Further back than I can even remember, I’ve held onto a dream. The dream of someday owning a 911 Porsche. The appeal has always been there for me, the mystique undeniable.

Even before my first real job, which as it turned out was as an Apprentice Volkswagen Mechanic when I was 15, I have dreamt of owning a 911 Porsche. And I’m sure it goes without saying that if you like the original air cooled Volkswagen Beetles, then a 911 Porsche is without a doubt the end of your rainbow.

Even before I had a Drivers License, I knew I wanted a 911 Porsche. This fact was only reinforced after my first ride in one. As primitive as they were back then compared to todays Models, they were amazingly quick and handled great. Their following was built on their Racing Heritage and attention to detail, both are still very true today. In fact, even more so.

But of course, they were just so far out of reach cost wise that all one could do back then… is dream. And boy oh boy, dream we did! All of my friends were into VW’s. We all belonged to VW Clubs, attended all of the various VW Events throughout Southern California. Basically we were addicted, it was our life. The above picture of me was taken sometime back in the early 80′s. I was driving one of the many VW’s I owned through the years, my 1958 Volkswagen Cabriolet. At that time, I was extremely fond of that car. Without a doubt it was one of my favorites. But like everyone else, no matter how much customization we did, it still would never be a real 911 Porsche.

And as such, all we could do was to continue to take what was left of our meager paychecks and sink every last nickle we had into custom wheels, tires, suspension, engines, interiors, paint jobs, etc., etc. in hopes of someday walking out to our driveway and having our VW pumpkins mysteriously turn into real 911 Porsches overnight. Of course, it never happened. Only the Big Time guys with the big time paychecks had the money to do all of the trick stuff that we dreamed of. And I’m sure that lots of them were chasin‘ the same thing, a REAL 911 Porsche.

This VW Cabriolet (above & below) is a perfect example of “Porsche~izing” a Volkswagen Beetle. All in an effort to live an, at that time, mostly unattainable dream. Known at the time as the “California Look”, the style has taken on quite a few changes since then. But the basic idea behind this customization still remains the same. To morph a Volkswagen Beetle into a 911 Porsche.

And that’s not to say that more money wasn’t invested into this car than would have ever been required to purchase a 911 Porsche but most of these truly beautiful custom VW’s took years to reach the point they did and that was much different than just going down to the Porsche Dealership and plunking down a big chunk of money at one time. Most of these guys did the same thing we did, spent endless hours and paycheck after paycheck, working on a dream in the obscurity of their garages.

Now, the crazy thing here is that this particular 1952 Volkswagen Cabriolet, while undoubtedly one of the rarest VW’s out there and obviously restored with the assistance of a wide open checkbook containing an endless balance, was(is?) For Sale at one point and the asking price, while it might be comparable to the actual cost of purchasing a 1952 VW, then paying someone to restore it, locating all of the incredibly rare parts and accessories that adorn the car, etc., etc., one would really have to LOVE VW’s as the $120K (yes, you read that right, $120,000.00) Price Tag makes a real 911 Porsche look pretty darn inviting. As if it wasn’t already but this would bring the decision front and center in anybodys mind.

For that price you can pick up a super nice Porsche GT3 that’s a year or two old with maybe 5K miles on it. Sure, it won’t be brand new and it might have a small blemish here or there but when you have a Volkswagen that’s worth $120K, chances are you’re not going to want to drive it anyway for fear of putting a scratch on it. Basically it’s just a “Trailer Queen”, something you just sit and stare at. Which is fine, if you have that kind of money and just want something to look at, more power to you. But for me, I’d rather have a car that I can drive and experience as it were. But to each his own. Everyone has their own Dream. Mine has always been to own a super sweet 911 Porsche. Not sure if I mentioned that or not.

Fast forward a couple few years. Hmmmmm, there seems to be a slight problem here. I’m beginning to notice a pattern of sorts. The dream I’ve held for most of my life has yet to manifest. Which of course, is not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. So that basically leaves me with two options. I can either continue on with my life as usual, leaving my dream to fester somewhere way in the back of my mind. Back in the maybe someday it will happen zone, where it’s been for quite some time.

After all, it hasn’t really bothered anybody by sitting back there collecting dust. Nobody, that is, besides me, the dream holder! And to be honest, it’s really been buggin’ the heck out of me for quite some time now. Like to the point that I either have to just completely forget about it(I know what you’re sayin’, good luck with that one) or else I have to actually DO SOMETHING about it! One way or the other, for better or worse, I’ve got to bring it to a conclusion of some sort. Either move forward with it or erase it from my List Of Dreams completely.

Now, as I’m sure you’re well aware, letting go of a dream is no easy feat. In fact, nearly impossible. Especially when you’ve lived it almost your entire life. How do you go about forgetting something that has been there since childhood? And that’s when it dawned on me that there really is no way to just let it go, at least not without giving a serious effort anyway. If after that, things for some strange reason don’t go as planned and my dream doesn’t come true, then I will still be able to hold my head high in defeat, knowing that I truly gave it my all. But to merely walk away without trying, that’s just not gonna happen. That’s just not how I’m wired.

And therefore I’m left with no other option than to persevere, to push forward towards manifesting my dreams. To finally be able to say that I have achieved the dream of a lifetime, the dream of MY lifetime, means more to me than words can even begin to express. And to be able to demonstrate to others as well that if you truly do your best and give it everything you’ve got, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE in this world. ANYTHING!

If you can relate to having a life long dream, one that you’ve never fully explored, let alone done everything possible to make it come true, I’d enjoy hearing about it in the Comments below and if you know of anyone else that might be able to relate to this Post, please feel free to share it with them. Thank you.

It’s just another one of those dreaded must do things that we all have to go through, at least those of us lucky enough to own a car. Yep, it’s time for another oil change. The little sticker up in the corner of the windshield, left there about three or four thousand miles ago by the previous oil changer, says I’m [over] due so it must be true.

Time to begin rearranging our schedules in an attempt to squeeze it in, somewhere between everything else we have to do during our hectic weekly routine.

