You Need An Oil Change

So last weekend...at least I think it was last weekend (time blurs together so), one of my friends ended up having to buy a new car.
As their engine went kaput. :S Not fun.

And the main cause, from my understanding, was neglecting their check oil light? I think was what it was.

Which :S :S :S
I remember having a pretty close call with that back in college.
Probably my...third year there? As I didn't have a car before that point lol.

And like my car began making these weird sounds and I had no idea why.
And someone was like "Uh...you probably need to get more oil into your car that's why, when did you last do an oil change?"

....at that point was I was new enough to car maintenance that I was like O.o??? I gotta do that?

So yah.
Saved my car in the nick of time with that particular adventure. ^^;; lol. 

In any case.
Hearing about my friend's car troubles.
Reminded me that I probably should get my oil changed.

As you're supposed to do that like every 3 months or every 3,000 miles right?

Yah....I last got my oil changed in May. 
It's now January. Nearly February. 

Y_Y;;; Yah...I'm a horrible person for waiting so long.

Part of it was because my last experience at the Jiffy Lube ended up being like....semi awkward??
And the best way to deal with awkward things is to like....avoid the chance of them ever occurring again.

And since the Jiffy Lube I'd gone to was the one closest to my work....
I didn't want to go to that one again any time soon.

Even though there's probably at least 10 jiffy lubes located between my work and my home that I could go to....I just kept putting it off.

And then it was the serious of cases of:
Oh I don't feel well. I'm going home.
Oh the weather is bad I don't want to go today.
I need to do another errand first.
I'm going on vacation I won't be around for a bit.
Or hey...I don't really want to spend the $$ on the oil change currently as I'm trying to save money this week.

And before you know it like 9 months have passed. ^^;; 

In any case, hearing my friend's problems I was like "I should probably go get an oil change" 

But I didn't.
And then like...I think it was Friday? Maybe even earlier in the week last week.
Out of the blue my VP manager was like "Sarnic, how's your car?! You keeping up on the maintenance? You do an oil change recently?"

Uh....No? 

Because I'm still in that "pay off christmas mode" lol so I'm trying to not spend money until I get my credit card bill down lower. 

-Of course when you're trying to get it lower that's when everything happens that makes you spend money and it ends up staying higher than you want it to be. *shakes head*

In any case.

I was like...okay I should get an oil change soon.

But since I was going to be up north this past weekend...i didn't really have time...or again the money to get it done.

But then while I was up north.
I was like...Okay I have to drive up north like twice this week which is a lot to ask of my car so I should probably get an oil change done before I head back up.

Which would mean getting it done today.

Only I was like okay I need to get food shopping done sometime this week.
And I was wanting to buy fish today too.
But you only want to buy fish when you're planning to head straight home. And I had already delayed buying fish from Friday when it got too busy for me to catch my fish before I was off.

And then like....I started not feeling well.
Tight chest, achy/sore throat. So like...oh goodie a cold. I should probably head home.


So yah.
I was like...should I do an oil change today?? or wait until like maybe Wednesday and do it then? 

I ended up deciding at work to not go get the oil change today. Instead I would focus on a) buying the fish I wanted and b) getting like a jamba juice to hopefully help head off the potential cold I could feel coming on.

-Potential cold because it could just be a reaction to how much dust I kicked up over the weekend helping Daddoo clean out a bit more of the house. 

And I'd bought my fish.
And was heading over to the Jamba Juice to get my drink.

When my car started doing weird things.

Like...shaking harder than normal when I was sitting still at the light.
Or an odd rattling coming from the back of the car. 

And like...it could be a reaction just to the cold or something. As my car is like 20 years old. so it's old. It's feeling it's age. It could just be complaining about being driven around after driving around in the rain yesterday.

But it had me worried enough to well...worry.
Because I'd gotten multiple like...signs? That I should probably get my oil changed.
And to have my car making weird sounds now when it wasn't earlier?

Yah.
Despite having my fish with me and a fresh jamba juice.

I drove the two blocks from the jamba juice to the next Jiffy Lube -the other one I usually use if I can't get to the first one that I've been avoiding for the past 9 months- 

And got my oil changed.
^^;;
Lol. Spent money I didn't really want to spend currently.
but at least I have a little bit more piece of mind that the oil shouldn't cause an issue with my car anytime soon.

However.
The workers there brought up a couple of issues that I will probably need to go get check out by a mechanic.

Which is that my belts are really worn down.
Which if those break...that could be bad.

And then like the 'Master Cylinder" is leaking?? Which from what they told me is a part of the car that connects with my brake system....and like if it's leaking that means air bubbles could get into the fluid lines of the brakes and that could...well cause my breaks to go out. But that I shouldn't need to worry unless my brakes are getting 'squishy'

Like I was like "Okay how bad is that?" 
And the people there were like "...well....." and went into a long rambling explanation that didn't tell me what I needed to know.
'How bad is it" should be a "Well you should probably get it fixed in the next week, the next month, before the next oil change." I need a timeline so I know how to budget for this potential thing I might need to fix.

*exhales* So that was a bit frustrating.

In any case....it looks like I need to get my car to a mechanic sooner rather than later to get the belts and this master cylinder looked at. 
Mostly because I want a second opinion on 'how bad it is'
However, because the only mechanic I trust is up North in HomeTown....
It's not like I can go there tomorrow and have my car looked at.

I mean technically I could because I will be up that way tomorrow.
But after working a full shift and driving up to the dentist....I doubt I'll get done in time for them to look at it tomorrow as I'd be reaching them near closing time. 
Which would mean I would have to leave my car over night....and I can't exactly do that when I have work Wednesday morning. *shakes head*
So I'll have to wait until I can actually drop off my car and have them hopefully fix it within the day.
And if they can't, at least I'll have access to other cars to borrow hopefully. 

So yah.
It's complicated.

But hey.
I got my oil changed. ^^;; 

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi