technically, saying i "obtained" this guy is a lie, since i just picked him up and put him in the grass, but like... come on, how can i not give this little man the spotlight? im also not certain if this is a frog or a toad, but it looks more froggy to me, so i'm going with the name "Frog Buddy." now, to the story. my old car (a 2007 Ford Escape named Valerie, she got totalled in a car crash that was NOT my fault, and i'm STILL angry about it) used to have this issue where it would just... randomly start overheating, due to a leak in the coolant. we tried getting it fixed several times, and each time it would work for a little bit, and then unfix itself. pretty much the only issue with that car, everything else was perfect, but i digress. one of the times it started overheating was on my way to class, and i had to stop in the parking lot of an Ollie's Bargain Outlet. i threw open the hood in frustration, tried to see what was wrong, and was greeted with our special little man, sitting in the corner underneath my hood. (thankfully unscathed) i was pretty annoyed that i was having to deal with this overheating issue again, but seeing the quaint frog perched so calmly underneath the hood of this machine just sorta... brought me back down to earth. not only that, but it was just a funny thing to see, and it got a good laugh out of me. i helped the little critter get back into the grass, and by the time i'd done so i'd calmed down enough to get things sorted out with the coolant situation. you know, it really is the simple things in life. this is one of those memories i'm gonna think about a lot in life, despite how small and relatively inconsequential it is. that's just the kind of thing you never forget.