Oh, somehow we’ll fit it in, we always do. After all, we know that changing our cars engine oil is a big part of maintaining our vehicles and keeping our warranty in good standing. The penalty for not keeping up with proper maintenance could mean expensive repairs, beggin’ for rides from friends and neighbors or even worse, waitin’ for the Bus in the middle of summer! None of those are too appealing, to say the least.

Ok, so who’s gonna be the lucky one to do the work? Some of us can do it ourselves. Warm it up, pull it into the garage [carport], jack it up and start draining the oil.

Careful though, that oil is HOT! And so is the oil filter, which should also be replaced. Then, after all that you’re stuck with an old oil filter and about six or seven quarts of black goo that needs to go to the recycler.

That’s if you aren’t wearing half of it in your hair, down your arms and back or heaven forbid, didn’t have a mini BP Gulf Disaster all over your garage floor and driveway.

Most of us have come to learn that all this mechanic’n stuff is better left to those with the proper facilities and tools to best handle such a task. Not to mention those that enjoy getting greasy.

Option #2, you can always go to one of those EZ Jiffy Quicky Pronto Lubification establishments. Surely they can handle the job. Only problem is that sometimes they tend to get you in the door with that giant teaser sign blowin’ in the wind out front. “Today only, from 11am to 1pm, only $19.95 for an oil change, including 6 quarts of oil and filter. Does not include blah blah blah….” only to find out that it’s gonna cost you about five times that much by the time they release your car.

Then, if you really want to embarass yourself, you’ll get all gutsy and ask them exactly what the fine print says. It’s not that you don’t trust them, it’s just that you want to know exactly what your options are.

“Oh, the fine print? All it says is that if your car takes an extra drop of oil to bring it up to the correct level, we won’t add it. We won’t put a new gasket on the drain plug when we reinstall it. Heck, we won’t even guarantee that we WILL reinstall it. If your car happens to blow up just after you leave because our ASEBGFD nonCertified Mechanic forgot to put oil back in your engine after he drained it, we’re not at all liable. Little insignificant stuff like that. Nothing to worry about, I’m sure none of that stuff will have any effect on you.”

Jeez, that’s alot to take into consideration. But knowing that none of that would ever actually happen in real life, you decide to go for it. Heck, everybody likes a good deal, just too hard to pass up. So you go ahead and sign on the dotted line, knowing you’re in good hands.

Weird thing is is that just about the time you put the pen down, your car is being hoisted up on the rack! How on earth did they know you were going to give them the go ahead for the oil change?

Oh, these guys are slick! Absolute magicians I tell you. Hope they’re as quick with the oil change as they were at getting the car hoisted up because I’ve got lot’s of errands to run today.

With your car safely up on the rack, you can begin to relax a little. So you grab the latest [ok, 3 months old, greasy finger prints everywhere and every page wrinkled] issue of Slick ‘n’ EZ Oil Changer magazine off the dusty table and settle down into the greasy orange vinyl covered chair and begin to peruse all the latest news in the oil change industry.

KABLAM! What the hell was that? Startled, you peer out through the Customer Connection window and you see ‘Sammy Certification’ fishing around in the drain bucket in an attempt to retrieve the wrench that he just dropped.

Then, with a resounding GOT IT, you see that his arm is half covered in oil but thankfully he found the wrench. Good thing it wasn’t the drain plug, that would have been much tougher to find. Like finding a needle in an oily as hell haystack, no fun at all.

Just as you turn your head back to the magazine, you hear a faint ‘kerplunk’. NO, tell me that didn’t just happen! Tell me it’s not what I think it is. Tell me it’s not my drain plug that just fell in the drain bucket.

Yep, you guessed it. As you return your focus to the oil change bay, you see both of the mechanics legs flailing around in the air. He’s upside down in the bucket, scowering around in the bottom for your drain plug. I guess they never taught him about using a magnet on a retractable rod in ASEBGFD School.

FOUND IT!!! Just about everybody in the entire place jumped for joy at the same time. At this point we’re all pretty much like family. We’re all hoping that each of our experiences turns out to be a pleasant one.

Phew, glad that’s over. I’d hate to imagine how much losing that drain plug would have cut into my errand running time. I can only hope the gasket is still attached, otherwise that could be a nightmare in itself.

Like a river of mud, the oil continues to blurble out of the oil pan. That’s about the time I realize how glad I am that I’m not laying on the hot asphalt, changing the oil myself. Good thing I let the experts handle it. Ok, now I can get back to the magazine.

All of a sudden, this pimply faced kid in a bluish brown shirt peers around the corner of the doorway. My first thought is How can my car be ready so soon? My second thought is, it can’t be ready that soon and so it’s just about that time that I begin to hope and pray that he’s looking for somebody else.

Nope, he’s eyeballin’ ME and I have a feelin’ it’s not gonna be good. Then comes the bad news. “Uh, Mr. Smith, while we were draining your oil we noticed a couple other items that require your immediate attention. Can you please follow me? I’d like to show you what we found.”

“Jeez, I only came in for a cheap oil change, I never asked you guys to check anything else.” “I realize that Mr. Smith but we feel it’s our duty to inform all of our loyal customers of any pending danger related to their automobiles as we would never want anything to happen to them or their vehicles. Above all else, safety is our number one concern here at EZ Jiffy Quicky Pronto Lubrification Centers and it’s in everyones best interest that we do all we can to keep our customers safe at all cost. I’m sure you understand.”

“Huh, understand? You pretty much lost me at duty to inform. Ok, let’s go take a look. I’m sure you’re right, better safe than sorry. I mean, after all, how much extra could it be, right?”

Following the mechanic outside, the words ‘at all cost’ begin to swim around in my head. As far as I know, I’m the one that’s going to be paying at all cost and no doubt that’s in their best interest.

“Take a look here, you can see that your Muffler Bearings are completely shot. Heck they’re almost falling off. And take a look right here, your Johnson Rod has a big ol’ crack in it and it’s just about to break! Boy, you’re so lucky. You brought your car in just in time.”

