Hello.

Happy Birthday.

I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday. A normal, altruistic person would
have put on a happy voice and sucked it up for the guy who is
always there for her, but fortunately, I am neither normal or
altruistic. Thus, I didn't want to call and end up moaning and
bitching about how much my life blows sheep.

But I have to at least say something, because it is not everyday that
my beloved Jason turns thirty. So at least over email, I can sound
happy! and enthusiastic! and focused on you and only you!

I know turning thirty must be at least a little weird, but I genuinely
think you should enjoy every minute of moving out of your angsty
and tumultuous twenties. When I first met you, your life was a little
bit on the challenging side, to say the least. You seemed really
unhappy and confused about Jess, and we spent a lot of time
dicussing what we really wanted and needed out of our lives and
our significant others. Now, a few years later, it seems as if you've
made all the right choices and fulfilled those goals you had back
then. You've found the right girl for you, the one that does the
things we spent so much time talking about. You've got everything
put together - the job, the girl, the cars, the home - and I'm really
really happy to see you where you are now. I know that not
everything is always perfect and that there are bad days, but it
seems like, on the whole, you are a much happier person who
really enjoys life.

So happy birthday, and here's to starting a new decade of what
promises to be some truly wonderful times. Enjoy it. Be happy.
Marry Kate. Buy more cars. Have little Jkrates. Always know that I'm
really impressed by the person you've become since I met you, and
that the way you've chosen to live your life gives me inspiration on
some of the hardest days.

Much love and best wishes for an excellent year,
MJ


*****

Thanks more than you will know doll =)

You will either hear an annoying high pitched tone or um... nothing. Tell me if you can or can't!

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I don't know why but this birthday is one of the best I've ever had. I know it's minute and silly but I have gotten all these totally random calls today from friends, ex co-workers, parents et al and it really makes me appreciate what I have and who I have to share it with.

Maybe this happens to you every year but I'll be honest with you, I don't let many people get close to me for my own personal crazy reasons and over the past year or so, I've finally started becoming someone for whom people want to know. I guess it shows because for once in my life, I have true friends. I dunno, maybe it's something people take for granted but I just wanted to take a moment and appreciate it =)

Anyhoo, thanks for the well wishes dooders. I'm going back to crawl under my desk and look at my gray hair and wrinkles.

She likes to take pictures of stuff and things... here's her little photo project from the dub show.



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Tell yer friends if they are in the market for a 21 year old car that's slow as shit and smells like dog shampoo =)

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/car/213030803.html

*sniff

and I want a cat.

That is all.

Well, fall is finally upon us and that means show season is finally over with. I've been AWOL for quite sometime so I assume an update of sorts is definitely overdue.

The past week was hectic as all hell while Kate and I prepared for the last show of the season in Ocean City, MD. Last minute details and what not got the best of me and I guess it took it's toll on my body as I got sick as soon as I passed over the MD line and it kicked my ass all the way to Sunday morning when I finally started feeling better.

I must say, when you feel like absolute shite, you can't swallow due to a swollen set of tonsils and all you want to do is sleep, but when you get to spoon with yer GF and it suddenly makes you feel better, it makes you appreciate yer better half. Friday night when I was feeling my worst, kate and I went to the supermarket, got ingredients for grilled cheeses and soup and went home and cooked. I know that is fairly boring but it really was nice to feel "at home" hundreds of miles away from yer real home. I dunno, I guess it was just a little thing like that that made me love her even more.

The weekend was awesome though. The missus and I rented a FANTASTIC place that was far away from the crazy parties in town and was about 3 blocks away from where all of our friends were renting houses as well. Sooo, thanks to kate's perfect ability to surf craigslist, we got a three bedroom house in the middle of the woods with a porch, enclosed sunroom etc etc for 250$ for the whole weekend.

We drove both of the girls down and didn't have any issues getting to the ocean which was a plus. It was also nice to get there a day early because Friday was spent working on the final touches on one of our friends cabby (who took first place I might add) and generally lazing around the house like a real married couple.

Saturday we spent it driving around to various get togethers and cruising up and down the strip. At one of the final get togethers, we ran into an old friend from way back in the day who had flown in from Arizona just for the show and we offered up a room for him to stay. It was really nice introducing kate to some old buddies and catching up on funny stories.

