their own thing, and I was bored, so I opened the trusty Uber app, and within minutes a guy in his early 20s was headed my way in his 236K mile 2004 Prius. I purposely did not text my mom about my plans until I was in the shotgun seat of that Prius headed to Hollywood. My mom was pissed that I'd just taken off, but she quickly got over it. It was hot in Malibu, but on the other side of mountains, the digital display in the Prius was showing 97°F. Even though that Prius had almost 240K miles, it ran and drove great, and the A/C was ICE COLD.

It was hot in Hollywood, but thankfully nowhere near 97°F. The driver recommended a place cal Jameson's Irish Pub on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. I thanked the driver, got out, and wandered into Jameson's...

The bartender was a young guy in his early thirties. I took a seat, and he put out a coaster and asked what I'd like to drink. I'd known for a while that Yuengling was not and still currently is not available for sale in California, and I forget what I ordered. The bartender asked for my ID, and I handed over my Pennsylvania driver's license. He handed it back, satisfied that I was exactly who I said I was, and so began the conversation about what I was doing all by myself about 3,000 miles from home. Bartenders listen to people talk about their problems and their boring day-to-day lives all the time, and a common question for a new customer is "What you do you do for a living?"

One of the things I love about bartenders (and everybody in the service industry) is that when you tell them you work as a barback, they actually know what the hell you are talking about! When you tell a bartender that you also work in the service industry, especially in a bar, they see you as much more than just another customer and really take an interest in what you have to say. People in the service industry take care of each other, even if the respective bars at which they work are on 3,000 miles away from each other on opposite sides of the country.

I ordered lunch, and we got to talking, and I told him about having Asperger's Syndrome, and how I'd ended up working in the last place I ever expected to be working and was actually enjoying it. I told him the story of how a drunk driver did almost three grand in damage to my Tacoma and totaled his car in the process, and showed him the pictures on my phone. Some of the other customers took interest as well, and pretty soon it turned into a live version of "Drunk Grandpa." As is typically the case when I go into a bar for the first time, I felt like Norm from Cheers when I left.

The bartender told me about himself too, and I don't remember where he was from, but I know he was not an L.A. native. Unlike me (though I was born about 6 hours from L.A. in Milpitas), I don't even think he was a California native. However, he had come to L.A. for the same reason most people do He wanted to make a name for himself (I forget exactly what he wanted to do though; Not specifically screen acting, but something to do with motion pictures). He'd bartended his way through college, and now he was bartending to supplement the income from his boring day job. I put away two draft beers in the span of an hour and a half (one of which ended up being on the house), said goodbye, and walked out the door with a decent buzz. I quickly regretting consuming two beer in less than two hours, because right up the street there were some people from a local specialty rental car company with a Ferrari and another exotic car advertising their company. You could rent an exotic car for an hour for like $100. They accepted all major credit cards and all you needed was a valid driver's license issued by a U.S. state. What sucks is I still felt pretty buzzed, so I took a pamphlet with the intention of pursuing it later.

On the way up Hollywood Boulevard in the direction of the Chinese Theater, I learned the hard way that tourists should walk as close to the curb as possible, especially when they are alone. Within feet of each other, I lost $20 total to two aspiring rappers who were hawking their CDs ($10 per CD). The first guy stopped me and asked me my name, then asked something along the lines of "You like music?" Taken off guard and also ever so slightly buzzed, I responded with "Charlie" and "Yes," respectively. Then before I knew what was happening, the guy autographed the CD to me in permanent marker and asked for a "donation." The smallest bills I had in my wallet aside from a few singles were two $10 bills (The rest were $20 bills). I didn't really want to give him the money, but I was in too deep to back out, and I didn't want to be a jerk either. I wasn't about to give him a $20 and ask for change, so I gave him the $10, tucked the CD into my pocket, and kept walking. $10 was no big deal. If I didn't get CDs for free from the various acts at Puck, $12 or more was the typical price I paid (One CD I bought at Puck from a particularly good band was like $25-$30; so compared to that $10 was a bargain). Even though I'm typically NOT into rap/hip-hop, music is like alcohol to me. I'll gladly try anything at least once, and that's why I paid the extra $30 for a head unit with a CD player when I replaced the factory radio in my Tacoma. When I got back to Pennsylvania, I'd play the CD in my truck and see what I thought.