“What exactly are you pointing to, I just don’t see anything wrong here? Matter of fact, I’ve never even heard of Muffler Bearings OR a Johnson Rod. Are you sure they’re going bad?”

“Oh yes sir, trust me, they’re going bad and you really should have them repaired right away to prevent any further damage to any other components that could possibly be interrelated to the damaged items that we previously mentioned”

“Alright, let’s just say I did decide to have those fixed, how long would it take and even more importantly, how much extra is it gonna cost me?”

“Come on back inside and we’ll run some numbers. Let’s see here, new Muffler Bearings, click, click, click, new Johnson Rod, click click, click, about nine hours Labor, click, click, click, that leaves us with a guesstimate of about $1281.56, plus tax. Oh, and that’s not including the $88.26 for the oil change. Keep in mind that this guesstimate is based on parts availability and those prices could go up dramatically if we find there have been any price increases that we are unaware of at the time of this guesstimate. Also, please remember to keep in mind that due to our high demand for quality, we only use Factory parts. We don’t mess around with aftermarket parts here because as you know, safety is…”

“Yeah, Yeah, I KNOW! Safety is your thing! Got it! But that just seems outrageous for parts that I can’t even see are wrong, let alone that I’ve never even heard of and I’ve been around cars for quite some time.”

“Trust me Mr. Smith, we’d never steer you wrong. Get it? Steer You? That’s just a bit of EZ Jiffy humor. We like to keep things light ‘n’ easy around here. There’s more than enough stress in the world these days and the last thing we want to do is to add to it. Let’s just hope we don’t find anything else wrong with your car while we’re under there [Yeah, let's hope...]. The good news is it looks like your Radiator Springs are ok for now. We can go ahead and wait until your next oil change to replace those.”

Well, so much for the $19.95 oil change. And as far as the NEXT time, I don’t think so.

Which pretty much leaves us with option #3, the local Dealership. Home of honesty, integrity, quality and a job well done. Sure, all this comes at a price but you’re already aware of that going in.

Usually, along with that extra cost comes the comfort of knowing that the necessary extra repairs are truly legit [if you hear the words Muffler Bearings or Johnson Rod, get outta there fast!] and therefore it’s ok to pay a bit extra for that peace of mind and satisfaction of a job well done.

Well, recently a friend of mine was in the position of having to make all these decisions and came away with a very surprising result. She knew I wasn’t about to crawl under her car and change her oil so option #1 was crossed off the list immediately [I crossed it off myself].

Like most of us, she’s already experienced option #2 so that was no longer a viable alternative. That leaves option #3 and so she made an appointment at her local Dealership. She had some work done there previously and while it was sorta expensive, she was satisfied with the job that was done and heck, they even washed her car for her. Out of all her choices, she felt it was her best option.

She arrived about 15 minutes early as she didn’t want to miss her appointment. After standing around for about 20 minutes [so much for showing up early] she was finally approached by the Service Writer and asked for her information.

Her paperwork was filled out along with “Please pour yourself a coffee and have a seat in our waiting room, should only take about an hour.” Made an appointment and still an hour for an oil change? Plus all the time waiting to get checked in. Oh well, at least it will be over with and done right.

About 15 minutes later a gentleman walks up with some paperwork in hand. Thinking to herself, done already, that’s great, he proceeds to inform her of a recalled item on her car that should be fixed at this time. Free of charge and it won’t take long.

“Ok, that’s fine” she replies and continues to sip on her coffee. That’s the beauty of being at the Dealership, they know about these things because their computer tells them about pending issues.

Time continues to tick by and another hour and a half later, her car is ready to go. Ok, so it took a little longer than expected and it costs a bit more in the long run than the other options but at least it comes with the satisfaction of a job well done.

“Ok, Ms. Jones [name changed to protect the innocent], please pay the Cashier and pick up your keys”. Hmmm, $110.00 for an oil change? Wow, that seems like alot more than last time but maybe the cost of a barrel of oil has gone up that much.

Remember, peace of mind has to cost something and they did repair that recalled item at no charge[?] so let’s just pay the Cashier and get outta here. “Thank you M’am, here are your keys and have a great day”. Off she went to pick up her car in the waiting zone.

Just as she was about to turn the key to start her car, she noticed something was out of place. “My Key Ring, my special key ring, it’s missing!” Now, the only reason she even noticed it was gone was because this was a gift from a friend and holds tremendous sentimental value to her.

Luckily she noticed it was missing before she left the Lot. Jumping out of her car, she headed for the Service Writers booth. “I want to see the Manager”. Once paged, he showed up immediately to resolve the issue. Calmly he exclaimed, “Oh, I’m sure this can easily be explained. Somehow it must have fallen off. I’m sure we can find it for you.”

Hmmm, it’s been on there for over a year but somehow it fell off today and no one knows where it is? Amazingly enough, with the Manager jumping on the hot line, a few choice words over the loud speaker and Voila, it magically reappeared from the depths of the Dealership. Truly astounding, I think?

However, by this point the damage was already done. It wasn’t the $25 key ring itself, it’s the fact that the feeling of trust was gone. This put everything about the entire job into question.

What else did I have in the car that might be missing now? Sunglasses, change in the ashtray, did they really do all the work they said they did? OMG! Let the stress test begin!!

Needless to say, the Manager was very apologetic, even saying “The oil change is on the house and here’s a coupon for half off on your next oil change. I truly am sorry this happened.” Next oil change… here? I don’t care if it’s free, I don’t think so.

That bond has been broken, which can’t be repaired and all this over a key ring. Not that she was ever guaranteed to spend a fortune on repairs in the future but the point is now she will never spend another dollar there.

Surely she would not consider buying another car there and if a friend ever asked for her recommendation on where to have repairs done or perhaps even to purchase a car, she can at least tell them where NOT to go.

Word of mouth and positive [or negative] referrals carry a ton of weight in todays world as people are very leary about being taken advantage of and fearful of letting go of their money in any type of monetary transaction.

