"Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy."

The Movie: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, 1984 (Earl Mac Rauch, screenwriter; W. D. Richter, director)
Who says it: John Lithgow as Dr. Emilio Lizardo, a mad scientist
The context: Dr. Lizardo warns the attendant at the mental hospital where he's confined.
How you can use it: When people aren't taking you seriously enough.

I'm rushing around this morning because I'm leaving for Washington, D.C. this morning, and Jen is coming to pick Dizzy and me up in about three hours.

Why, you ask, can I not drive myself to the Portland Jetport, dropping Dizzy off along the way? Ha, ha! Because it's been more than a year since my last major car trauma, and I was overdue.

Last Friday, driving up to Gardiner from Freeport, I noticed an ominous clunking sound from my engine. Jen was in the car with me, so we pulled off to the nearest gas station and added two quarts of oil to the engine -- which mystified me, because it hadn't been very long since my last oil change, and I hadn't seen any leaks.

The clunking sound improved, but didn't go away -- so I brought the car in yesterday morning, and discovered that the engine had actually slipped off one of its mounts, and was partially resting on the car's front axle. No wonder it was clunking. The mechanic's theory is that the engine mount had been loosened during one of the accident or repair adventures of 2004-05, and the recent crop of frost heaves knocked it off completely.

Remarkably, this will not be as expensive to repair as I'd feared; a week and $500 from now, my car will be as good as new. Again.