How come the 3 color arrows are not always on my selected object?

I cant totally figure it out but sometimes with some objects when I click it in object mode for the 3 color arrows to come up, those arrows are somewhere pretty far away from that object? Is there some way to move those arrows closer to what Im trying to modify?

Yes. Select the object. On the bottom tab of the 3D editor, click Object >> Transform >> Origin to geometry
That should fix it.

Thanks! Another question that I think may be related. Sometimes I try to zoom in on something with the mouse wheel. It zooms, then the zoom gets slower and slower. Basically it wont zoom in all the way unless I rotate the view a little. Whats going on here?

zoom in perspective mode is limited
change it to ortho mode then you can zoom in as much as u want!

happy bl

agree with everyone above