While this unfortunate incident can not be attributed to the Dealership itself, unfortunately the actions of one individual has put the entire Dealership and all who work there under suspicion.

At the very least, they have lost one customer but in actuality it is impossible to guesstimate the true repercussions. And while you might say c’mon now, it was just a key ring! You’re right, It’s Just A Key Ring….but it encompasses so much more.

If you’ve had any type of similar experiences, I’d enjoy hearing about them. I always appreciate your comments and if you enjoyed reading this post, please pass it along to your friends.

FINALLY! And I gotta say, it’s about time. I was beginning to wonder if it would EVER happen again but fortunately for me, it did. After all the time I spent searching for it, I finally found that ‘spark’ again, that elusive ‘trigger’ that would reignite the fire within me. The ‘fuel’ necessary to keep the dream alive, allowing me to remain focused on achieving my goals. I found my WHY.

Yes, my WHY. Now, while that might sound crazy to some, I’m sure others can most definitely relate. We all need a reason. A reason to get out of bed in the morning, to go to work each day, to continue to struggle through the most difficult of times. A reason to persevere, to challenge anything and everything put in our paths, attempting to keep us from accomplishing our goals. Our reason why.

I don’t believe it is something that can be ‘manufactured’, it has to come from deep within us. A place that even we can’t manipulate. It has to be part of our heart, our soul, our true inner being. An invisible force propelling us forward, pushing us to break down any walls standing in our way.

It could be as simple as Fear. Fear of failure, a fear of commitment, even a fear of actually achieving your goal and wondering what lies ahead after that, whatever your fears may be, it takes a serious and dedicated commitment to conquer your fears and to remain focused on your goals.

Passion is also a huge part of the equation, an excellent reason why. When you’re passionate about something, don’t you feel as if you will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it happen? I know I sure do. If I’m passionate about it, I go at it full bore where as if I’m kinda ‘on the fence’ about it, I do what it takes to get it done but for the most part, not much more than that. Without passion, our ‘why’ doesn’t really stand a chance of survival.

That’s not to say that I won’t do a good job because I will. I don’t know the meaning of ‘half ass’, it’s not in my vocabulary. It’s not my nature to only do what’s necessary to ‘get by’. But with that being said, I also know that if I’m following my dreams, chasing something that I’m passionate about, then I go at it with a much stronger effort, giving it 150% of my time and effort until I’ve knocked it out of the ballpark. With passion comes a constant reminder of why.

I’m willing to bet that this is the same for most people. Of course there are those that are basically just ‘time milkers’ and they prefer to live their lives just getting by. Where good enough is good enough, why do anything ‘extra’? That is SO not me, not my way of thinking at all. I feel that true effort should have its own rewards. The more effort you put in to something, the more you get in return.

Doesn’t have to be a tangible ‘thing’, just a good feeling inside from a job well done. Or even knowing that you have helped someone else, that too can give you a feeling of satisfaction, another good reason ‘why’ that a job done ‘half way’ could never hope to provide.

So how do we go about discovering what truly motivates us, what it is that drives us to go above and beyond the call of duty, to do whatever it takes to accomplish our goals? A reason why? I feel that’s a very ‘individualistic’ thing and only we ourselves will know where our motivation lies.

For some of us, it’s family. Knowing that we have loved ones that need our love and support will give us the ‘never give up’ attitude that is critical to make it in todays world. For others, it could be personal growth that fuels our fire. And still for some, it might be as simple as money. Not to say that obtaining money is simple, it’s just that if you can narrow it down to a basic driving force, it will really help you to remain focused.

In fact, if your goal is to make a ton of money, it might help to have a good idea of exactly what it is that you’ll do with all your money once you have it. Why are you going to make all this money anyway? To provide for your family, friends, a new home, a car, a boat, something to that effect. Narrowing down your focus will help you to remain on the straight and narrow. Surely there will be bumps in the road, you can bet on it and you’ll want to continue moving forward despite the obstacles you’re likely to experience.

This is where I’ve been struggling so much over the last couple years. As I have continued to fall from the tallest sky scraper around, losing everything I ever owned [and more], not only have I lost all my ‘stuff’ but I’ve also lost all of my desire. My motivation, my passion, my reason for living, all of these driving forces have pretty much been erased from my memory and replaced by a ton of woulda coulda shouldas, all surrounded by lots of negativity. Most definitely not the best set of circumstances for a person attempting to ‘restart’ their life, that’s for sure.

And to be honest, it’s been a bit nerve racking to say the least. Losing your MOJO is very daunting. It’s not like you can go to the ‘MOJO Store’ and pick up a twelve pack of MOJO Juice and suddenly find all of your inspiration again. As I’ve come to learn, motivation doesn’t come in a bottle or a can. Dang it, sure wish it did. Things would be so much easier.

How does that saying go again? Inspiration, combined with Perspiration equals Motivation? Something like that. Anyway, I’m sure you get the point. It requires some form of action but action alone is not enough to keep you on the right track, to remain disciplined enough to keep going.

You have to have passion and that’s the part that scared me the most. I’d lost my passion and I had no idea how or IF I was ever gonna find it again. While I still had some of the same likes and dislikes, none of them seemed to hold enough ooomph for me to chase after them. As I mentioned earlier, I had pretty much gotten to the point that I didn’t really care whether or not I even got out of bed. EVER.

Heck, why would I? Nothing much going on, might as well lay here all day. Even the fact that I was more than likely gonna be livin’ in the back of my Honda Pilot [at least until they repo'd that as well] in the near future didn’t seem to be enough of a ‘spark’ to get me going. I don’t like to talk or think about giving up but to be honest, I came very close a few times to just sayin’ forget it and packin’ it in.

I started to envision myself as one of those guys standing on the freeway offramp, cardboard sign in hand. I’ve heard those guys make pretty good money so it wasn’t like I was TOTALLY giving up on everything, just 94% of me was throwin’ in the towel.