Less than two minutes later, the exact same thing happened AGAIN! In less than 5 minutes I'd blown $20 on two CDs I didn't even want! I spent the rest of my time there walking along the curb and keeping my eyes straight ahead. About 2 or 3 hours after I got there, with my phone about to die, I called my Uber and went back to Malibu.

By the way, I did play the CDs I got from "Detroit Hustle King" and "Federal" in my truck, and I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It wasn't a cheap recording; They were both legitimate professionally recorded albums! I'm still going out of my way to avoid CD hawkers when I'm on vacation though!

Two days later, and with my mom's blessing, I did go to Beverly Hills via Uber and spend like 2 hours taking pictures of exotic cars on Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard.

Still a damn good vacation overall!

 

Thank you!

 

This was my first Facebook post on my 28th birthday:


I initially messaged my friend Tyler, who has an F250 with a snowplow but lives like 30-40 minutes from me. I told him I'd pay him to plow my driveway so my parents and I would not have to use shovels and the dinky snowblower I thought was broken. He said he'd be happy to do it, but was very busy at the moment. I REALLY DID NOT WANT TO SHOVEL SNOW ON MY BIRTHDAY!

Ryan, the same awesome neighbor who helped helped me install a touch-screen head unit and backup camera in my truck saw my status update. He and another neighbor headed over to my parents' house with their snowblowers. My parents called upstairs for me to come outside and help them clear the driveway. I grudgingly got up from my bed, but right when my parents were about to go outside, they realized that there were two guys with snowblowers outside! One had cleared the side of the driveway where my Tacoma was parked all the way up to my back bumper, and the other guy was clearing the sidewalk in front of our house. My dad recognized the other guy as one of neighbors in our development. However, even after approaching and thanking the mysterious two-man "Snowblower Brigade," my mom thought Ryan was our neighbor from across the street (the house with the black Durango and the white Jeep in the driveway).

My mom is glad she didn't go across the street to thank our neighbor!

Here's my second status update, posted minutes after my parents discovered the guys clearing our driveway:


Ryan lives right around the corner from our house, but isn't technically in our neighborhood because his house was built by a small, independent builder. Even though he's practically in our neighborhood, he is not subject to the rules and regulations of our neighborhood's HOA since his house was built by a different builder and thus not considered a part of the development (At times, I love and hate loopholes)!

Not longer after reading a response to my post from my friend Mike (who also has AS) about how he had to do a lot of the work clearing his parents' driveway, Ryan responded to the "Guardian Angel with a Snowblower" message. Here is my conversation with Mike:



Anyway, I found out about an hour ago that what my parents I thought was a hastily formed neighborhood-wide snowblower brigade of about 4 to 6 guys, was actually Ryan and another neighbor of mine. It turns out that Ryan had seen the above Facebook post, headed over to my parents' place with his snowblower, and grabbed the other neighbor and his snowblower along the way.

Here's that conversation:


Here's how I found out Ryan was the guy with the snowblower:

I seriously have some pretty freakin' awesome friends!

 

Click here to see the origins of my awesome surprise birth present!

This was my first Facebook post on my 28th birthday:


I initially messaged my friend Tyler, who has an F250 with a snowplow but lives like 30-40 minutes from me. I told him I'd pay him to plow my driveway so my parents and I would not have to use shovels and the dinky snowblower I thought was broken. He said he'd be happy to do it, but was very busy at the moment. I REALLY DID NOT WANT TO SHOVEL SNOW ON MY BIRTHDAY!

