Yes, I've just endured a most horrible week, it was so awful, that I am telling you this in my special journal...THE WEEK FROM HELL!!! It consists of several failures and horrible things that will have horrible repercussions throughout the summer and into the fall. However, as upset as I may sound about it all, just keep in mind I realize this all is very fleeting, and I am so wonderfully blessed to have the opportunities I have to deal with my petty problems, and that I thank God everyday that things are not as bad as they can be. Now...my week of HELL...

It all started on Car Day. I was sitting in work on Saturday and I started to think about my shitty car. So many things to get fixed on that car...why not fix it? I called up my dad and asked him to get some credit card information for car repairs and decided that the next Tuesday would be Car Day...a day when I will do everything I need to do for the car so that I will ensure that for a long time it will be running properly...not only that, I would be creating valuable credit, which would have future benefits itself. Tuesday morning came, and I took my car to Premier Auto Care Center to have several things fixed and checked out. I asked to have the belts adjusted, the muffler replaced, the brakes fixed, and the fluids topped off. Premier did an EXCELLENT job, everything works like a DREAM...and the bill certainly reflected that. Almost $900, that's horrible! I will be working for a very long time to pay that back...but I was determined I could do it. Confident that my car was repaired, I ventured out the next day to renew my tag for the car, a very responsible thing to do, I must say. Thats when the horrible things began to happen...

After getting my new tag, I went back to the car to start it...I turned the key and..."Vrrrrrrrrr.... Vrrrrrrrrr..."...a brief moment of silence..."Ok....what the hell?" I JUST HAD THE CAR FIXED! Why is it not working? This is horrible! I tried several times to start it and finally broke down and asked a passerby for a jump start. This is when I made my costly mistake. When I connected the jumper cables to the car, I put RED on BLACK and BLACK on RED...NOT BECAUSE I'M COLOR BLIND, but because the black disk on my battery was so dirty that it was beginning to look red and I made the mistake. At this point, the Mazda became unresponsive...everything seemed not to work in the car...the jump start failed and I called to have to car towed. I towed it to Premier to have it checked out. I was very unsure what was wrong with the car, I had just had the alternator replaced a few months earlier. I have had similar problems like this in the past with the car that were related to the alternator, but that was supposedly fixed, right? They checked out the car quickly and said...yes, it was the alternator, and they gave me an estimate on how much it would cost to have that fixed. Of course I refused the service, knowing that I still had a warranty over at Big 10. I drove the car that way, and when I was turning into the lot, I noticed a very strange thing. The turn signal wouldn't work. "Ok..." What the Hell!?! I have never had problems with the turn signal, why now? I left it at Big 10 over night and they determined that I had a good alternator and that they had no idea what was wrong with the lights in the car. I took the Mazda home, hoping that maybe it was just a few fuses...

After talking to my dad (who was not AT ALL helpful), I decided to take the car back to Premier to have the few electrical problems worked out. It turned out that not only didn't my turn signals work, but the lights, horn, dome light, radio, clock, brake lights didn't work as well. They had a diagnostic on it and that was another hundred to have most of these problems fixed EXCEPT the radio...THE RADIO!!! MY LIFE BLOOD! I was doomed to silence while driving. They suggested that maybe a fuse was blown inside the unit, and I may have to buy a new car stereo. This was the very bottom of my misery. I went to work that day, the whole day as a cashier...6 hours...feeling miserable and so hopeless, it was so awful. I drove home, in silence, and found that my computer TOO was failing and I would have to send it away to California to be repaired. I was so miserable...consumed with mounting debt, more car problems...and I still hadn't figured out why the car malfunctioned in the first place. Thankfully, hope came the following day.

I woke up early Sunday morning and went to Best Buy to have my car stereo looked at. THANK GOD for just $20 they fixed the radio, dome light, AND the clock, I was restored and thought I was out of the woods...I wasn't. Why wouldn't my car start in the first place? I would certainly find out. That afternoon, while I was driving to work, my car started to die. I was really freaked out about it, and carefully made it to work without dying on the side of the road. After I got out for the night, I was not surprised when my car wouldn't start. I had my mom come and jump it for me and make sure I got home alright. I was now at the same place I was at after I had my tag renewed...something was wrong, my battery was dying and I didn't know why. I ventured out Monday to figure it all out. Since I had had similar problems like this that were attributed to my alternator, I decided to take it to Big 10. They told me, again, that the alternator was fine, but my battery was bad. I then ventured to Auto Zone to get the battery replaced, as per my warranty there. They replaced the battery and tested my alternator, determining that my alternator was bad. I went back to Big 10, telling them that I've had two different shops saying my alternator was bad, and they finally caved and agreed. I had the alternator replaced, and thank the lord, was returned my car today. As far as I can tell, no more car problems.

So, how was my week of hell? It was horrible and I have a $1000+ bill to work off. Once again, I really feel this is not that bad and that I'm really blessed to even have a chance at paying all this back. I just pray that my car will be fine as long as I'm responsible with it and also that I remain in my good luck. Sigh, hopefully this car SHIT is over now...