If it wasn’t for my dear friend Annabelle, I probably would have already given up but she wouldn’t let me. She always had such a way of putting things into perspective, showing me what was truly important and what was BS. I miss her more than words can even describe, she meant more to me than I could ever tell her. I wish she was here now so I could let her know that I think I finally found it. I finally found my why.

Sure, some people might consider me to be extremely superficial, saying that I’m out to impress other people, worried about keeping up with the Jones’ or even worse, attempting to cure a midlife crisis. All of these couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m in search of whatever it is that will make me happy again. That ‘something’ that will give me the answer to my why.

And to those that say “It’s just a car”, that would be like me saying “It’s just a family.” I’m not here to tell you your WHY is or isn’t any less important than mine is, it’s just different but as long as you find one, that’s all that matters.

I have to admit that finding true love WAS my main driving force in life. I quit drinking about four years ago in an effort to find the love of my life but that has turned out to be a complete disaster and so at this point I have more or less come to the conclusion that I am meant to be alone forever and like it or not, I better just get used to it. Not that I’m ‘giving up’, more like I’m ‘giving in’. Sometimes you have to know when to let it go.

After losing my Condo, along with another couple properties, I’m in no hurry to have another mortgage to deal with so even if I could afford it, I highly doubt I’d buy any property again. I wouldn’t mind having a rental property or two but besides that, no ‘mortgage stress’ is just fine with me.

So what’s left? What is it gonna take to get me fired up and motivated again. Travel? Another big dream I have is to travel the world, to explore the U.K., Europe, Australia, every exotic beach on the map. But is that enough of a driving force? Traveling alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and so that dream has lost a bit of its sparkle. Not that I don’t want to see the world, it’s just that it’s not as high on my list as it once was.

Jeez, no wonder I’ve been having so much trouble getting stoked on life again, my list is just about empty. It’s all starting to make sense to me now. If I was reading this Post about somebody elses life, I’d say they had every right to just pack it in and start looking for a spot on the sidewalk to set up their ‘Cardboard Condo’.

Unfortunately, this is MY story and so I have to deal with it. No other option. After whittling down my list of reasons to move forward, searching for my why, knowing full well that there are only a few other things in life that I’m passionate about, it’s come down to getting the car of my dreams.

Yep, a car. Now, I know most of you are saying “What is he thinkin’, a car? What kind of motivation is that?” I know, anybody can buy a car, no big deal. Well, I’ve been a ‘car guy’ forever, way before I even had a Drivers License. From day one I’ve loved foreign cars. BMWs and Porsches were my ‘thing’. Someday, someday, I continually told myself throughout the years but it wasn’t until about two years ago that the ‘dream’ finally came true. Better late than never I always say.

But along with everything else I lost, no doubt that losing my BMW hurt me the most. Property is one thing, losing ‘my dream’ was another thing entirely. Had to jump through some major hoops to get it and to see it leave, without me behind the wheel is something that I doubt I will ever forget. At least not any time soon.

Along with the ‘car’, I lost what little bit remained of my desire. My desire to succeed. After all, my dreams came to an end. What am I supposed to do after that, invent a ‘new’ dream? As I would come to learn, that wouldn’t exactly be too easy. How do you replace a dream you’ve had for almost your entire life? Especially one that manifested itself into fifty times better than anything I could have ever hoped it would be.

But replace it I must. Otherwise I’m destined for a life of zero. A life of nothing. Which really isn’t my style at all. I’m not here to merely survive, I’d much rather strive to thrive. To do my best despite my surroundings. All I need is a reason, a reason why.

I’ve always been into Antiques and Collectibles, I love things that are old, untouched and original. The number one rule in the Collectible World is “Rare is where it’s at” and I feel that way about most everything. If it’s very limited production, the only one in existence, that type of thing, then I get super excited about it.

So last Saturday I decided to pay a visit to the “Dream Store”, otherwise known as the Porsche Dealership. I’ll be the first to say that I HATE going to Car Dealerships of any kind. Just as soon as you set foot on the Lot, they are on you, wanting you to sign your life away on the dotted line. Although I have to admit it’s much better nowadays, with all the info available on the Internet they know that buyers are not the ‘sitting ducks’ they once were and the Salesmen [and Saleswomen] can’t really shoot fish in a barrel any more.

As I walked over to the new Panamera, anxious to see one in ‘real life’, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. While Porsche is known world wide for their World Class Craftsmanship, it’s taken me some time to get used to a four door 911 Porsche but I won’t hesitate to say it was damn nice. The interior was absolutely stunning and if I had a spare $150K and I was in the market for a four door sports car, I wouldn’t hesitate to look closer at one.

“Can I help you?” Uh oh, here comes the Sales guy and he’s looking at me like a sitting duck! “Oh, that’s ok. I just wanted to check the Panamera out for myself. I’ve read so much about them, I wanted to see one in real life.”

We talked for a bit and I found out that this Sales guy was actually pretty cool. Not your typical Dealer Dude, that’s for sure. No high pressure BS, just good info in a relaxed conversation. And as we got to talking, I asked the question that I had really come there to ask in the first place. The MAIN reason for my visit. Have to admit I was surprised by his answer. Very surprised.

“Do you plan on getting a 2010 GT3RS in any time soon?” There, I said it. The only car on my mind for the last couple years, if not longer and to see one ‘in the flesh’ would be a dream come true. Just like the 2007′s & ’08′s, of which there were only a total of 200 produced for the North American Market [including the fifteen that went to Canada], the 2010 GT3RS is limited to three per Dealership. They just started arriving in this country about two weeks ago and I’ve only heard about one up to this point, at a Dealership in Northern Calif. and they wanted $40K over sticker price. That’s one hell of a mark~up in my book.

As it turned out, the guy that bought the RS got it for $20K over Sticker because he had just spent $150K two weeks before on a new Panamera. I won’t go into the fact that he drove the RS off the showroom floor and immediately to a local ‘Go Fast Shop’ to have some modifications done to it. Not sure I’d have the guts to modify one of the most incredible cars in the world, especially when it’s BRAND NEW! Just above is a picture of Fred as he drove his new GT3RS off the Showroom floor and just below that is his car after the changes. Painted the wheels and trim pieces black, changed the stickers, modified the exhaust system among many other changes. Must be nice to have money like that.

