You were my Fiji
In celebration of the Two Year Anniversary of Me & My Car, today's Field Trip was to the DEQ. I have conflicting feelings about the DEQ.
On one hand, clean air! I like cleaner air! You can breathe, and the sky is clearer, and the water is cleaner, and people are happy! And the earth sings a little song of joy!
On the other hand, there's the nervous tension. Will my car pass? Crap. The car in front of me didn't pass. I bet mine won't either. I hope I don't burst into tears when they tell me. Oh please God, don't let me cry at the DEQ.
And the $75 fee.
I force myself to think happy, clean air thoughts. I write in my notebook while I wait, coffee-jittery hands clutching my pen. Note to self: healthfulness of oatmeal does not outweigh an overdose of caffeine. You will be jittery. You also might still think that going to Starbucks and using your gift card is a good idea. Make yourself come home and eat lunch first. Good girl.
In spite of having owned a car since I was sixteen, this is only my second trip to the DEQ ever. You might think, based on that sentence, that I have 1) rich parents who bought me a car and 2) parents who took the car to the DEQ for poor little unmechanical me. But you would be dead wrong.
My parents did buy me a car. That part is true. They spent approximately $200 on it. It was a '68 Dodge Coronet but deep down it was a Big Blue Boat. Being made before 1975, it did not need to pass DEQ. And I spent 6 blissful years driving it without ever encountering the DEQ. And then I grew up. And got a car made in my lifetime. (For the record, the goal with my next car is to have one that was made since I started driving - ie, since 1997.)
The features of my Big Blue Boat included, but were not limited to: an AM radio, wing windows, plastic seats, 2 doors, about 1,000 square feet of leg room, turn signal lights on the corners of the hood, a leaky gas tank, and a trunk that both leaked & could be napped on when shut. I was rear-ended twice and the only damage was a little paint scraped off. You could have killed someone with one of the doors. It looked the same dirty or clean.
Sometimes I see old cars driving down the street and I miss my boat.
Except when it's really hot and I'm driving around with the AC on and listening to a CD, a tape, or FM radio while using gas efficiently. In a car the passed the DEQ test.
On one hand, clean air! I like cleaner air! You can breathe, and the sky is clearer, and the water is cleaner, and people are happy! And the earth sings a little song of joy!
On the other hand, there's the nervous tension. Will my car pass? Crap. The car in front of me didn't pass. I bet mine won't either. I hope I don't burst into tears when they tell me. Oh please God, don't let me cry at the DEQ.
And the $75 fee.
I force myself to think happy, clean air thoughts. I write in my notebook while I wait, coffee-jittery hands clutching my pen. Note to self: healthfulness of oatmeal does not outweigh an overdose of caffeine. You will be jittery. You also might still think that going to Starbucks and using your gift card is a good idea. Make yourself come home and eat lunch first. Good girl.
In spite of having owned a car since I was sixteen, this is only my second trip to the DEQ ever. You might think, based on that sentence, that I have 1) rich parents who bought me a car and 2) parents who took the car to the DEQ for poor little unmechanical me. But you would be dead wrong.
My parents did buy me a car. That part is true. They spent approximately $200 on it. It was a '68 Dodge Coronet but deep down it was a Big Blue Boat. Being made before 1975, it did not need to pass DEQ. And I spent 6 blissful years driving it without ever encountering the DEQ. And then I grew up. And got a car made in my lifetime. (For the record, the goal with my next car is to have one that was made since I started driving - ie, since 1997.)
The features of my Big Blue Boat included, but were not limited to: an AM radio, wing windows, plastic seats, 2 doors, about 1,000 square feet of leg room, turn signal lights on the corners of the hood, a leaky gas tank, and a trunk that both leaked & could be napped on when shut. I was rear-ended twice and the only damage was a little paint scraped off. You could have killed someone with one of the doors. It looked the same dirty or clean.
Sometimes I see old cars driving down the street and I miss my boat.
Except when it's really hot and I'm driving around with the AC on and listening to a CD, a tape, or FM radio while using gas efficiently. In a car the passed the DEQ test.
posted by Jess at 1:52 PM
1 Comments:
I love hearing about people's first cars, especially old ones. I had a '74 Plymough Valiant. Beautiful burnt mustard color. Defrost and heat didn't work. Electical system was shot because the car leaked and I had a little pan in the back seat to bail it out with. Alternator kept going out. Had the car for 6 years! Everyone got out of the way of that car! One of those big airport vans scraped the side once, but not much damage. Finally sold the thing to my dad three years ago because I didn't want to pay to fix it and he totaled it in less than a week!
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