My Four-Wheel Friend

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I think George Strait spoke straight to my heart when he sang the lyrics:

 And I said, well I got a car, she said, there's something 

At least it's a start, I said, it's better than nothing 

The happiest memory I have of my car wasn’t when my parents told me it was mine. It wasn’t the first time I got behind the wheel by myself and drove in no particular direction simply because I could. It wasn’t even the time it got me to my first real job on time, though all of these are pretty fond memories for an inanimate object.

Nope, the happiest memory I have of my car was when John first drove her. For hours through flat land, past signs saying Leaving Texas and Welcome to New Mexico. It was knowing that my car was reliable enough, safe enough, to make that impromptu drive. It was the fact that my car gave me the ability to have fun. It was the fact that my car became a sanctuary of sorts, a place to discover the world with someone else. A place to get to know each other without stopping, listening to the radio, yelling and singing over the sound of the wind rushing past the open windows.

Though John and I had hung out together before that drive, I think of it as the start of everything between us. It pushed us past the awkward first-dating stages. It showed that we were both adaptable, spontaneous, and as it turns out resourceful enough to find our way back home even when our money didn’t last as long as we expected.

And it was completely, totally possible because of Tina.

Tina, my 1997 Toyota Camry. With her cracked windshield, her bumper that is a slightly different color than the rest of her, and her dirty, dirty interior. She might not be the shiniest car on the lot but she’s always been dependable.

It’s not a coincidence either. Because my car means so much to me, I know that I have to take good care of her. I make getting her oil changed regularly a top priority because I know it’s one of the easiest things I can do to keep her - keeping on.

   

I find that Walmart’s Auto Care Center is the perfect place to do that. Not only can I take my car to get its regular maintenance but while the ACC workers are doing their thing, I can do mine. I can go grocery shopping, book-browse, or buy things to make Tina shine a little brighter and smell a little better.

Choosing which scent I want Tina to smell like (new car or cherry) can be an hour long process. Choosing which oil I want in her is a no-brainer because it’s always Quaker State. My personal choice is the Advanced Durability bottle (green). It’s tough enough for all the driving I do and really puts up with the different temperatures we can go through in a matter of days here. Of course if you need something a little different you can always try out Ultimate Durability or Defy for those of you who drive to the moon and back. Whichever you choose, I’m sure that you and your car will love it.

 
People who don’t know me and see Tina as a little beat-up-granny-car may ask if I’m sure she’ll get us where we need to go and I just tell them in the words of George Strait:

If there's one thing I know girl, it's gotten us this far  

So what is your favorite car story? What tips or tricks do you have for keeping your car in tip-top shape?Visit Quaker State to see other blogger’s tips, tricks, and memories involving their favorite four-wheeled friend.

Robert Earl Keen

Last week, John and I went to see one of my favorite country/folk singers: Robert Earl Keen.

I've been a fan of his ever since my friend J introduced me to him. I've seen REK one other time at the Majestic when he did his Christmas show. When I saw on Facebook that REK was going to be coming down to do a concert to celebrate his 20th Anniversary of No. 2 Live Dinner, I wanted to go.

Luckily John wanted to go with me so we bought our tickets & headed to Floore's Country Store in Helotes, TX. (Which is actually just right outside of San Antonio.) Floore's is a country music venue and restaurant. When John & I both lived on that side of town neither one of us was into that kind of music so neither one of us had been there.

We were actually surprised by how big the outdoor space was. The stage was big and they had 3 different beer booths going along with a port-a-potty section away from the main area. The show was general audience which meant we had to stand but Floore's has a VIP section with tables & chairs and waitresses to order food from.

We didn't eat anything but we did have a beer or two.

I had his beer which was a honey pils. It was pretty good actually and it is made here in Texas.

The first band was Cody Canada and the Departed which was a band I had never heard before. They were pretty good. The second band was Reckless Kelly. I liked them a lot. I'd heard their music on Pandora before.

Finally, it was time for REK to come out. By that time, a lot more people had showed up. We were pretty far towards the back but the music was good, the crowd was happy, and it was a really fun show.

Because the show was a 20th Anniversary tribute, REK brought some special guests to help him sing along: including Lyle Lovett, Cory Morrow, Bruce Robison, and Joe Ely.

