Flashes of Panic

Electrical project du jour: replacing halogen headlight bulbs in the car. I discovered that the driver’s side low-beam was burned out on Saturday evening; yesterday I looked up the bulb I needed in the manual (and confirmed that I could replace the bulb myself, and wouldn’t need to replace an entire sealed headlight assembly,) and this morning I was down at the parts place picking up two of them on my way to work. The instructions for the replacement remind me of the process for replacing bulbs in the stage lights, back in high school, including the oft-repeated cautions not to touch the bulb under any circumstances to avoid an early death for the poor little glowing tube. The difference is that the headlight bulbs cost about $7.50, and the whole assembly probably comes in under $100; I was instructed that if the stage lights fell, I was to break the fall with my body, because “we can replace you; we can’t replace the light.”

I’m doing both bulbs, on the theory that if one is burned out, the other must be pretty disgruntled with its lot by now.

Fun headlight fact: the one bulb has two filaments, to handle high beams and low beams respectively. This is why, when you click between the two, there is that brief interval of both high and low. (Or, more disconcertingly, neither.)

Now Playing: Reptile from Starfish by The Church