My car is falling apart.

For the past couple of weeks, I have noticed that the engine was running loudly. My grandfather noted it before then. My dad says that this is a wheel bearing that needs replacement. I don’t know what a wheel bearing is.

The brakes are squealing again, and I know enough to know that this means that the brake pads probably need replacing again. I also know that the rotors probably should be shaven down, but they cannot because their diameter is too small already. I only know this because I remember the mechanic saying it the last time I had the brake pads replaced, about a year ago.

My car is leaking coolant again. It’s a very slow leak. This isn’t the first time. I bought some coolant to make sure that it was topped off so I wouldn’t overheat the engine, but other than that I don’t know what I can do with it.

And finally, for the second time in three trips to Florida, my air conditioning has gone out. I would say that this meant that I needed to change the freon, but I got freon after the other time it happened to me when I came down here. Therefore, I do not know the solution to this problem either.

The final analysis: my car needs to go into the shop, and I know nothing about cars.

I’ve taken a bit of a break from the site recently. I’ve been home, and yesterday I made the seven-and-a-half hour trip to Viera, Florida, where my sister and brother-in-law live.

Yesterday, I found out that my transcripts hadn’t reached Florida yet for some reason. I’ve spent the morning trying to get the situation rectified. Hopefully, it’s okay now.

What are the plans for me while I’m down here? I don’t really know. I do know that Brianna and Mike have an off day tomorrow, but they’ve got stuff to do. We’ll figure something out; it’s always fun down here in Florida.

I sent off the OU application today, as well as the check for my Florida State application. Tonight, I filled out the Texas A&M application online (complete with credit card payment option. Nothing to mail off; nice). So it’s all done now. Now all I can do is wait and see who’ll let me in and hopefully give me some money along the way.

The water line that leads to my grandparents’ washer and dryer will be fixed later on today. This is good news for someone who’s run out of socks.

The Florida application is out the door! The rest of them don’t have too far to go.

I got my semi-official GRE scores back today. I say semi-official because I can’t actually send a copy of them to the universities for my official scores, but at least two of them want a copy of them so they can start processing my transcript. Whatever. 🙂

Since I’ve gotten these back now, I should be able to send off most of the application material for all four schools this week. Then we play the waiting game.

This past weekend was very fun. Friday night, I hung out with Ricky and Tammy; I got to see their new computer (lucky dogs) and we played some NCAA. Good times. Although it’s pretty sad that we barely could beat UConn with Alabama…then again, it was the 2000 team… 🙂

Sunday, I went to a church in Trussville, and ran into Scott and Kelley Shirley, some Ozark Baptist friends who are now living in the area. I had lunch with them and got to see their nice new house. It was good to get to see them…

Added an insane thought. Imagine that…actual new content!

I went to Tuscaloosa yesterday to order some transcripts to send out to various universities. I decided to stick around and go to Discovery at the BCM that night.

I got to see a bunch of friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen since the bowl game, and some before that. It was fun seeing all the double-takes and hearing, “I thought that was your car out there!” Afterwards, Ginny, CYP, Bill, and I went to O’Charley’s. Good times…good times.

While at Discovery, I noted to myself that I really missed this aspect of college. It was nice to have a service like that in the middle of the week. Wherever I go, I hope that something like that exists.

I got the official GRE test preparation CD today; they apparently send it to everyone who registers for the test. Of course, I got it four days after I took the test, so its usefulness is somewhat limited. 🙂

When I was finishing up school last year, I thought that it would be so nice to have free time again. Time to not have anything to worry about in terms of tests and papers and projects and such. When 5 o’clock hit, I would be done for the day.

Now, I have come to learn that having too much free time is in many ways even worse than not having enough.

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