Cars and duststorms

I okay, I'm several days late than I had promised... Something came up at the dealership where they needed to do maintenance work on my car before they could give me the keys - "Patience pays off" so I waited till Tuesday.

And so, on Tuesday arvo after work I headed out to Chatswood to the Mercedes Benz dealership. This was the very last time I would drive the MPV. So the stats are as follows:
Car: Mazda MPV
Year: 1993
Years in family: Early 2000 to Mid-late 2009
Final kms driven: 311,536
Condition: It's had its time.
I gave my final goodbye and headed up the lift to the main lobby. MPV, You will be missed.

I sat down with the sales guy and signed my name on so many bloody documents that my wrist hurt. After all that signing, I grabbed my belongings and hopped into my new car. He gave me another 'tour' of the car; the 'ins' and 'outs', maintenance hatches, where to top up wiper fluid, etc. I signed a few more documents and finally was given the green light to go.

The drive was much like the test drive - Very easy and familiar. Not too many driving differences in terms of passenger comfort but actual driving of course was very different compared to a 7 seater family vehicle.

I drove out to 'Mando centre' and parked over at the Westfield parking complex for a few spins around and about the near empty parking floor and took a few shots too:

Above: YAY!!!!! (Plate blotted out for obvious reasons)

Above: First park was a 'sucess'....

I then met up with my mum at Mando Centre and had dinner there as she had to head to Killara for something and my dad would be joining her. Then they would come home together, negating the need for me to hang around. So we drove out of the parking lot into... rain.
Anyway, I dropped her at a nearby station and let her make the rest of the trip...... since I didn't have a street directory with me at the time.
I got back home and started to intensely go through the manual, tips, tricks, etc and just trying to get familiar with the car's function, buttons, whizbangs and do-hickys, etcetcetc.

Top & Bottom: First night in garage

So onto today...
This morning my phone rang at 0550hrs while I was sound asleep. It was my dad who gave me a dire weather warning - A massive duststorm was sweeping across Sydney and covered much of NSW. I dragged myself out of bed and began shutting all the windows around the house and when I looked out the window...WHOA - The entire sky was just a big brown. It was like being in a sandstorm but without sand. I could only make out street signs across the road - barely. It was so incredibly thick and windy that it was difficult to close the windows without getting a mouthful of dust it the process.
I rinsed out the dusty taste out of my mouth and went back to sleep, hoping that it would clear up by the time I woke up. NOT.

I woke to find that the sky was still a strong orange/brown and my room was awkwardly darkened during that time of morning. I ran through my morning routine, dropped the newspapers at my grandmother's, prepared myself for the day and left - All with a brown backdrop.

As a 'first' drive for the Fortwo, it was useful to have foglights installed. I arrived at work and throughout the day I watched my Fortwo gradually go from a strong shade of black to a light shade of brown. It looked as if someone had literally thrown a can of family sized Milo over my car.

In the distance: 'Fortwo: Lightly browned edition'

After work, I headed to me mate's house in my lightly browned Fortwo, picked him up and drove back to my place where we swapped around some anime he wanted to watch and some I neeeded the last few eps of. Dropped him back home, picked up my mum from the station. End of day 2 for the Fortwo.

All in all, these last 2 days have been pretty exciting and very strange. Other than that, I'm very excited about finally driving a Smart car - A 9 year wait since it was first introduced into the Aussieland and finally it is in my hands.

Moral of story: Patience pays off.

New car; New friend?

As mentioned in the previous post, my parents were considering getting me a replacement car - The specifics like money etc... wont go there...

Anyway, about a week ago on Friday (11/9), I spotted an ad on the Smart website and discovered they were selling the standard Fortwo as a 'Spring clearance' sale. Added at no extra charge is what's called the 'Primo' package. This includes: Leather+heated seats, Soft-touch (Auto), Radio 10 (6 CD in dash), Audio package (2 tweets, 2 Mids and a Sub), Elec+heated mirrors.
Then aside from the Primo package, there also is added power steering and an extended warranty

I then brought it to my parents attention on Sat night (12/9) and very unexpectedly they said "call them up for a quote" - So did on Sunday morning and managed to get a quote.

My parents liked the quote and we then booked a test drive for Wed (16/9) and I took half a day off to go test it. I met up with my dad at the Mercedes Benz dealership out in Chatswood and gave it a whirl.

It was everything i exactly imagined since I was young. The car being ridiculously small but comes under my exact minimalistic specifications in terms of usage and lifestyle. We returned to the dealership and it began - The haggle

Dad put up an awful good fight with the sales guy, pushing harder and harder for the price to come down. Now I must say, I am DEFINITELY not a person who likes to haggle. There's too much greed involved but that's how purchasing cars is usually done - A struggle of what you want to what you need and how much you should get it for.