Sunday, we rushed to the show bright and early and set up the car and tent and frantically cleaned for judging but we knew as soon as we got there that we were outgunned by the other competition. The car next to us was completely torn down and repainted with fresh paint and brand new parts so it put a pretty dark disheartening cloud over my shoulders for an hour or so until I just shrugged it off and decided to just have fun at the show.

Kate and I walked around the show handing out our stickers for the jkrate.com site (coming soon) and talking to new friends we had met over the web over the past several months. Betty got LOADS of attention and even got shot by the PVW camera jockys which made my day as well!

We went to the VW booth where there was something called a carfessional. Essentially, VW took a new limo-tinted jetta and hooked it up with wifi, a camera and a massive video screen in the dash. The tv would talk to you and you would have two minutes to say whatever you wanted to VW and they would then possibly use it in a commercial.

So, kate and I decided to do what any couple would do, we crawled into the back seat and made out for 120 seconds. The look on the VW guy's face was priceless as we crawled out of the back doors when our time was up and casually walked away from the car.

Betty didn't even place at the show and definitely humbled my beliefs that she was a top dog show winner but it taught me a lesson and I now know the difference between winning a local show and winning one of the nations largest shows. If we intend to win anything at this show again, we are definitely going to need to step things up MANY more notches. All in due time I guess. I came away with a lot of inspiration, many new friends and all in all a stronger love for the VW brand once again.

Betty will probably be put up for sale this winter. Hopefully she will go to a great home but for right now, it's just not in our budget to take her to the next level. I'm sure there is someone out there with the means to really make her shine but it's not in the cards for Kate and I. That and I have the bug for an older VW and maybe cleaning up that Speedster now =)

All in all it was a great time. The drive home was awesome while we were escorted by several other dubbers along the way and kate and I even got to mess around with a soccermom in a Merc SUV who was quite possibly the worst driver of all time. AT one point on the bridge, she cut off kate so I, of course, sped up around the two cars, severely cut off the Merc and Kate then came around both of us so we were in front again. Highway justice I say ;)

Waking up without kate is totally lame though. Time to put a rock on that dame's finger...

As you all know, I do an annual mix CD set for all the kiddies rolling over to the last VW show of the year in Ocean City. The show is called H20 International (new VW's are water cooled, hence the H20) and it's a MASSIVE show. Like massive massive.

I spent a good 2 months securing the rights to all the songs (excpet George Clinton...sorry dude, you should have called back) etc etc so it's kind of a labour of love to me and it's just getting better each and every year.

Anyhoo, the CD mix set is dropping tomorrow but I know a bunch of the VW kids are regular viewers of my blog sooooo, my gift to you, the mixes a whole 12 hours before I unleash them on vwvortex.com =)



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*Note for those who will burn the mixes... this year I mixed everything up so don't forget to set the song gaps to "0" seconds so it's continuous okes?

Enjoy!

p.p.s. Please don't leak this to anyone or start any threads on the tex. I have something special for the unveiling planned ;)

It took Daniel Lainé, three years 1988 - 1991) of effort and intense diplomatic steps to realize this fantastic work. During this period, he was able to photograph 70 sovereigns, descendants of the great African dynasties.


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Is some scary shit indeed...

Well, kate and I are getting pretty good at this whole restoring cars thing. Sooo, winter's coming and what to do during the winter besides spooning under the covers and making out a lot? Restoring another car! That's what.

If everything goes according to plan, I will have a nice heated garage of my own to work in and maybe we will sell Betty (don't tell Betty) to
a) pay off my debt
b) take a next step with the missus and
c) get this car...

Behold!




1978 champagne edition II, number 13 in production
1.6 liter original engine with 140000 miles
4 speed transmission
fresh air fan but NO AC
AM radio

In tallahassee florida. May god have mercy on our souls if we attempt to drive it back to VA =)

Big

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Really cool ideas. Think I may want to try to make a few of these for the lil' lady =)


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Kind of gross but undoubtedly something I would do if my dog killed stuff and brought it home.



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Well, good thing to know it only takes exactly 1.5 blocks for a brand new serpentine belt to snap coming from the mechanic.

*sigh

Maybe I can drive tomorrow =(

Next time, could you please make it so when you design engine bays, do you think you could make the alternator a little bit more accessible to reach instead of making it only touchable by taking off THE ENTIRE FRONT END OF THE CAR?

Bastards.

Let's take a look at how VW has progressed through the years...

Below is a shot of my MK2. Betty. She's a simple, care free girl with a spirited attitude towards life. Need to work on her? No problem! Easy as cake. And the alternator? Right there for the world to see!



