From the mechanic:

Hole in top of muffler.
Strap holding muffler on broken.
Exhaust system in need of replacement. Estimated cost: $350.

Spark plug 4 not firing, gummed up w/oil. Estimated cost of replacing all four: $50.
In need of oil change. Estimated cost: $25. (This I knew about.)

The exhaust system is going to have to wait until I've paid at least SOME of my tuition. I'm replacing the sparks and changing the oil. I don't need the car while I'm in Canada, and I can live with waiting a bit after that.

WtHiT?, Week Two

Good afternoon, and welcome to this week's edition of What the Hell is This?. Today's selection of products from the snack food aisles of Top Quality Food Market was originally slated to include White Rabbit, an apparently lactose-based candy from Team China; unfortunately an examination of the label proved it to be sugar, sugar in a different form, butter, and maybe one other milk product. Being insufficiently unusual for the terms of the competition - White Rabbit is obviously based far more on sugar than it is on milk and is therefore at least somewhat comprehensible* - Team China was disqualified this week.

Not that it matters; Team Korea scored a stunning upset by provoking an outright exclamation of 'what the hell is this?!'. The product appeared to be vacuum-sealed black tapioca pearls of somewhat larger than normal size. Upon inspection it turned out to be preserved quail eggs, the second smallest size. As I had no plans of spending my money on anything I wouldn't eat, I didn't buy it, but for catching me that flat footed, Team Korea wins outright.

Team Japan's three entries did respectably well, with pride of place going to something I don't even have a name for. Originally I thought this was a Team China entry, given that the only use of the Roman alphabet on the front of the package were the words TAIWAN BEER across a can in the photograph, but this product is definitely Japanese. I think it's supposed to be some kind of beer-nut analogue. It's... beans, mostly - flat, dried beans, crusted in salt and something else and a good deal of spice. It's also got dried shrimp in. I saw them in the photograph, but given the experience with the lack of icing on the green puffy things that won last week, I assumed they were there to indicate shrimp flavour. Nope. Actual shrimp, about an inch long each, and... hell, this one's still got its head on. I cannot vouch for the taste of the shrimp, but the beans aren't bad if you're into spicy crunchy. This came close to beating the Team Korea entry in that I actually turned it over five or six times, thinking 'what the hell is this?' while I looked for a name, but since I was willing to spend money on it and eat it, the Koreans won outright. Bonus points for three inches' worth of Engrish on the label. ('The package adopts Oxygen Absorber to guarantee fresh flavour and nourishment of products. . . the Oxygen Absorber of small bag is forbidden to eat too.')

Second place: Gravel Choco Strawberry. It looks like rocks. It comes in a lurid pink bag printed with 'Watch out! Try to eat!! It's nice, isn't it !?', and has a giant thumbs-down between the words Gravel and Choco. I mean, how could I say no? The product actually looks like medium-sized aquarium gravel and should not be given to small children, on the grounds that they might choke or possibly go on to attempt to eat a fistful of the fishes' gravel. This product is just begging to be used in someone's cruel and evil trick. Still, the chocolate's not too bad - I wish I could remember the candy it reminds me of, it's not M&M's - and t he strawberry flavour is a nicely surreal touch to the fact that you're chewing on pretend rocks.

Third place goes to Glico Corp's Collon, in this case cream flavour. Haven't opened it yet. Looks rather like Combos pretzel nuggets, only with a thinner layer of crispy stuff. THis package is apparently part of some kind of contest sponsored by a company named Eurobe@r**. Hell if I know what the prize is, there's the number 10,000 on the label. Be a mite embarrassing if it's an instant win thing and I couldn't read the note saying I won, but I'll let you know if anything comes up when I finally open it.

Think I'm gonna try some of those scary beans again. According to the package, 'it is advisable for you to try to eat the food at one time after you have opened the package'.

*I still don't see how you get away with milky candy in China, but this isn't all that milky.

**I can't type this name properly. THe first letter is the Euro symbol.