In the end, we got it for less than the original quote and we immediately traded my MPV for a measly 500 bucks. I wasn't too suprised at this price but heck, my car is OLD ('93) and done over 311,111kms already - It's time to let it go.
In the end, he sold us the one that I test drove - Floor stock - and it is totally in black. The Fortwo is a '2-tone' car. Being that the main shell is black or silver and the body panels can be whatever colour you want - Through the haggle, it was pointed out that we'd be given the floor car, if we kept going with it. Colour choice or cheaper? - meh.

All I have to do now is to pick it up (19/9) tomorrow/Saturday morning (technically this morning but meh.) and bring it home. Simple. Whole thing over in about 10 days (11/9 - 19/9)

So here are a few 'memorial last' shots of my Mazda MPV purely as a place to 'remember' it. It's been in our family for nearly a decade (2000). Yes, I do have some kind of emotional attachment to it since I've quite literally grown up with it in my life and all through my late childhood.
This makes it hard to let go - I've driven to everything in it, served the church with it, transported full loads of equipment, carried all me mates in the back in it and it's been an awesome experience. Through this week, I've had some mixed feelings about this whole thing. I am loosing an indespensable and very useful tool that I've grown to enjoy using and respect, and yet I'm replacing it with the exact car of my dreams. My ultimate dream car.

Top & Bottom: "Last night in the garage"

Some of you will think I'm crazy yakking on about all this; "Take the new car. Enjoy it and be merry" - But on the other hand, it feels like I'm saying goodbye to close and old friend who's been with me for many many years.

Top: My 'usual' spot at work

I guess this is where some blogs come into the light of personal use much like a diary. I can read back on my posts and reflect what kind of person I was in the past and compare it to what kind of person I am in that future point in time.

If all goes well (and that I remember to take photos), I'll be scheduling another blog post tomorrow.

ps: I didn't get the chance to take any shots while test driving it and everything. sowwies....
pps: Danny, if you ever get the chance to read this, I want to thank you for sharing your life. You always give a wonderful perspective on how we should view our lives and reflect on it; this indespensable 'skill' that makes a person grow and mature. thx so much.

Same life; different life

So here we are a month(ish) later I've settled into school life all over again - Morning rush, Recess rush, Lunch rush, Bell times, etcetc.

I'm actually very frustrated at the pace things are going - Nothing/Nowhere
When I began, I was full of motivation, "Yeah lets do this!", BRING IT ON, etc kinda thing. But as the weeks have been rolling by, my motivation has worn completely thin.

The netbooks that are supposed to come 'soon' have NOT come. Instead I've been running around the place doing odd jobs around the school, upgrading desktops, visiting the music room (excessively), re-organising the storeroom - Trying to make myself useful.
When I'm not doing odd jobs, I'll be in my office drinking tea, reading the newspaper, playing solitaire/Touhou, surfing the net, napping... - Exactly what I did everyday while I was officially unemployed =_____="""

Other times I'll be roaming around the school giving my legs some excercise or I'll hang out in the music building, drive out to the mall for lunch and/or do a spot of snack shopping. I don't think it bothers anyone that I could/can go missing for over an hour without anyone noticing.The only thing I can do now is to continue what I've been doing everyday and hope that the netbooks arrive BEFORE the school holidays. That being said, since I'm an employee of the DET (Dept of Edu), I work normal days just like every other worker - ie: I got to be there during the school hols while the place is empty. Filling my time will be simple since I my office is in the library - I guess I'll bring all my backlogged anime~~~ ^^"

Really if anyone wants to say "hi" or anything, just drop by my office or catch me walking around - I may appear to be busy but in reality, I am superiorly bored.

In other news:

• Watches - Mail ordered from Japan
  
• Bought a watch from Tokyo Flash last Friday which arrived the following Friday. I bought myself 'Fire' and for my dad 'Transciever' - as a Fathers Day gift.
• Car - My current car is under review by my parents.
• It's a '95 Mazda MPV which has clocked over 310,000kms and been in the family since my sisters started driving, which then has been passed to me. (Hand-me-down car) It drinks petrol at a rate of +15L/100kms and cost average +$60 to fill the 75L tank weekly.
• On a weekly average, I clock up to 350kms p/tank but 98% of the time I drive, it's JUST ME. It's old but it still works a charm
  
• The car currently under consideration for purchasing is a Smart Fortwo - Built/Designed by the same bunch that do Mercedes vehicles. It's able to run at 3.9L/100kms with a 35L tank
• You do the math... Actually please, somebody do it ^^"
  

Anyway, I guess that's another kind of snapshot of what's been happening and what's been on my mind this past month. I am thinking of posting more frequently but the current situation doesn't demand that 'just' yet. Lets just see how it goes~~~