Now, take Dara. She's a prima donna. Shiny and sleek. While with Betty's engine, you could fit an entire mexican family in the extra space, you couldn't fit a, well, you can't fit anything in there because there is no extra space.



So yeah, $974 dollars later, Dara will be right as rain again. Meanwhile, I'll be here at my desk weeping silently.

Someone tell me why this was on the stockphoto site under "forest"?

In a scary dark shop with no one to talk to. Tomorrow they operate.

God speed shiny chariot. God speed.

Ambien awakens persistent vegetative state victims (from boingboing.net)

This story, in today's Guardian, is just mind-blowing. The common sleeping pill zolpidem, sold in the US under the name Ambien, can reverse serious brain damage and wake up patients in persistent vegetative states!
The hospital ward sister, Lucy Hughes, was periodically concerned that involuntary spasms in Louis's left arm, that resulted in him tearing at his mattress, might be a sign that deep inside he might be uncomfortable. In 1999, five years after Louis's accident, she suggested to Sienie that the family's GP, Dr Wally Nel, be asked to prescribe a sedative. Nel prescribed Stilnox, the brand name in South Africa for zolpidem. "I crushed it up and gave it to him in a bottle with a soft drink," Sienie recalls. "He couldn't swallow properly then, but I helped him and sat at his bedside. After about 25 minutes, I heard him making a sound like 'mmm'. He hadn't made a sound for five years.
"Then he turned his head in my direction. I said, 'Louis, can you hear me?' And he said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Say hello, Louis', and he said, 'Hello, mummy.' I couldn't believe it. I just cried and cried."

Zolpidem seems to work on PVS patients about 60% of the time, and is effective in the treatment of other brain injuries. Parts of the brain considered "dead" because of zero activity (but not deterioration or necrosis) return to life. It's not a cure -- the pill must be taken on an ongoing basis -- but it is a nearly-miraculous treatment.

As wonderful as this is, the legal and ethical implications are unsettling. Will people who have "pulled the plug" on loved ones in persistent vegetative states in recent years read this news with the horrible realization that the now-dead partner or relative might have been saved with a $5 pill? Could a lawyer for family members opposed to the termination of care for a PVS patient sue the family members who chose to do so, and win?

Trials are set to begin in the next few months in South Africa. The original discover of zolpidem, Sanofi-Aventis, has chosen *not* to participate -- no doubt because the drug is no longer controlled by a patent.

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Yeah, so I have these cars... Dara was purchased back in the summer of 2000. I didn't even test drive her. I walked into the showroom with my mom, asked for silver, was told silver was sold out so I asked if they had black. Black was in stock so I told them that's the one I wanted.

The first time I ever drove a MK4 VW, let alone a VR6, was driving off the lot with my mom in the passenger seat.

Dara, was named after my first VW. A 1985 2.0 litre 4-door golf. Some think I wasn't really too creative in naming the second dub but here is a little back story about her and hopefully those who have gone through the story will like to hear it again and for those who don't really "get" cars will learn a little about how and why I have such a weird relationship with them in general.

I was in my last years of college. I was a jeep owner when I first got to Savannah, Georgia. It was a simple 4 banger, 2.5 litre engine. No AC, bare bones jeep that I had a 2" lift kit installed and was rocking 33's under the fenders. I had the jeep (don't even think she had a name. I think it was sheena or sheila or something) for close to two years and decided the brute force of the jeep should be given up for something I was closer to, the fun little hatchback.

Mom and I drove to a few dealers looking for a used VW to no avail until one night we went to springfield VW and talked to a nice dealer who was REALLY into dubs. He would tell of a story about how he gave a honda the "three wheel salute" on the highway at 120 mph. (A MK3 VW, when turned quickly, will lift up the rear wheel due to it's solid rear axle assembly).

I was sold. We took off with my brand new (used) 95 dub. I loved it. I worked on that thing everyday and it even got me down to art school for the last year there. While in savannah, I met a guy named Popsie who was a tech at the local VW dealer who said he could swap in a VR6 engine in my little 2.0. I was game and was told this is a fairly simple swap so I bit and gave him my car.

For two months.

Two loooong months. My best buddy dave would constantly let me borrow his car or drive me the 40 miles to popsies house every weekend to check up on him but as luck would have it, it would never be finished. School was ending soon and my patience was shot so one day Dave and I went to popsies house and demanded my car be put back together. Popsie dumped the old engine back in the bay without hooking ANYTHING back up i.e. coolant hoses, AC control etc etc and I was on my way, limping the whole time.

