Baby, you can drive my car.

Today, I experienced what could be called my first major vehicular breakdown. Which, considering the car's seven years old and I've had it for five, isn't too shabby, I don't think.

I was on my way to work today when all of a sudden the "Check Engine" light came on and with it, the car started decelerating. And it wouldn't pick back up. Which wouldn't have been half so terrifying if I hadn't been on the highway. So I put on my emergency flashers and pulled onto the median (which LUCKILY, there was one). I restarted the car and managed to get it to go, so I took it to a nearby mechanic, but they didn't want to fix it and sent me to a Chrysler dealership. NICE. 

So anyway, my Mom came and rescued me and very graciously allowed me to take her car to work (I was only two hours late, no big, right?) and she waited with my car. They told her what was wrong, and she told me, but I am the Village Idiot when it comes to cars (and mechanics/technology in general). My reaction is usually something like this:

Or, God forbid, if I try to partake in the conversation, it's more like:

 

Basically what I got out of it was this: there were major parts of my engine that were broken and needed replacing. My brake fluid was leaking something fierce, all my fluids were low, my valves were absolutely clogged, and something else that pretty terrible but I cannot recall what. The mechanics said it was a good thing the car started slowing down on its own or else the engine might've fallen out on the road. 

THAT CAN HAPPEN?!?

Anyway, it's gonna cost a pretty penny to fix, but here's the deal. In a panic this morning, I started looking at cars on Craigslist that were in my (very meager) budget, and almost all of them were from the 90's and over 100,000 miles. Mine has 65,000. So at this point, it's not logical for me to spend more money on a piece of crap when I have a decent car that I can still fix. 

However, I do know that the car will continue to have problems as it gets older and ultimately, I'll need a new one. I'm just glad that day wasn't today.