To which the Salesman replied, “We just sold a new 2010 GT3RS earlier in the week. The buyer used his Orange 2008 GT3RS as a ‘trade in’. It’s sitting on the Showroom Floor if you want to take a look at it.” “IF I WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT IT?” I did my best not to RUN inside but I’d have to think he had a pretty good idea that I was interested in seeing it. You just don’t find these sitting on the Showroom Floor of your local Dealership. Most were purchased by Collectors and rarely for sale.

As I got closer to the large glass doors, I could see the orange reflection bouncing off of the other ten Porsches on the floor along with every other reflective surface near by. And then, there IT was. The Magic Pumpkin. I’m not a diehard fan of Orange but knowing full well that even when you’re rich, you don’t have a whole lot of choices when it comes to color, I’d be more than ecstatic to own this dream machine.

They were available in Orange, a unique shade of Green, an exotic looking Black and a light Silver. A very rare few were ‘special ordered’ in White and of course, with White being my favorite color for a car, if I could have my choice, I’d pick White for sure. And with the Ceramic Brakes and Yellow calipers, you’d have one of the rarest RS’s out there. Now THAT’S what I would call a dream come true.

Once I managed to roll my tongue up off the floor and back into my mouth, which enabled me to speak again, I asked a few more questions which lead to “Mind if I sit in it?” Fortunately for me he replied with an “Of course not, go ahead.” And with that, I adjusted the seat to my liking and made myself comfy. With the closing of the door, I knew I was home.

Alcantara Heaven, this leather filled dream machine sucked me in and I never wanted to leave. With only nine thousand miles, this baby is like brand new. And as hard as it was to believe, it looked like it was taken care of by someone that was as ‘detail crazy’ as I am, which was just icing on the cake.

Turns out it was owned by a guy that races RS Porsches just like it, professionally. Jeez, I guess when you drive one on the weekends, you need one for the weekdays. Sounds like one hell of a plan.

“Want me to take your picture?” “Heck Yeah!” So I hand him my iPhone and mumble a few instuctions. That was about the best I could do at that point considering how dizzy I was and all. After the ‘photoshoot’, I continued to stare at everything I could inside the car, wanting to absorb every little bit of the experience.

Right down to the deviating color of the stitching on the leather on the dash, seats, pretty much everywhere, this baby was full of options. Even had the original window sticker laying on the dash and as I glanced at it, trying to add it all up in my head as fast as I could, I realized the guy paid at least $150K for it back in ’08. Now THAT’S alot of money in anybodys book.

As I came back to reality, I reluctantly opened the door, proceeded to say goodbye to my ‘leather cocoon’ [for now] and stepped out of the car. I continued to take some pics of the outside of the car. While not wanting to look like a total dreamer, I knew this was a special occasion and wanted to take in as much of it as I could.

It’s priced right in line with the few others that are currently available throughout the Country at $125K, which might seem like a lot of money but considering that the 2010 GT3RS cost this guy right about $200K by the time he left the Dealership, $125K doesn’t look so bad!

I said my goodbyes and a big thank you for the experience. Again, not wanting to look like a ‘poser’ I did my best to contain myself but no doubt I left there a changed person. Changed for the better. I finally found my WHY and I couldn’t have been happier. Well, that’s not exactly true. I would have been MUCH happier had I been driving it off the showroom floor.

All the way home, I found myself going over all kinds of scenarios in my head. Different ways that I could some way come up with the money to make this happen. Yeah, it’s gonna take some time and a bunch of hard work but it IS possible. Anything’s possible! Why is it that the things that turn me on are always so damn expensive? Just my luck I guess. I don’t like them because they cost a lot of money, I like them because I like them. Period. It’s not MY fault they cost a flippin’ fortune!

To be honest, I really don’t care what it costs. I’m just so grateful to have finally found a reason to get out of bed in the morning, to work hard, to strive to thrive. To me, it’s priceless. This won’t completely erase the fact that I won’t have a woman to cruise around in it with me BUT I have a strong feeling I’ll be having such a good time that I probably won’t even notice I’m alone.

And if you happen to see a White GT3RS with the Vanity Plate “MY~WHY”, go ahead and wave. Chances are I’ll pull over and give you a ride. Who knows, you just might find YOUR WHY while we’re haulin’ a$$ around town!

Yes, you’re right. I should have known better. And even though I didn’t want to face facts, I had an idea it might happen but yet, I still had to try. If I never tried, I never would have known for sure and that feeling of not knowing, gnawing away at me wouldn’t have been any less painful and so I had to give it my best shot and let the cards fall where they may.

I decided to make my own Mind Movie. Now, I’m sure most of you out there know what I’m referring to but for those that don’t here’s a quickie explanation. Basically a Mind Movie is a ‘Vision Board’ turned in to a Video, streaming along with the music of your choice. Meant to inspire you to chase after your dreams, remain focused on your goals and to pursue your passions. While a Vision Board is just a static collection of pictures meant to inspire you, a Mind Movie has much more of an impact on the mind. You are also able to add various pieces of text, here ‘n’ there which adds a bit of a ‘subliminal messaging’ kind of a feel to your movie.

All of this in hopes of helping to remind you of why you’re going through all the daily stuggles, the trials and tribulations of life and enabling you to stay focused on your goals and dreams. We all can use a constant reminder to help us stay on track, a way of keeping the negativity at bay.

So I began to make a list of most of the ‘things’ I wanted for myself, my family and my friends. Not necessarily just things in a tangible sense, like cars, etc. but basically the way I wanted my entire life to be overall.

First step, gotta be Google to find lots of pictures to fill my Video with. Next thing you know, I have too many pictures but I can always narrow it down to the chosen few. OK, I now have a pretty good idea of which ones I’ll use here. Some aren’t exactly what I’d hoped for but they will do as reminders to help me stay focused and on track.

