car troubles...

i've never been a conspiracy theorist. but i think i've found one that's true.

skip to after the ---- if you don't want the long story.

my green GMC sonoma was given to me as a hand me down from my father when i was 16. since my junior year of highschool i have loved this little truck. it's had it's share of close calls, battled a deer and won, gave me the sympathy needed to get 'warnings' instead of 'tickets', and had a bad experience with red slushy drinks in the passenger seat when i hit the brake too hard. it's a beautiful vehicle and i want all my vehicles to be just like this one.

when i received my truck in 2001, i was very grateful. my dad bought it new and had acquired around 125,000 miles on it. mentally, i told myself that i would care for this truck till it reached it's 200,000 landmark. at that point i would stop putting money into it, and when something happened that required a big fix, it would be time to get a new car.

as the miles crept closer and closer i got more and more excited to get to 200,000 miles. i imagined buying a bottle of champagne and putting it in my car. then whoever my destination was to see at 200,000 miles we would share in our joy, and drink to my green-hail-damaged friend. even if i was getting gas, then the gas attendant and i would share a glass of bubbly.

last weekend i drove to manhattan. at 199,554 miles on the odometer, my beautiful, magnificent, full of life vehicle, began to limp. true to my promise, i fixed it. a final last big fix before 200,000 miles.

the conspiracy comes in 2 forms. 1-if you make plans, something will challenge those plans at the last minute. i had a difficult time deciding whether to put these final big bucks into the vehicle or not. 2-if you take your car in for a quick tune up or oil change...you will have major problems directly after.

the sticker in the top left corner of my windshield said "next oil change 190,521 or 11/2009." when it turned "199,300" and it was "8/2010" i decided that i should probably take it in to change the oil. i had no problems with my beauty, but it was time to be safe. 1 week later and only 200 miles down the road i was calling AAA to get it towed.

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basically what happened to my car is that i took it to the dentist to get a cleaning after a LONG time of not seeing the dentist. 1 week after the dentist, my car cracked a tooth. it's just not right.

i'll still probably put that champagne in there. so invite me over if you want to be the big winner! probably sometime in the next 2 weeks.