i hold wrenches pretty good

...
Things I learned today:

• Ask J3SS before asking anyone else (and before taking things apart) to diagnose a car problem. Some boys don't know shit.
• An oil leak, when left alone for 100,000 miles, will gunk up the undercarriage of a car something gross. Pressure wash that action before you make your friends roll around under there.
• Two dudes watching two girls work on a car will spontaneously decide to split firewood and build a raging fire. Call it the "un-emasculinity principle."
  
• Gloves keep your hands warm but are not great for gripping things.
• When the pressure is on and the temperature is dropping, I will forget how a socket wrench works.
• Friends who loan you their tools are awesome. Friends who lend you their time and energy (and skin and cleanliness) are even awesomer. Friends who explain to you how your alternator works, show you how to change your serpentine belt, and teach you how to check and replace your spark plugs are the most awesomer more.
• Getting down on the ground underneath your own car to help the selfless friend who is teaching and swearing and getting all grimey just might be one of the most awesomest things ever.

I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

(p.s. As previously stated, the engine is shaped like a box, technically, and things are going into and out of it, so this totally counts. Maybe tomorrow I will remember to take pictures before my hands are covered in filth.)