#suck it shady automotive shop who thought I couldn't tell what a spark plug was

[chronal-anomaly]

viva la ford fucking ranger

Okay hi some irl stuff below

I've been lurking for a little while while I get my head screwed back on straight. It has been a WEEK.

So on Easter, I was driving across the state heading back to school when my truck started shaking, making a horrible racket and the check engine light came on. Now, it's an old truck ('03 ford ranger), so it's not the first time this has happened. I managed to limp it to a local auto shop that was open, they read the codes, and spat back error in the cylinder. At first, I believed it to be a simple fix, likely the coil pack or the spark plugs I replaced last summer failed, no biggie.

Unfortunately, it was catastrophic engine failure. The truck's totaled.

Which is too bad, because that truck has been closer than some of my family these past 6 years. I've personally rebuilt a lot of it - it's what got me interested in working on cars. It's taken me across the state, into other states, through 2 years of high school, 4 years of undergrad, and a year of grad school. With 250k miles on it, I wish I could say I was surprised, but she was a good old beast. There's potential for fixing it, but it depends on how much time, energy and money I want to put into doing a total 1-1 motor swap on it. Not the point, but it's a potential.

That then snowballed into a dozen of other bad days. I was borrowing a car for the time being ( again, being 300 miles away from any family or loved ones, I needed a car ), that then was towed because I didn't have a parking pass on it for one night. I had a lamp crash down on my head and shatter glass everywhere. I have exams, and final projects, and patient discharge reports. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong this past week, did.

The good new is, life is starting to finally stable out. My exams are next week, then I have a week off before the summer semester starts. I landed my fall internship. My research projects are starting to take off. And I'm about to make it through my first year of grad school!!!

Anyway, my point of writing this is to kinda screw my head back on straight, and provide little updates about where I've been. Ultimately, I'm safe, my loved ones are safe, and I had to say goodbye to a good, good car. It seems silly to be emotional over a car, but I am, and it's been a weird mourning process. Giving myself lots of grace lately. I may consider doing writing commissions to help pay for towing/auto shops/literally everything else, so keep an eye out for that.

Love you all. Take care of yourself. I'll be around a little bit here and on discord, come chat with me about your muse and your day.