My car

I drive a 1999 Kia Sephia. Black, LS sub-model, 4-Door, automatic. It has a bit over 150,000 miles on it. While learning how to drive (after I got my license. More the kind of learning you do when you say "Well, that didn't work" afterwards) I got within $1000 dollars of totaling it... twice. So, this car has been through a lot.

Hmm. A better definition of "a lot" is in order.
The first time I nearly totaled it, I was in mid U-turn and got hit by a car doing about 20 mph (15 mph relative speed). I was unable to drive the car away after that.
The second time, I was heading to a job interview with UPS, for their "Twilight" shift. They interview at the same time their shifts start, so I was on the freeway at 2:30AM. and it was December, so cold. The exit ramp I needed to take was a touch icy. I hit the patch of ice, and didn't turn because of it. I hit the side of the off-ramp, spun around, hit again farther on, and then hit the other side of the off ramp before coming to a stop. 180 degrees of turn happened after each impact (okay, there was a LOT of ice, and I was going faster than I should have been), so I wound up facing the wrong direction on a freeway offramp, unable to move my car.

Recently, my car started losing power. Like, a lot of power. 0-60 in just under a minute, loss of power. Then it started shaking like I was really bad at driving a stick. At all speeds, in all gears. Then it started doing it at idle.

I was firmly convinced that the car was toast, and that I was going to have to figure out how to buy a new one. I talked to my bank, a dealership or two, and figured out what I was gonna do.

Sunday rolls around, and my dad and I go out to work on the car. I don't want to work on it, I want to go buy a car. He says, "Well, let's try something simple first", so we change the spark plugs.

I really hate being wrong, especially when it means that I did a lot of planning for nothing. Changing the spark plugs worked. My car now runs better than it did before it started power.