Then it’s on to finding the right music to go along with my movie. Hmmm…. should I get something to pump me up, like a Rocky Theme or something along those lines? Or perhaps one of my favorite songs? One that brings back good memories, back when life was good? Not that life was ever really that good but with time comes faded memories and some of the bad stuff has a way of disappearing. Hmmm, with or without lyrics? Jeez, didn’t realize that this would be the most difficult part. Finally had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. Now, how to get that song downloaded, saved and then add it to my video.

That whole process turned out to be a project in itself but again, thanks to Google and all the other wonderful people on the internet that have had to struggle with that as well, I was able to find the info needed to tackle it and so I finally had my song of choice added to my video.

Of course, it was then that I noticed the rather large discrepancy between the length of my song and the timeline of my pictures. No need to worry, I still have to add in all the text boxes, the subliminal messaging and so with those added to the mix, should help to lengthen the video overall and bring things a little more in line. I wanted the pictures to end at the exact same time as the song. I mean, what self respecting music video director/producer/editor would have it any other way?

Hadn’t realized how difficult it was going to be to come up with ‘stuff’ to say, meaningful little messages to myself throughout the video that would inspire and motivate me. And so off to You Tube I went in search of other Mind Movies to find a bit of inspiration. I began noticing that they were all basically very similar. “Here’s my Yacht, Here I am flying my plane, Here I am driving my new Lamborghini.” I didn’t want such a ‘generic’ video, one that was more or less a one size fits all. I wanted my video to be a bit more personalized, like my pictures are and so I decided to go through the pictures I had already selected and add my ‘sayings’ according to the different places and things in my storyline.

Wow, I’m kinda liking this. It’s finally starting to take shape. So after adding all my text, my song was still longer than the length of my video. Not wanting the song to come to an abrupt ending, just when the vibes were starting to feel really good, I needed to add a few pictures in various places in order to make everything copasetic at the end. Voila, looks like everything lines up. Pictures and the audio all seem to stop in the same place. Damn I’m good! But something’s still not quite right. Hmmm….

Got it! The song just goes so great with the pictures but things would flow even better if the pictures were arranged to go with certain parts of the song. I had no idea how addicting this video editing thing can be but what a difference it’s making. Syncing the pictures with the high and lows of the music really adds to the feeling of the pictures, the text and the overall video. So after a bit more tweaking, I had to call it done. While there are still a couple things I’d like to change, overall I’m reasonably happy with the finished product. Especially for my first attempt at a music video. HA, HA!

BRYANS MIND MOVIE

OK then, save it to my computer and I’m done. Now I have a video I can watch any time I wanna get motivated, stoked on life. Then it occured to me, might as well add it to my You Tube Channel. I haven’t posted a new video there in months so no doubt I really need to anyway. This should work out great, way under the ‘time limit’ that You Tube specifies and giving my subscribers a little more inside info on me as a person has to be a good thing, right?

A couple of clicks and let the uploading begin. While that’s going on, I’m filling in the video title, description, tags, all that stuff and after a few minutes I get the message that everything has uploaded and I’m good to go. Woo Hoo, mission accomplished! Another video added to my Channel. Then up pops the message saying that the audio portion of my video has been disabled, muted, shut down. What? Disabled? How can that be? They say that it’s a copyright issue but this song is on tons of other You Tube videos so it really makes no sense. Then they send me a link to some ‘library’ of random BS songs that are nowhere near the right length, let alone the same ‘feeling’ of my video. After spending all that time editing, making sure the song was aligned with the pictures the best way I could, just wasn’t gonna happen. Wouldn’t do my video justice to have some other random song playing on it, no way.

Of course I took it a bit further to see how others were getting around this situation and basically, if your video is muted by WMG then you are out of luck. So after looking over the library of offerings, just in case I could find something ‘close’ that will allow me to post the video anyway, I see that now they have removed my video entirely. Who knows what happened, just a complete removal. I guess my video was just so damn good that they felt threatened by my editing skills as well as the use of ‘their’ song. I did see a couple places where people mentioned that this whole copyright thing should be worked out sometime in January but I’m not gonna hold my breath, that’s for sure.

So it looks as if I’m going to have to keep my Mind Movie to myself, which is how it was originally intended anyway. Kind of a shame as I wanted to be able to see it when I went to my You Tube Channel but I don’t want to risk having my entire Channel deleted, so I’m not about to press the issue.

Then it occured to me, I wonder if I can post it on my own Blog? Might as well give it a shot. As far as I know, they can’t delete my WordPress.org Blog so I really shouldn’t have anything to lose. Well, looks like I was finally able to pull it off. I seem to have my Mind Movie posted within my blog post, right where it belongs. I can’t say it wasn’t a battle as it surely was but seeing as how I’m just too dumb to know when to quit, my perseverance has pulled me through and I have been able to conquer something that as of a few days ago was just kickin’ my butt. Woo Hoo, GO ME!!!

So let this be a lesson to others out there that hope to have their video on You Tube, better check with the library first. You have been warned…..

]]> http://www.bryangira.com/2009/11/i-have-been-warned-or-should-i-say-warnered/feed/ 2 http://www.bryangira.com/2009/11/can-you-be-too-smart/ http://www.bryangira.com/2009/11/can-you-be-too-smart/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:44:41 +0000 Bryan B. Bloggin http://www.bryangira.com/?p=180

What the heck was that? As it approached, I had no idea what it was. And since I’m such a car buff, I was personally offended that I even had to ask myself that question in the first place. Yet there it was, driving by right in front of my eyes and I seriously had to ask myself what I was seeing.

We have all noticed that as gas prices and insurance costs continue to skyrocket, as “GREEN” becomes the ‘in thing’ and so many changes have taken place around the globe regarding transportation in general, cars are getting smaller, safer and more fuel efficient.

While I try to stay semi up on the latest hybrids, deisels, electric powered, even hydrogen powered offerings from all over the world, somehow this still hit me as an extremely odd vehicle. The overall lines, let alone the size seemed familiar but yet as I looked closer, something just wasn’t right. What on earth could this be?