Dara selflessly gave her life to get me back home that year. She drove like a champ 800 miles back to my house, hurting the entire way. A week after I got home, my mom and I drove in Dara to the closest VW dealer and sadly, Dara died on the lot. RIGHT ON THE LOT. It was terribly sad and I even shed a little tear if I remember correctly. Before I went inside, I crawled under the dash and pulled her door chime relay out to hopefully transplant in the new car I bought later on.

I know some of you don't believe it but car's have souls. Dara stayed alive just long enough to get me to that lot. I totally believe it. Ask my mom if you think this is exaggerated.

Anyhoo, she was traded in for a brand spanking new 2000 VR turbo that was brought in fresh off the boat that week by one of the international dealers. Now I had leather and wood trim and heated seats. Far too much car for me at the time let alone in present day but I gladly drove the shit out of that car and still do =)

Dara was once a spunky little 4-door and now she has turned into a euro-trash finnicky little bitch. If I don't drive her every day, she runs like shit but if I show her attention, she drives like a champ. And now that I have another car in the carport right next to her, she has been feeling a little left out lately. I haven't spent a dime on her this season and she hasn't been to a single car show.

I can understand why she is mad at me and I paid for it in spades last night. Dara was driving kate and I around and all of a sudden she started beeping loudly at me telling me the alternator was done.

Ok, an alternator, seems simple enough. $150 bucks. Easy peasy right? Nah. Not in this car dude. I can't cram a piece of paper in the engine bay let alone get the alternator out without removing the entire front clip. Not an easy job.

More like a $1200 job. here, I'll bold that for ya, $1200 FUCKING DOLLARS.

Oh well, I guess that's the price you pay to cram 20 pounds of shit into a 5 pound sack.

*sigh, just when I was getting a handle on my debt, I get smacked down to square one again

Kate and I are making business cards for jkrate (finally). It's essnetially a design shop started by the both of us. She'll be the photo nerd and I will be the design nerd.

*** edit ***
To answer my buddy Mau, yeah, I am going for a very simplistic look for this one. Something a bit hush hush, less is more kind of feel. I want the receiver to think it's cool and secretive and want to make him go to the site to see what this is all about. Think Men in Black business cards. I'd even possibly want to not even have a logo at all. Just the name and contact info to be uber secret =)
*** edit ***


Soooo, there are two options. The card stock will be a smooth uncoated matt finish with rounded corners.

Option 1: (when two cards are put together it forms the name) Kate's idea, which I LOVE.


Option 2: (just a simple logo mark on the front, possibly in silver foil)


And the back, clean and simple:

Just look at it. A fresh mail server without spam and ads for increasing my penis size or letters from the prince of zimbabwe telling me that I should help him transfer 6,000,000$ dollars to his account.

*sigh

I give it two hours before I get offers for Viagra and cum-guzzling teens who can't get enough of the dog cock.

Well, the switch has been made. Still trying to fix some bugs. Oh and if you ever switch to a different server in the future, let this be a lesson to you and save your email before moving houses. Yeah, passwords and what not would be quite helpful right now.

Wheeeee!

Why do I have to feel so unstable lately. I woke up this morning and quickly thought of suicide. Now before you start running to the alarm button, it was just a quickly passing thought. I thought to myself what it would be like to not go on anymore and of course quickly turned to what was on the news at the moment and didn't think of it again. But it has happened before and my doc did warn me about it so at least I'm receptive to my thoughts.

I would never do it because thats such a chicken shit way out plus I'm too lazy to go about some overdramtic event such as suicide anyways. I mean, I'll spend 8 straight hours painting a valve cover so I might as well go balls out for some crazy, over the top suicide attempt if I ever do it right?

If I really had to kill myself I would probably want to scheme up a plan that would get the most news coverage as possible. Something creative and funny that would at least be remembered for awhile. Something that would make the people who I knew would be torn up at least cry and admit to themselves "Hey, it was very "Jason" after all. Gotta at least laugh at that right?"

So if you see me stocking up on live turkeys, smoke grenades, receipts for hiring out 500 parachuting clowns and 3 wild buffalo, start planning the intervention.

Life has been kinda lame lately anyway. I'm sure I'm just going through a phase where I'm bored to death but kate and I aren't doing that great and it's starting to worry me. I was talking to my e-friend today and I think I summed it up perfectly...

