Apparently everything that I suspected had a problem that I didn't know what caused actually has a problem! I always felt the breaks in my car were weak, and now I am aware of why - the master cyl is going south.
But yeah. They found out the flywheel in my car was majorly screwed up - thus the hard starting and odd noise no matter what I'd do. Adding to the laundry list of replaced parts now would be the transmission and left front axle. In a few years I may have a new car :P