I thought to myself, “Has something completely new hit the market? A car that I was totally unaware of? How did it get past my ‘Bradar’?” Not that I am in any way an expert on the latest auto offerings but since I do love cars, mostly high end European sports cars and Woodies, I scower many various online sites and so I’m exposed to lots of new vehicles along the way. Yet this little machine still had me doing a double take. I take great pride in being as prepared as possible in many situations and nothing worse than being unprepeared for the latest trend, even though I’m more of a trendsetter than a follower. And even if I’m not that ‘into it’, I still want to be able to interact with others that are passionate about all the different niche vehicles available today.

Luckily ‘it’ stopped at the signal up ahead. As I did my best to decipher exactly what it was that I was viewing, that’s when it struck me. I finally figured out what the heck it was under all that ‘bolt on’ drama. I recognized that emblem. I think most anybody, car afficianado or not, would recognize that little ‘circle of heaven’. Of course, those that aren’t true car lovers might think this was another ‘add on’, just another attempt to fool the masses but if you are up on your ‘carknowledge’ then you already know that the manufacturer of these vehicles is indeed Mercedes Benz.

Like everyone else on earth, the first thing you think is “How on earth could MB be involved with a car like this?” As it turns out, these little babies have passed every test needed, Safety, Mileage, etc. to allow them to be sold in this country. The US has the most stringent requirements on earth and if you can market and sell your car here, you can more or less sell it anywhere in the world. Except of course for the Communist countries, that’s an entirely different animal. Who knows what the heck is going on in those countries. You can buy a brand new car there for $2000.00, how can you compete with that? I think it even comes with a ‘Thirty Minute or Thirty Foot Warranty’, whichever comes first, so it has that going for it. But regardless of my thoughts, if Mercedes Benz is going to build and market these cars, they deserve a bit of respect in the auto world.

So that was it, I finally figured it out. It was a Smart Four Two. I still question myself every time I see one of these as to just how smart the owners are for buying them but I have to do my best to keep an open mind about it. Who on earth would want to look in their rearview mirror and continually see the license plate of the car behind them, towering high above their head? Personally, I sure wouldn’t but that’s just me. And therefore I really need to work hard to keep an open mind.

Just as I need to keep an open mind as it relates to my favorite marque, Porsche, building that uglier than ugly Panamera. The Cayenne SUV was hard enough to swallow but I can easily see how it relates in its attempt to get a piece of the huge world wide SUV market. But a giant luxury four door sedan, with the worst rear three quarter view on the market today, still not feelin’ it. Especially when the luxury four door ‘saloon’ market is flooded with all kinds of high end heaven, not too sure how big of a piece Porsche could even hope to garner. Yet I’m sure they did their research long before they ever began production so it’s just a matter of time to see how all that pans out.

As I stared at this ‘thing’ in front of me a bit more, I realized why I had so much trouble guessing what it was. The endless amount of bolt on ‘bling’ had rendered it more or less unrecognizable. Perhaps this was exactly what the owner had hoped to achieve, some way to ‘disguise’ it and if so, well done. The original vehicle was more or less nowhere to be found. Although the basic platform was there, it seemed as if this was almost more of a trailer full of aftermarket parts as opposed to an improvement over the original factory offering. Yet there was no tow vehicle in sight. To each his own, I reckon, but one would have to wonder just exactly what the heck this guy was thinking. I truly wonder if he isn’t asking himself that question as well but after spending all that money on all those ‘extras’, he’s left with no other option than to leave everything on there ‘as is’ and just act as if it’s his dream come true. Whether it is or not.

Tires and Wheels, Body Kit, Paint Wrap, Tinted Windows, Suspension Kit, Exhaust System, Trick Lights and these were just things that I noticed while sitting at the signal. Who knows how much other ‘stuff’ was inside and under the hood. I have a good feeling there was more than likely an upgraded Stereo, GPS, maybe more interior ‘doo dads’ and who even knows what’s going on under the hood. That list alone is so overwhelming I hate to even begin adding more to it. Yet this guy (girl?) felt that too much could never be enough. What’s even more amazing is the fact that all this aftermarket ‘crap’ is even available for these cars. I had to remember than even tough this particular car has only been available in this country for a relatively short time, it has been marketed around the world much longer. To be honest there really isn’t a car built these days that doesn’t have a ton of available aftermarket goodies built just for it.

Light turns green and there it goes. Wwwaaaaaaaaaa, wwwwaaaaaaaahhhhhh, wwwwwaaaaaaa…… the ‘new’ exhaust resonating as it bounced down the street. Yes, I said bounced. It appeared that the new lowered suspension had in some way compromised the original ride, making it appear even more like a toy than an actual car and a bad riding toy at that. To each his own, I guess. Yet I had to wonder when too much was too much. It was more than obvious that common sense was indeed sacrificed in the chase for individuality and while I am a huge advocate of those that blaze their own trail, I was still left having to ask the question, “When is enough too much?”

To all of you out there that prefer to fly your own “Freedom Flag”, I commend you as that’s what makes the world what it is today. Without those that choose to create their own way in this world, those ‘free thinkers’ that aren’t afraid to do what they want in life despite what others may think and feel, we might still be riding in horsedrawn wagons and buggies, being pulled along by “Rusty” and dodging the numerous ‘road apples’ along the way. It’s diffcult to say for sure but it is something to consider. So to all of you out there that choose to pave their own path, my hat is truly off to you. But I still have to ask that common sense be taken into consideration when searching for ways to show your individuality.

Which brings us back to my original thought, which is how do you know when too much really is too much? If you have endless time on your hands and plenty of extra money? Then who cares, I guess you can think way outside your box, whatever that box may consist of. But when you are spending more money, time and effort in an attempt to individualize and enhance your SMART(?) car to the point that you have spent so much more than it would have cost you to get a new BMW 335i Convertible and the credibility that comes along with owning a truly desirable vehicle, that’s when you really have to ask yourself, “Are you TOO SMART for your own good?”