Aaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Well, I was going to do a good news/bad news kind of saga, but really it's primarily just bad news. It just had that good news/bad news quality to it up to the breaking point.

Basically what I'm talking about is my Monday, my car, and my computer.

Here's the spiel:

1. The Car. First, it looked like the torque converter seal, which was leaking, was the fault of the person who dropped the engine into the car not sealing it correctly. But he wanted no part of making it right. So I told the transmission place to go ahead and fix the leak, and my mother and stepfather were going to seek small claims satisfaction. Then I got a call last night saying the guy had been by and would make it right, so I had to call the transmission company early this morning to see if they'd started yet (they didn't think they'd get to it until today) and lo, they had already started, so we were going to let them finish up the repair and go from there. Then I got a call saying my ball joint was about to blow. This is the part of the car that if it breaks, your steering goes fakakta and you have an accident. That was a hundred dollars. Fine, I have a hundred dollars, I tell them to fix that. Then they get into the nuts and bolts (figuratively and probably literally as well) of looking at the transmission. The seal was bad, nothing that the guy probably did, and the whole kit and kaboodle needs to be rebuilt to the tune of $1575.
   
   Aaaaaagggggghhhhhh!!!
   
   So I try to get a hold of my parents, but can't, and I look over my finances, and I ask the guy some questions, like do they take payments (they do), what about getting a junk tranmission, etc., etc. I have to come up with $800 and then can work out payments, and if I am a teensy bit late with my rent, I can do roughly $600 of it, although times will be tight. I have a coupon for $100 off the work, too. Soon I should be getting $500 in tax refunds, so that will help, but of course I can't tell when that will arrive. But it looks tenable, so I go ahead and okay the rebuild.
   
   
2. My Monday. I got a message the other day saying I had a podiatry appointment at 9:15 this morning, so I'd told my boss I'd be in at 11 and why. Then I look in my appointment book and it turns out the computer voice was wrong, I made the appointment for 3:45 this afternoon, so I go my normal time to catch the bus, but miss it and have to catch the next one, putting me at the time I'd originally arranged to be at work, but for the wrong reason. So I'm going to work a little later today and then catch the bus for the 3:45 appointment and be slightly late. [PS I found that the buses run every thirty minutes during that window, so I was able to arrive early after all. The one good thing of the day is my feet are better and I have leave of the podiatrist unless anything else comes up.]
   
   
3. My computer. The computer is shutting itself off for no apparent reason, not completely but into a sleep mode or something (as in the lights stay on, but there's no movement or sound coming from the box) and you have to turn it off and turn it back on to wake it up. This has led to several check disk runs, a few restarts of Windows in safe mode, repair of the registry and indices on the disk, etc. It does not appear to be a virus, although I haven't completely been able to run a virus check on the whole disk, or a spyware one, either. Any ideas???
   

I think it comes down to I'm just cursed, and I should do everything in my power to placate the forces that be. Please forces that be, I'm sorry. For everything.