Being a human in this day in age, we are dealt with inconveniences. For lack of better words, “everyday, there’s always something”. Whether you show up to a Tax Preparation office without your essential documents, deal with the screen lifting up from a corner of your smartphone, arrange time to meal prep to cut down spending costs, or break your clutch pedal bracket in your daily driver with a manual transmission, having car problems really sucks. In just one week of March, these inconveniences happened to me. After an endless loop of considering all the of the possible solutions and dealing with uncertainty regarding my car, I relieved to say MY CAR IS FIXED! Phew…

The thumbnail of this blog post is a picture of my damaged clutch pedal bracket. What had happened was: me and wifey were on our way to our appointment. My clutch pedal has been clunking every time I depress the clutch pedal for a week prior to this. I depress the clutch, go into 1st gear, exit the garage, and pull up to a stop sign in our apartment complex. I’m about to turn onto the street until I hear a loud “CLUNK” coming from the floorboard and feel looseness in my pedal. I tried to shift into 1st or reverse because there are neighbors behind me trying to leave the complex as well. In a last ditch effort, I turned the engine off, opened my door, and pushed the car into the closest parking spot. I was at a loss when my car would start but not go into gear.

After inspecting the shifter cables, clutch master cylinder push rod, and clutch pedal, I eventually found the issue: cracked clutch pedal bracket… According to my research, other 8th Generation Civic owners have cracked their clutch pedal bracket. There was an aftermarket option of buying a clutch pedal bracket bolt-on reinforcement piece to help with the relatively weak, thin metal bracket. There was also an another option of welding the bracket. I chose the latter and spent $40 by doing a random Google searching using a prompt such as “welder nearby”.

For a week without my car, I learned various things. I learned about how:

• My wife loves to drop me off to work.
• It’s nice to bike to and from work.
• Biking lanes seem uncommon where I live.
• I miss my cats when I eat lunch at work.
• I miss driving my car.
• I felt sad that my car was down.

You see, I love my car a lot. It goes beyond a materialistic thing at this point. I’ve grown truly sentimental to my Honda Civic. It’s the car that I’ve manifested and constantly worked hard for. I try my best to take care of it. I may neglect a couple car washes but it’s because I’m used to having a driveway, a place for my car washing supplies, and a garden faucet that can supply water to a hose. Despite the lack of keeping up the cosmetics, I’m up-to-date on my maintenance. When my car was down, it felt like I had my freedom stripped away. Driving around in my car feels like a great escape. I’m playing hip-hop and cruising around with my windows down so it is always a vibe.

I eventually want to turn the car into a full on project – either track car or show car. I’ve always dreamed about being a talented driver. TopGear, Gran Turismo, and Forza Motorsport got me in love with racing. I wish to be an amazing driver when I get older. I’ve also become a snob of a car enthusiast so attending a car show like WekFest is on my bucket list. Right now, I have ambition but not the means to fully support it. It’s a goal of mine to own a house and drive my car at the track. To get there will require planning and I’ll eventually start that – if I don’t procrastinate.

I’m kinda here to rant and share the joy of getting my ride back on the road. Mercury is in Retrograde, at the time I’m writing this, so everything just seems to be falling apart. On a less dramatic note, I hope everyone is taking care of themselves! Take a lot of time for yourself and take more deep breaths. These are some things I’m gonna do for myself this weekend. Peace out everyone! I’ll catch y’all next time. JVZY out!