Triumvirate of values

When I was younger I developed a theory of my life I called (rather grandly) my Triumvirate of values. The theory was there were three main areas in my life and they naturally tended towards equilibrium. The areas, which show my preoccupations at the time, were work/study, social life and my car.

The way it worked was if my car was running well and work or study was going well then my social life was crap. If social life and study were up my car was breaking down. The equilibrium state was either two up, one down, or all three at a mid level (work/study just OK, social life not bad, not good, car running but perhaps panel damage).

It was rare for all three to be down or all three up. And if that were the case I always knew things would be changing soon and generally it was the car that upset the balance.

Now ten years later my car is again upsetting the balance. It's been into service twice in the last month, costing a scary amount in very necessary repairs. I've spent money of general servicing, brakes (twice), a expensive air flow meter, a harmonic balancer and on getting the dash lights finally working. Now the radio display sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

And today, my wife who had the car, was involved in a minor accident. Nothing major I'm told, it's drivable etc. But my car is once again upsetting the delicate balance of my stupid old Triumvirate. Bummer.