The Kia is dead. Long live the Kia.

A person's car is a unique object in the history of humanity.  It's terribly expensive but it only serves one purpose; to get us places faster and at a farther distance than our feet could travel.  The nicer and newer the car, the higher in social status we are perceived.  The type of car you have gives a brief (and perhaps incorrect) glimpse into the type of person you are.  Not only are cars expensive to initially purchase, but they could require financing and subsequent upkeep.  For the average person, it's next to only a house in cost and maintenance and equally ranked in terms of headaches and hassles.

Cars are meant to break, they are designed to last a certain time.  Cars are complex machines that are becoming more so as we discover new gadgets to cram inside.  In the span of a century, an automobile went from a hand-cranked engine barely able to haul two people around to massively powerful engines with computer brains smart enough to handle multiple driver settings, driving conditions and even satellite communication and self diagnostics.  The cars today are smarter than their drivers.

At least smarter than I am.  I didn't change my timing belt when I should have and it cost me.  It broke while I was driving with Tiger Lily.  The engine shut off and wouldn't start.  For those that don't know, when your timing belt breaks, if you are driving, the pistons and cylinder heads tend to smash into each other like they're trying to find the Higgs Boson.  So now my Kia is basically a collection of wires and metal framing around some chairs. I'm selling it for parts.

It's not entirely a horrible situation.  The car needed a lot of work, most of which I couldn't afford anyway.  At last check it needed new gaskets, shocks, brakes, HVAC blower motor, belts apparently, a quarter panel window and CV joints.  The cost to repair this new problem was more than the car was worth, not to mention the rest.  I'm able to carpool with Tiger Lily thankfully and ride my bike.  This will give me an opportunity to take this money I get for selling it, save monthly on car insurance and start saving for a new car in about a year and a half, if not longer.  Considering I can't save much per check, it's a good thing that happened.

Plus, it happened on a weekend near a parking lot.  If we hadn't taken my car then, I would have taken it to work on Monday and died in the middle of the highway.  So I guess fortune smiles on even the stupid and mechanically disinclined.

So in 18-24 months I should be getting a new car, maybe a Kia Soul.  Green.

Carry on.