I do not work for John Deere. My dad is a farmer. I like green.

These are the things I have to explain to total strangers all the time. I have told these things to a homeless man in San Francisco and to old farmers at a stoplight.

My first car was a Geo Metro. It was five different colors. I wanted it to be green. I took it to MAACO and was disappointed in their total lack of a “real greenâ€Â in the automotive paint section. I kept browsing the paint chip binder until I reached the last section: Farm Equipment. There was my answer, John Deere green. I then decided spray-paint the wheels yellow and add on some yellow number stripe decals (purchased at the John Deere dealership as replacement parts).

Right after it was done I rear-ended a Ford Taurus on Shaw, near 168, on my way to class. There was some paint stuck to his bumper. My front-end was smashed.

Soon after that tragedy I was driving a brand new Toyota Matrix, a car that I had fallen in love with at the Tulare World Ag Expo. Then my cousin backed it into my dad̢۪s pickup in our driveway. The difference between fixing the dent and matching the current color or fixing the dent and painting the whole car was about $300. I painted it green.

I love my John Deere car. It lets me drive like an idiot with a smile on my face and waive as a reward. It has brought happiness to many people and confusion to others. Both are good in my book.