It was such a fun show. I'm glad that I got to see it. Even if for the most part all I could see was the back of people's heads.

What shows/concerts have you been to this summer? Any that just really blew you away?

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Major Dilemma

In my last post I talk about Why I Decided to Go Back to School. In this here post, I'm going to talk about the problems I had when it comes to choosing a major and what I ended up settling on.


I transferred to so many schools during my college years that it became a problem. I was "required" to take this course, then this one, oh that one from that other school didn't count - you have to take our version.

When that happens, you end up with a lot of "elective" classes. These are classes that at one point in time were part of your major or were required for a specific school but actually end up being nothing more than electives at another. I have so many of these.


It got to the point where I went to see an advisor and I was like "Please dear glob, tell me what I can do to get out of here the quickest way possible." And the nice lady said "Psychology".


So that ladies and gentleman is how my major was chosen. I was at one point an English major with a minor in Psychology. But, since I had taken so many psychology courses already it was to my advantage to continue on that path.

Which, all things considered is pretty cool. I mean, I like learning about the mind and how people think. Psychology is fascinating because it seems that we are constantly learning new things about it. There are treatments available now that were not even conceived of a few years ago.

Plus there are so many elements to psychology that it never gets boring. There are any number of different ways you can learn to incorporate it into your life.

Right now I am taking two classes: Cognitive Psychology & Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal is definitely the more interesting one. It may seem kind of weird and morbid to focus on mental illnesses, especially those "weird" or "scary" ones that we see played out on TV & movies. But without proper diagnoses and treatments people who are normal but living with mental illnesses might still be chained to metal beds and getting electro-shock treatment for reasons that aren't even valid.


In my Cognitive Psyc class we're learning about how the brain makes decisions & the time it takes to make them. It's fascinating to learn that things you do every day become so ingrained in our minds that we don't have to think about doing them. Which seems like a very "duh, Val" thing to say but think of ALL the things you do on a daily basis that you're not constantly focusing on.

We just did a little makeshift experiment in class that had to do with this.

So anyway, that's what I'm learning right now. It's fun and I don't even mind reading the lengthy chapters but after being out of school for years it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things.

That, however, is for the next post.

What was one of your favorite classes? What is something you still remember from a high school or college class? If you could teach a class, what subject would you teach?

Why I Decided to Go Back To School

I can be a pretty prideful person. So I just want to get this out of the way first.

What I said in my post The College Dilemma is true. There are a lot of things wrong with our higher education system. So many that I'm not going to rehash them here, but let me just say that even though those things are true, things aren't always black and white. Besides sometimes you need to do what everyone else is doing to get ahead in this world and for most, going to college is one of them.

Which is why I enrolled (yet again) into college. Yay?

I know that I should be happy that I'm "bettering" myself and that I'm doing what I should have finished a while ago but I've had such horrible experiences that it's taking me a while to adjust.

So why did I decide to go back?

There were two main reasons and the first is pretty shallow:


Money
Though I'm making some money now, we're still not at the point where we can save any significant amount. It only takes a quick peek through Indeed to see that most companies require a Bachelor's degree for even the simplest of tasks. What I do now usually requires a Bachelor's degree - I was just lucky that my other experiences stood out enough to even get an interview. So I know that if I want to do something else, I need that stupid little piece of paper.


New Career Path
I think I've said before that I get bored pretty quickly. There are some things that can hold my interest for a while (Netflix, books, food) but the jobs I've had haven't really been one of them. I think it has to do with the fact that I love learning new things and I want for each and every day to be different. Though I like my job currently, it's definitely not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.

John actually gave me the push I needed to go back to school. He had enrolled in the fall semester and I decided that going back to school was something that I needed to do too. I figured that it would be fun if we both go together. We're not at the same school but at least we'll both have homework to do and tests to take. It may sound totally lame but I think it will be fun sharing this experience with him since we didn't get that chance earlier in life (the way most people do).


So, that's that. I need 10 more classes to get my degree...even though I have enough credits. It's really the stupidest thing but whatever. I'm taking two classes this semester and hopefully I'll be able to graduate in a year...or so.

Wish me luck! I'm still having negative thoughts.

Did you graduate college? What did you major in? Are you currently enrolled or just doing the work thing? I want to hear all about it!