I dunno, kate seems disinterested which is causing me to act emotionally needy which in turn makes me look like a whining bitch based on my insecurities.

so whatevs. I really need to start changing my life around soon. I'll be 30 in a few weeks. I'll be out of shape and old with a hot gf and if I don't clean my shit up, I'll be out of shape and old and alone.

Wow, rainy days sure make me act like a shitneck. Please hurry up son. I'm too depressed today and I want to feel better soon.

On the plus side, I nailed a concept review at work with some really good shit that totally got me some brownie points. Too bad one of the people here thinks I'm a hack. It was everything I could do not to correct them when they asked me quite bluntly "I don't know if you've had any formal design training but "crisp" is an industry buzzword and you should know what it means."

Come again?

Yeah, switching to a new server soon so the blog may be dead for a bit. Try to control yourselves as I'll be back as soon as possible with more stuff to waste your workday on.

Wish me luck.

XOXO

Awwww, I'm offically in the gear-head club hahaha

So yeah, it was pouring rain. We were hungry. We ran for it. Close to 5 city blocks to the car in the pouring rain. After about half way, the running kind of turned into walking and lots of laughing. Oh well. It seemed shorter at the time =)

Man I love being stupid with you.

t-shirt design for the last show of the season wheeeeee

that in the past three months, I have been more creative than I have been in 5 years and it all centers around cars.

I have a feeling that my generation has been brought up on being lazy and have had the mentality of "do it half assed" beaten into their brains over and over again until it really becomes the truth.

I struggled through the first two years of college because I was simply doing something I hated. I hated law, I hated university, I hated greek life, I hated going to the same jock parties and drinking the same cheap beer. It just got old fast. It wasn't who I was and I knew it. I was just too lazy to do anything about it. Then art school came around and it felt like it was just too easy. I ended up taking over classes with my best friend dave and we pretty much had the run of the school.

Now I wouldn't say I was great at what I did, because I have never felt that way and I can only name 3-4 people who have just floored me design-wise since I started in this field, buuuuut I can say that I certainly got bored a lot. Anyone can learn computer skills and the sad thing is that modern art schools do just that. They teach you how to use design programs and send you on your merry way into the real world to produce shite work which has no business being created in the first place.

My first job was a complete clusterfuck. I went in thinking my shit didn't stink and was immediately brought down to my place. My boss, who is still one of the best designers I have met, taught me so much more than what was given to me in school that I at least got a nice foundation to start with.

Then it was job after job. Each one taught me what I liked and didn't. Each one provided instruction and made me realise what I excelled and failed at.

But then there were cars during this whole process. I was into cars before I could drive. And even after I got my first piece of shit car (I LOVED that thing to death though mom, thanks!) I knew I had some sort of bug but never put the two together. I mean, I had probably taken apart my little CRX over a dozen times while I had it. It was my little baby that no one could touch and I did my best to make it the most unique car on the street on my teen-aged budget.

The years passed but the idea stayed the same. The only difference was how much money I was making which lead to how much I could modify my car.

And now I have an award winning car that I pretty much hand built from scratch with the excellent assistance of my future wife no less. (How much luckier can one human being get?) I have a job where I get to come up with ideas out of nowhere. "Nothing is impossible" is the new mantra my boss has been hammering into my skull since I got here.

I like that idea. I like it a lot.

Some may not appreciate it but I am finally able to come up with ideas that lead to spectacular results and the amazing thing, IT IS FINALLY COMING EASY TO ME. That isn't meant to sound cocky, it's just supposed to mean that I have finally settled into a place where I enjoy going to work every morning or a hobby where I can't sleep because I am so excited to work on a new idea for the car.

I have never been able to say that before when it comes to work or design. It's a very good feeling indeed.

A gruesome photo of a seal having it's face ripped off

The Orca Whale by Jason Kress

The Orca is actually better known in the whale world as "The Gentle Face Ripper". This name was given to them by the early Iriquoi indians after their long journey from South Africa to America. Although the journey was full of many perilous obsticles, the largest danger was running into the many Orca's that roamed the Atlantic ocean.

Feasting mainly on seals and penguins, the Orca was also known to attack sea-goers with wreckless abandon with it's signature attack move of tearing off the face of their prey. This gruesome trait lead way to their current nickname.

A little known historical fact is the Iriquoi indians were almost 2 million in number but due to the repeated Orca attacks during the Great Indian Manifest Destiny of 1429, indian numbers dwindled to a paltry sum in the thousands.

