And now I can pass out, happy in this fact

At 10AM this morning, mom knocked on my door, and asked me what I wanted to do today. We had dad home till 4PM--when we had to return him to Morgantown. I hadn't slept well. Had woken up in the early morning--when it was still dark and the house is still creepy and empty. So I was still dazed when mom woke me up. But I heard myself speak this one line:


"I want to go get my car"

And then I collapsed back in to bed.

You see, Monday started out pretty horrible. I slept in, and when I did wake up mom was bustling around the house and when she saw me, she smiled and said "Ok honey! today's your day!" and walked away. I was bewildered. Yes, it was supposed to be my day for car-shopping, but I didn't know what the parents wanted me to do, or frankly at all what I SHOULD do for this, my day.

After crying for about 3 minutes, I got to the phone and called Ohio Valley Honda. We had driven past them on the way to Steubenville, and mom's friend Debbie had bought her honda there, and was pleased. So I called, they were super friendly, and before I knew it I had seen many, many hondas. But one stood out in my head.

It was a little silver 1999 Civic, with high mileage. It had a CD player and power locks, but no power windows--this was the perfect configuration of power options for me, because I could give a shit about power windows, but I really was hoping for a CD player. They had just replaced the timing belt and the water pump--which dad informed me were the two typical things to go in a honda. It was in lovely condition (only a little scratch on the left rear bumper) and MOST importantly, was around 7,000 dollars--instead of 10,000 like the other hondas I'd been shown.

It just. . .endeared me somehow, but I didn't want to make a decision at the lot, so we went home. Of course, over the course of the evening and night, I just kindof clicked into the decision. I liked the car, and how the civics handled, and I could pay off the car in 4 years instead of 5.

So there I was speaking it without evening thinking about it on Tuesday morning. Dad wisely brought up the fact that I hadn't test-driven the car yet, and so I called up the guys and arranged a test drive. We hopped in the lil' car and zoomed around the interstate for a bit. I was really suprised to discover the brakes and accelleration on this car were much better than the one at Straub Honda's (the place with the scheistery guy). Everything was powerful, smooth, but still in my control. Dad tested the radio and the windshield wipers (without prior notice, while I was driving) and everything seemed to meet with his approval as well--although I thought the sales guy in the seat behind me had started speaking tongues, when in fact it was just 105.5 KISS FM.

The one problem we found was a small, but noticable "ding" in the windshield. Also the sales price on the car was much higher than what we had been offered yesterday. That sour, twisty feeling was growing in my stomach. I had been all set for this car, and now there were going to be problems.

Soooo, we went inside, sat down at the table, and brought up both issues. Turns out, no worries mate. The manager said if we were interested in the car he'd replace the windshield at no cost to us. And the price he gave us (the lower one) was the price he was offering us. The listed price was prior to our negotiation.

So baby, I signed the freaking papers, and once the windshield is replaced (likely before wednesday afternoon) I can drive my little baby home. And buy it air fresheners and make it mix CD's. And zoom all over creation with it. And this is what it looks like! :



Ok, so she's not ubersexxy or sleek or anything, but she really is endearing and lovely. A good, fun little car. I wanted to come up with a name for the car, but "the silver bullet" was too cliched for me. SO I'm thinking I'll go with "Lil' Klaive" in honor of my white wolf roots. I just can't shake the name. It may be geeky, but I care not.

It was a surreal day to be sure. Turns out July 22nd (the day I bought the car) may have been my real birthdate (according to mom, it was the day I was due to be born. . . but then I waited a week or so). So in a certain light I was crossing this milestone on my 22nd birthday.

Stay with me here. . . . How about this? My 22nd birthday on July 22? Also, my car is a '99, so it was born the year I graduated from highschool.

Ok, I 'm stretching the weirdness. The thing is, I just feel geniunely *good* about this car on a basic level. I'm taking it as a good thing, and trying to ignore the fact that the Chinese treat the number 2 as a bad number, meaning "death" in some sense. . .and I've got four 2's in a row. . . eeeek!!!