On a Terrible Tuesday, Failed Car Inspection, and Voting

So the past few days have been tumultuous to say the least. Yesterday I had a whole list of things I was going to do; so many in fact, I had to actually categorize them by priority.
I woke up Tuesday morning, got dressed and was determined to do two things: get my car inspected, and vote. So first I decided to get my car inspected. I walk in, and of course it smells heavily of automobile oil and cigarettes. I stood there for a moment to let the man who, obviously not caring whatsoever about my presence continue to ignore me and talk to his friend. Finally, he finished his conversation and shortly asked me how I could be helped. I said I needed to get my car inspected and he said okay leave your keys right there and have a seat. So I walked over to the couch and sat down. I proceeded then to wait, and wait, and wait for over an hour and a half at which time he finally came back and told me that my car had FAILED and listed four reasons why. He “recommended” I get them fixed there (hmph, yeah right) and told me it would be a little over $400 dollars to do all of the work. For those of you who don’t know, I drive a 2007 Suzuki Forenza. How in the world could my car be in such bad shape in three years? Since my grandpa passed away, we’ve had to deal a lot with these issues on our own. Before,since he worked at a car dealership, he would just inspect it himself and, obviously, approve it. Now that he is gone we have to deal get the problems fixed by oppertunistic mechanics whos main goal is to rip you off and get your money.

So of course, when I was pulling out I broke down crying and called the only person who always tells me what I want to hear: Nanaw. When I talk to Nanaw (my grandmother) she always tries to help and offer good advice and she makes me feel better. My grandmother, just like most, likes to be needed and is very good at making sure we are taken care of, even though we are 21 and not babies anymore. Unfortunately however she didn’t answer the phone, so I called Justin and talked to him which made me feel much better. It wasn’t until I posted my dilemma on facebook that I really began feeling better; I talked to Justin’s sister Sonya and my brother in law Spank and they both just said to bring it to Laurinburg and it would pass. So now that worry is gone and I can’t wait to get that over with.


Not only did my car fail inspection, my voting place changed because I moved five minutes from my old house and me and Brittanie had to go all the way to Jamestown NC to vote. We drove almost twenty minutes—now what other people do you know of our age that would have done that? Not many. But I knew it was important. Unfortunately we lost the House to the Republicans but the wonderful thing about a Democracy is that because we have faith in the legitimacy of our process, we have hope that in 6 years (and 4 years) we know we can vote again, so all hope is not lost, especially when they only won the House and picked up a few seats in the Senate. The most disheartening news of it all was not that the tea baggers won so many seats in the House though; what was really sad was that less than 5 percent of African Americans voted yesterday. If you only knew the history of what black people went through to vote, you would not hesitate to exercise the right that many died for. During slavery, of course slaves were prohibited from voting, and although they "technically" received the right to vote with the passage of teh 15th Amendment in 1870 afterwards many blacks were still beaten, intimidated, lynched and brutaliy murdered by vigilante groups for attempting to vote. The real protected right to vote for blacks did not come in this country unil NINTEEN SIXTY FIVE!! (1965) after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The fact that we take that freedom for grated today is really sad. The only way anything is ever going to change for minorities in this country is if we make our voices heard and elect the right people. As long as so many of us (95%) sit back and let others speak for us, our needs will never be met. A lot of people think their vote doesn't count but if they knew the facts they would know that THEIR VOTE DOES COUNT and the only way an official can get elected is if we vote for them; that was proven with the election of Barack Obama-- had it not been for the minority and youth vote, it never would have been possible. Okay I'm done ranting about voting.

Anyway last night I had a good night watching the returns and hanging with my sister Brittanie. We took Freddy to campus for a night walk around campus, went to Food lion to get some groceries, and then came back to watch the election results and eat Ramen. I was really glad she came over and we laughed and just “talked junk” all night lol. Good times.

Side note: I really think when I graduate, I will miss UNCG. It is such a beautiful school and the professors are really great. People in my town (including myself before I came) have the misconception that UNCG is easy or not a good school; but it really really really is underrated as a public university and I’ve grown to love it. I stayed up late nights studying and watched plenty of people fail out. It definitely isn’t an easy school and I wish it got the credit it deserved. But like I said, I think I will really miss my undergraduate university and this experience has been a great one.
P.S Of late I find myself having Beiber fever and being obsessed with watching the Kardashians….something has to give!

Later