Fantasy Garage: The Final Two

So what does one do for Christmas of the year he started his blog, but finish something?! Yes, after dropping off a cliff in mid-March the Garage will finally be completed, but not without some serious thought. You see, after including a sports car, a grand tourer, a roadster, a minivan, a bargain sports sedan, a muscle car, an entry luxury car, and a hot hatchback I honestly was at a loss as to what else I should include. I've hit almost everything that I would have wanted. I've satisfied almost all of my auto enthusiast buttons, so what is missing?

My favorite Porsche and a bionic cheetah.

Cars: Porsche Cayman and Infiniti FX50 AWD

Options:

Porsche (what isn't an option?): Red leather interior, sport exhaust, suspension upgrade (PASM), PDK shifting system, limited slip rear dif, sport chrono package plus, 18" wheels, sports bucket seats, nav system, and BOSE sound system.

Infiniti: sport package.

Prices after options:

Porsche: $75, 450

Infiniti: $62, 265

Of course there would be a Porsche! It is impossible to ignore the perfection that they have been building for decades (though it is very easy to overlook several other fine automobile makers). The 911 has long been considered the gold standard for performance even though it is the best engineered bad design ever. Who ever though it was a good idea to put the engine in the back of a car clearly missed a physics class or two.

None the less, I did not choose the ass-engined 911 for two reasons: 1) it's too damn expensive before options and 2) the mid-engined Cayman is better. For far too long the Cayman has been the talented little sibling that mommy and daddy have been trying to ignore. As the 911 moves past it's prime of the ultimate sports car, eyes focus on the beautiful little coupe: the Cayman.

I never liked the Boxter. I always thought the lines were funny and you lose stiffness when you chop the top off something, but in the Cayman you have that top and with it the performance of cars double its price.

A perfect mid-engine layout with the rear wheels chirping away at the road and it's just bliss. Porsche has perfected the ideal of a car being an extension of one's self. Plus, I just love the way it looks. The sheet metal from behind looks as if it was modeled after the small of a woman's back, which is one of the sexiest parts of any woman.

Now why the hell is there an SUV in a garage of an auto enthusiast?! Now, I have to explain: I love Infiniti, I feel that they are doing BMW better than BMW is doing BMW and with the FX50 they have something truly crazy, yet tame. 0-60 in 5 seconds flat. Sure a BMW X6 can do that...for $7K more. And that is what makes the Infiniti so appealing: it can do it for less and better.

Price doesn't have to factor in with a fantasy collection, but when it comes to ridiculousness I want mine without iDrive. I want it with speed and handling in mind. I don't care that the car will never see mud. I want to drive up to a traffic light next to a Mustang GT, rev my engine, and then look in my rear view mirror at the owner's face as an import SUV out runs him! That's what the FX50 is about: fast, handling, luxury.

Now there are some elephants in the room in the form of the latest Top Gear. Granted there are faster sleds out there, but why spend $100K when you can have just as much fun with less than $70?

As such the Garage is now full and I have enough left over for beer money (or something better)!

Money left over: $13, 504

A trip to THE city to see a show

The first thing that strikes you when you walk out of the subway is the size of...everything. You are forced to just stop and reacquaint yourself with what you previously understood as the proper scale for everything. Once you have done this you can keep walking and you become acclimated to it, but the sense of awe never really goes away. It is a similar experience to jumping into the ocean in September: the water is freezing and the fact that the water is cold doesn't go away, but you get used to how cold it is...sorta.

We were going to the city to see the show Billy Elliot, which I knew to be "musical something something dancing something something good". In other words I had now idea what I was going to see, but it turned out to be an amazing show about a working class boy in northern England and his quest to join the Royal Ballet School in the mid-1980's. Marvelous show, I encourage everyone how has the chance to see it.

I hadn't been to the city in a month, but then I was going to visit my (now ex) girlfriend and my mind was on other things, plus it was still light outside when I went. Going into the city this time, however, my mind was on the other cities I had visited in recent memories: Boston and Philly.

Philly had been grey, intelligent, and had a sense of beauty that is most similar to watching an elephant move: large, graceful, and majestic. Boston was fun and hip with tall shapely architecture and a one letter subway name.

New York City, however, is different.

NYC is THE city.

At the beginning of freshman year people from all over the country all came together and there were many of them who weren't from the northeast. There were also some who lived near major cities, so they were all very confused when people would say, "I went into the city." As if everyone knew what they were talking about. These people quickly learned that "the" city was New York City, and everything else was just called buy it's real name. By the end of the year people would say they went to visit a friend in Boston or they went to visit a friend in Philly, but they never went to visit a friend in "New York City". No no no. The went to visit a friend in THE city.

