Start It Out, There's Nothing New

Those are lyrics from the Indians' "Oblivion" from the TFiOS Soundtrack. There aren't many words that are usable from M83's "Wait", but yeah...

The issue with self-policing is that the only authority you are answering to are yourself. It usually works because, at least in my case, your own guilt pushes you to do what you wanted. Well, I skipped a month - the guilt was there but the time/days to post weren't. So I apologize. Sometimes my own life gets in the way of recording it. As the title suggests, there isn't much new to record. Except that I have a car now, but it's not new.

I am now the proud owner of a 1992 Ford Tempo. It was my [paternal] grandmother's, but she doesn't drive anymore and it was in need of an alternator and some other little things. My parents, being awesome as usual, had it fixed up for me by our mechanic (who is the father of a kid I was in cub scouts with... fun fact - thanks again Bill!) and turned over to me. Enter the task of bringing it from legal to comfortable.

All told, I cleaned out roughly a garbage bag and a half of things that had either worn beyond use - umbrellas that crumbled, a sun shield that was falling apart - and others beyond use - a Valvoline engine check invoice from 1994, napkins, and used windshield wipers. An assistant to our mechanic graciously cleaned some black gunk off the side of it, and all I had to do was wash the exterior, vacuum the interior and go through the trunk. The car probably hadn't been driven since 2007ish - believe it or not, it only has only 26,200 miles on it! It runs really well, and was well kept - exactly the way I intend to keep it.

It's a 90's car in every sense of the word - manual windows, cassette deck, these sort of terrifying automatic shoulder seat belt things that try to strangle you when you start it - but I love it. It's a 4-cylinder engine, so it's fun to drive - sort of like a golf cart controls - but has the safety and stability of an American-made steel framed amazing.

The stereo system is also quite good, this coming from someone who has run a variety of sound systems, and because it has a cassette deck I can use an adapter to play my iPod over the system - if my brother would let me play my own music!!! [Sorry, he likes to control it and I've just about had it after two weeks here...]

This is indeed a new start, but nothing in essence new. I'm thrilled to have a car, and a grandmother who is okay with this all, and all I need is to name it...