Ryan, the same awesome neighbor who helped helped me install a touch-screen head unit and backup camera in my truck saw my status update. He and another neighbor headed over to my parents' house with their snowblowers. My parents called upstairs for me to come outside and help them clear the driveway. I grudgingly got up from my bed, but right when my parents were about to go outside, they realized that there were two guys with snowblowers outside! One had cleared the side of the driveway where my Tacoma was parked all the way up to my back bumper, and the other guy was clearing the sidewalk in front of our house. My dad recognized the other guy as one of neighbors in our development. However, even after approaching and thanking the mysterious two-man "Snowblower Brigade," my mom thought Ryan was our neighbor from across the street (the house with the black Durango and the white Jeep in the driveway).

My mom is glad she didn't go across the street to thank our neighbor!

Here's my second status update, posted minutes after my parents discovered the guys clearing our driveway:


Ryan lives right around the corner from our house, but isn't technically in our neighborhood because his house was built by a small, independent builder. Even though he's practically in our neighborhood, he is not subject to the rules and regulations of our neighborhood's HOA since his house was built by a different builder and thus not considered a part of the development (At times, I love and hate loopholes)!

Not longer after reading a response to my post from my friend Mike (who also has AS) about how he had to do a lot of the work clearing his parents' driveway, Ryan responded to the "Guardian Angel with a Snowblower" message. Here is my conversation with Mike:



Anyway, I found out about an hour ago that what my parents I thought was a hastily formed neighborhood-wide snowblower brigade of about 4 to 6 guys, was actually Ryan and another neighbor of mine. It turns out that Ryan had seen the above Facebook post, headed over to my parents' place with his snowblower, and grabbed the other neighbor and his snowblower along the way.

Here's that conversation:


Here's how I found out Ryan was the guy with the snowblower:

I seriously have some pretty freakin' awesome friends!

 

Looking out my Front Door Yesterday Afternoon

 

I don't have any pictures but I have 16" of snow at my house now.

 

On September 30, 2009 my dad traded a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4 with 113K miles for the Tacoma I have now. He got $2,300 for his trade.

Somebody took out a loan and bought our old Pathfinder on October 6, 2009.

The same shithead couldn't make the payments and the Pathfinder was repossessed on June 7, 2010.

The trail goes cold after July 2011.

WHO THE HELL FINANCES A 13-YEAR OLD SUV WITH 113K MILES? SERIOUSLY!?!?

 

Belated Happy Birthday to you man. 28 years old, hell I got work boots older than you lol

 

The neighbors car in the back sat during the storm. The stang in the drive and the drive were clean before bed. They say 20" the drifts were over my snowblower chute.
The Tacoma sits in the garage ready to play.

 

I recently moved, but my snowblower was still at my old house, so I drove there to clear that driveway and take the snowblower back home with me. It was definitely nasty out around 3pm:
Very quick dashcam clip: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRqHV5SFroS/

 

Cool story bro! Have you thought about adding to your thread titles that these stories all happened XX years ago when you were just a teen? Might help drive views and thread clicks! Just a thought...

Tyler

 

Actually this happened in November 2015 when I was 26. I didn't get my permit until I was 20 and my license until I was 22.

 

Asians.....
Texting....
Driving.....
Fuck that!
Why i never visit Irvine Cali!
Glad no one was seriously hurt

 

I think texting drivers are worse than drunk drivers!

 

With regards to your signature... Where did you find a Hot Wheels toy Tacoma?

 

At Puck on March 15, 2017...

 

March 15, 2017...

Actually managed to get myself stuck right outside my friend/boss's house!

Boss's neighbor (another friend of mine), who'd just had shoulder surgery came to my rescue. He got behind the wheel an I pushed my own truck out of the snow rut...

Before I got stuck:





At CVS a short time later:

 

32 inches Susquehanna pa

 

A friend of mine picked it up at a flea market I think. He buys/sells collectibles. It's made by "MotorMax"