And growing up near the city sorta ruins every other city for you. Nothing is a big or grand as NYC. Which is why I affectionately call Boston: Bostontown, for it is not a real city like NYC is.

What made this trip to the city different than ones past was that I was getting there at night and at night in the city it is brighter than during the day. And everything is illuminated. Everything.

So I walked out of the subway station to street level at 42nd street and looked up...and up...and up to the billboards bigger than my university's tallest building. Light that made the subway seem like a dark cave. Buildings that made the ceiling of everywhere seem retroactively claustrophobic. A child past by me and pointed up and said, "Wow mommy! Look how big it is!!!" I myself stopped in awe at the mass of buildings color and light, because unless you see it everyday, it really is a shock to the system.

And you really have to take a moment to look and try and take in how big everything around you is, otherwise you might fall over dizzy trying to comprehend it all!

Because Kate doesn't get enough attention

Hooray for posts that have nothing to do with their titles!

Today was a good day and an all together surprising one because today for the first time in a while I sorta stepped back and realized that I'm happy. It isn't everyday that one can just stop think about themselves and say, "Yes. I am happy." Sure I've felt good and ok and so-so and alright and I've been "pushing through" and "hanging in there", but today, right now, I feel happy. I also learned a thing or two today:

1. I itch.
2. Snow blowers are probably the best inventions ever ever! We have a gas powered behemoth and boy can it move snow around! I did my entire driveway in no time at all. No back breaking work with a shovel or anything. Fuck that. Hell no, not for me, I've got my self a snow blower!
3. I really love driving Opis in the snow. Now I know I've never formally introduced her, but Opis is my dad's Saturn Ion that I drive. Not my first choice, but she gets the job done without complaining too much. I arrived at the name Opis because according to Roman mythology Opis was the wife of Saturn and since you always name things after women Opis it is! Anyway, Opis is front-wheel drive and a manual (lovelovelove stick) and gunning it in first to plow through the snow to get out of the driveway this morning was so so so much fun. Granted the drive way was clear, but just getting out onto the street in front of my house was a blast!
4. Julie and Julia is a good movie and did 2 things for me: one-blog more! and two-make me really hungry.
5. My mom makes the best lasagna. I know your mother does and every mother does...but my mother actually makes the best lasagna.
6. Annette Bening is gorgeous. Saw her tonight in Being Julia (two movies with "Julia" in the title in one night? who knew?") and she was stunning. I would totally be that younger guy who sleeps with her and then sleeps with the hot blond chick my age. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

And that's all I have to say for my self tod-oh wait, and.........right, remembered now. I'm reading this new (new as in they have an archive that goes back to 2005) webcomic called Shortpacked (click the link to see what comic is was reading when I wrote this) and I don't know how I feel about it. I read other webcomics that are relationship/drama driven and they are fun and I read others that are fun and quirky and have no real continuity, but this new one sorta tries to be everything...and I don't know if I like it. I mean, I am reading it and mostly enjoying it, but I'm also mostly reading because I'm hoping it will get better. I dunno! We will have to see.

A bottle of wine and the rest of reality

So of course I didn't finish all 16 pages. I did a bunch, handed it in, and then went to go watch Ninja Assassin...which was so awesome! In summery: it is really hard to write something when it isn't really due.

Last night for the first time I finished off a bottle of wine by myself! I was very impressed with myself. Of course when I told my mother her response was, "Yeah, not too difficult." I thought it was neat and I was proud of myself, regardless of whether it is a feat or not.

Now that the weekend is over though, the daily grind starts over anew!

A Blues Brothers paper

One of the most famous lines form the Blues Brothers movies was the line "We're on a mission from god," and today I sort of feel like and outside hand is trying to push me in the right direction.

I have this paper due...in like 3 weeks, but our professor said he would look over it and give us edits if we gave him a rough draft by tomorrow. So today I started to write my paper. So far I have two sentences and the paper has a max length of 16 pages.

Yeah, I am optimistic as well!

But i decided to go home and shower so that I could push through until the late night without having to stop to shower later and so I could sleep-in in the morning (more on my ideas behind showering in the afternoon at another time), but alas! The shower was taken when I got home.

This only leads me to one conclusion: god wants me to finish this paper before I shower. So here it is, plain and simple: do as much as I can on the paper and shower in the morning.

Updates to follow.