I am officially sick of car shopping.

Yesterday I test-drove and put a deposit on a 1998 Mazda Protege. It's a solid car, nice and clean, 5 speed 4 door with power group and CD player. Pretty much has everything I want. The price is a little high, but I realize I have to either compromise my perks or my price, since it seems pretty clear that unless I devote my every waking minute to securing the absolute best possible deal, there's no way I'm going to get everything I want for a price less than what this car costs. And I am unwilling and unable to put any more energy into this thing!

The thing is, I would really like to just pay cash for it. Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to do it, even though that was my original idea and intention with this project. So now I'm grappling with the concept of a payment plan, which I will have to enter into even if I get 2/3 of it paid off in the next 3 weeks, which is pretty likely.

It's all just stressing me out. And I've ceased to be able to see the forest for the trees here. This car has everything I need and want, it's a reliable car, and I like it! It's "me," I suppose. But I can't quite trust it all the way, I think because I am so exhausted by the whole process, my consciousness is muddled. And I'm in information overload. Blah.