There are several things that I will never fully understand, mostly because the concepts are over my head. Not that I’m a dumb person; I’m pretty smart. I know when to use a semicolon in a sentence, how to clean a house, when my kids need naps, how to change the oil on my car, who was responsible for World War II, how to type up a legal brief, and a lot more. I’m a “Jill of all trades” I guess you could say. But certain topics (especially those that my husband talks about) go over my head.
Want some examples? Yeah, I thought you might.
You see, my husband loves cars. In fact, you can usually find him underneath a car of some sort on his days off. He says it’s relaxing. I think that he just likes to get away from the kids.
Recently, he’s been talking a lot about after market exhaust Sacramento and telling me that we need new tips on his fixer-upper. (Just so you know, his fixer-upper is a very nice sports car that he’s been working on for a number of years. A Cobra if I’m not mistaken, though don’t ask me for the year or for any other pertinent details.) He saw in a car magazine that he could replace his current exhaust system for a custom one with fancier hardware. Then he started to explain to me why this was important.
I did listen; I swear I did. I simply have no idea why this is so important. I mean, the car runs. Not only that, but I think it runs pretty well. It looks good already. So why does he need to spend a fortune (though he says it won’t be that expensive) on new parts. Is it just because they look cool? I asked him and he seemed very offended at the notion, but I’m still thinking that’s the only reason.
He also wants something called a catalytic converter. Now, I understand the basic concepts of exhaust systems. They somehow recycle the emissions and then expel them or something to that effect. But the catalytic converter’s internal workings are a topic I know nothing about, yet he still wants to discuss it. He asks me a question, I tell him I don’t know, and he looks downright shocked as he announces his surprise. It goes something like this:
Him: Well, don’t you know how your catalytic converter works?
Me: Ummm, no.
Him: Really? You don’t know how a catalytic converter works?!
Me: Nope.
Him: Babe, this is really simple stuff!
Me: Uhuh.
Him: Well, here is how a catalytic converter works… (insert car guy lingo here)
So I guess I know nothing about cars. Maybe I should take a course on them at the college or something, though he would probably just mock me for it and say that, anything I need to learn, he can teach me. I’m doomed.