Well, the guy called yesterday at 12:30 in the afternoon.

I got my car- the transmission works well, everything seems okay.

Except, this morning, the "check engine" light came on as I was driving to work. I'm going to call the guy in a couple minutes - he wanted me to bring the car back in Monday for him to check the fluids - and see if I'm still okay to drive this weekend or if I need to take my Friday and go down there (dang, I hope it's okay to drive the 30 miles or so down there) and have him check it.

I cannot deal with much more. Do you hear me? Cannot. Deal. With. Much. More. I have to have a functional safe car next week or else I'm screwed for getting to my conference (and screwed as far as nonrefundable tickets go). I don't think I can ask my friend to loan me her little truck again, so I can drive it several hundred miles and then leave it somewhere not totally protected for two weeks.

There's also no time for me to just buy a stinking new car. Not in a week. Not with all the other stuff I have to do. And the "one way rental" option that Enterprise has only works if you live in a city.

I hate it that I now think of my car as a ticking time bomb, ready to crap out on me at unexpected times. What do I do if it dies on the way to Mineola? Or on the way back home? What if I'm stranded in Beyond Far East without a car?