You know, decided to take out the beaters for a spin...

About two weeks ago I get this IM from a buddy of mine:

derrickito: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110025420159 spread this around the net like fire!
jkrewdotcom: BAHAHAHAHA
derrickito: make daddy some money!

Well, ok, that's remotely funny albeit fake but still funny how in depth he went to make a joke...

Until I see this article this morning: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14626163/

The boy made 500 fucking dollars with that joke. I am totally not doing it right haha

zamboni: hey!
jkrewdotcom: hey!
zamboni: i just IM'ed k8
i had the most bizarro dream last night
jkrewdotcom: oh god
zamboni: you guys won at H2O
BUT
you won because you installed a working Flux Capacitor in Betty
jkrewdotcom: hahahaha
zamboni: and you were dressed like Doc Brown and Marty McFly
it was horribly bizarre
jkrewdotcom: *feverishly burns midnight oil searching for 1.21 jiggawatts of power
WHERE THE FUCK AM I GOING TO FIND A JIGGAWATT!?
zamboni: hahaha
you were marty McFly, btw
jkrewdotcom: YES
zamboni: K8 was Doc Brown
jkrewdotcom: I was hoping for that. I have the orange vest and everything all ready in the closet
zamboni: hahaha

See? I totally told you that buying that new corded 1.5 hp multispeed drill with laser sight, 1500 rpm angle grinder and professional scroll saw would get us the win. (Well, actually, not really, but I like new tools and it's either tools or coke and strippers. It's an even tradeoff in my book.)

w00t! H20 on the 24th.

me: krylon, epoxy and thai?
k8: yeah!
me: aww baby, you always know what to say to make me melt.

Yeah, we have a weird kind of relationship =)

Sorry folks, it's been a rough week for me. I will try to explain in a nice and orderly bulleted list.

I have been AWOL because:
• I got really REALLY depressed in the mornings of this week causing me to not want to do shit
• I had a huge deadline for a new set of comps for VW (which I nailed today. Yay!)
• Busy mixing the road trip compilations for vwvortex

Wow, I thought I was going to have a bigger list. But yeah, that's about it. Thanks to everyone who emailed/AIM'd or called me making sure I wasn't dead or in some jail in Mexico.

I will say one thing though that I have noticed around this time for the past two years. Last year when I was finishing the buildup of Dara for the last show of the year, I got really REALLY depressed afterwards because I guess it signified that the season was over and it was going to be cold soon therefore I wouldn't be able to work on Dara anymore. (Kate, I need a garage for my personal well-being. Let's work on this STAT.)

The same thing happened this week. I am in the middle of this project for Betty where I am making a set of headlights that have NEVER been made before for her car's generation. Well, when fabricating things for the first time, you really don't know what to expect and of course, things went sort of wrong and I shattered a brand new set of headlights while trying to seperate the glass from the housing. It wasn't a big deal and all I had to do was pick up the phone and order a new set but for the whole freaking week, I looked at it as a setback and a major failure on my part. It was all that I could think about. I wasn't angry or anything, I was just bummed that it didn't work out perfectly the first time.

I get that from my dad. I mean, other than being crazy in general, he is a tinkerer and is also obsessive to the nth degree. One time when I was a wee lad, I remember he tried making one of those firebird eagles out of pinstrip tape on his BMW hood. Why? I have no fucking clue but I do remember he spent the whole fucking day doing it and from what my pea-sized brain can remember, it was perfect. Like, 100% immaculate reproduction. And then something happened and he either decided it was a bad idea or maybe he messed up (I doubt it) but anyways, he snapped and ripped the whole thing off the hood.

I'm not that crazy and yes, there have been times when I have thrown my cellphone across the room or screamed because I couldn't loosen an exhaust bolt but I do see some of my idiosynchricies in myself that were totally handed down to me from him.

So, what did I learn? Well, the new headlights came in. I finally got them opened after shattering ANOTHER headlight and all is well and good again. I have leaked a few teaser photos on some websites and the response has been fantastic. Would I have liked to have done it on the first try? Sure. Did getting depressed really solve any problems? Yes and no. Yes because I spent the rest of the week going over in my head how I would fix the issue. No because I spent the rest of the week going over in my head how I would fix the issue.

Anyhoo, I'm alive, I'm in better spirits and the weekend is upon us. Sunday is the first unveiling of Betty so wish us luck.
Have a good vacay weekend everyone and be safe!