my car may be possessed...

so this weekend i headed down to wrightsville beach, nc for a wedding of my friend alison and her now husband, dustin. i had been looking forward to a weekend at the beach especially after the past couple of weeks (can we say my job has been a bit stressful) and hanging out with my friends from college. the wedding turned out great, the weather held out, and we all had a lot of fun at the reception... we jumped in my car after the festivities were over to drop off cars and head out to a local bar to continue hanging out (i wanted to watch some football, haha) and my battery light was on... to top it off, the engine sounded very odd to me. holly helped me not freak out and said, it is probably just the battery don't worry... this morning we were to head out, and of course the light is still on, yippee! the engine or something that has sound still sounded very off to me, but we headed on towards holly's lake house. once there, holly's dad looked at things briefly, and i headed on my way. i called my dad and he said to immediately stop... i didn't want to because i had my last team meeting for my Haiti trip that is in TWO weeks, and that caused me to be beyond irritated. i decided it would be best to stop and when i pulled in, the auto zone people determined the battery was bad and that i needed a new one.... i was fully prepared for the 80 or so dollars, but no, she says, "It will be $120." Now listen, I get inflation, but I bought a battery in 2007, and it was around 80 dollars, that is literally a $40 increase, what in the world. Are these batteries laced in gold? I was so mad. don't worry for all that know me, i told her what i thought, no foul language, but i was not happy. a single female walks into an auto shop or body shop and it is like these people do a happy dance. the guy installs my battery, and i think we should be good to go... you know that hunch i had with the engine not sounding right, well i should have known it would not be that simple. the light stayed on after the new battery was installed, so i was in somewhat of a prediciment. i continue driving, oh how fun 74 is:) once i finally get on 485 and about 3 exits away from the first ballantyne exit, i can feel car completely shutting down and about to start freaking out. i am trying not to panic, but let's face it... dramatic could be my middle name. i was going about 75 or so at this point, and the car completely FREAKS... the gas pedal stops responding, the brakes aren't working, all the lights start flashing on the dashboard (the emergency brake is flashing like i have that on), the ABS light is on, everything and i am like what in the world do i do. if i try to get off on the shoulder, this isn't going to help because i can't stop the car. i manage to get off on rea rd, but i am now in the middle of the exit ramp with no control, i can feel the engine shaking out of control and hood is visibly moving up and down... at this point, i am thinking the freaking car is going to explode. the brakes start working again, but the gas did not. i am not sure how i managed, actually i do, GOD totally protected me and i am pretty sure jumped in that car with me and got me into the target parking lot at stonecrest.... i didn't turn the car off immediately, as my dad is telling me to go to auto zone again, haha... "I am thinking, I am not going a.n.y.w.h.e.r.e in this car, it is about to explode." the engine or something under that hood is shaking more and more at this point, so i am forced to turn it off. i never turned it back on, and the tow company came and got it. thankfully, kasey came to the rescue and got me and all my stuff from the weekend so i could go get a rental car... goodness, i don't know what i would have done without her. i would have been stranded in the target parking lot with like 10 bags waiting on a cab. while this was a completely stressful day, i missed my meeting, there are still a lot of things to be thankful for: 1) that i was able to make it basically home before it completely bombed or wigged out, that i wasn't on the side of the road in some no name town i had never heard of 2) that even though i missed my last haiti mtg, that my friend kristen who is going with me was able to provide me with a great summary 3) that i have a great best friend who came to get me and took me to get my rental car 4) that my dad called and answered all of my frantic phone calls today and took them like a champ... seriously, if you don't know things can be life or death with me, when they probably shouldn't be, but this was scary to me goodness, so thankful to be home:) i need sleep now!