the mini itch

First, go read this very long post. It's very long. But very moving. If you don't feel like reading the very long-ness of it, that's ok.

In 2003, I graduated college. During my 4 years at UCDavis, I worked full time in order to completely support myself. When I graduated, I felt I deserved a little present. And by little, I of course mean big. I bought myself a brand spankin new car.

I didn't just buy a new car. I did a lot of research and ordered a super cool mini cooper and my little Scootey was built just for me. I had to wait 3 months for it to be shipped across the pond from the factory in Merry Old England, but during that time I learned every single spec and stat and number and uninteresting fact about my new car. I was totally a car chick. (This detail about me landed me my new job in the custom car shop, btw.)

When Scootey finally arrived, I went a little nuts. The personalized plates had already arrived, so there was no time (save the 20 minute drive from the dealer to my house) when the car was not Scootey. I loved that car. I loved driving it. I loved dusting it and washing it. I loved putting stickers on it. I loved showing it off and hearing people say "of course that's your car." And as the aforementioned post implies, I was heartbroken when I had to sell it when I moved to NYC.

While I lived there, I was fine not having my mini, or any car. Of course, whenever I saw one I uttered a small sigh of longing, but otherwise I was fine. Then I moved to Michigan. I thought that my years without driving had hardened me. I was like "I hate driving. I'll save my money because I won't even need to buy a car." But because this is not NYC and there is no wonderful mass transit system, I end up driving a lot. And now I have a job, so starting June 2, I'll be driving almost 10 miles a day, 5 days a week. Sure, Jay's got 2 cars, so that means I'll always have one. But they are old cars, and maybe not the most reliable or safest. They certainly aren't very fun to drive. And they're not mine.

So I'm again getting the itch. I want my own car, that I can take care of and be responsible for and do whatever I want with. And once I owned the coolest car in the world, so there's no way I can go back to some car I found on craigslist. Not to mention that there are a lot of mini coopers around here, so I get a little more wistful. I demand another mini cooper.

Because I enjoy torturing myself, I often visit the mini usa website. I now know where the closest dealer is (this is Motor City - no car dealership is ever that far away!). Thinking I was being a clever young girl, I checked the inventory of used minis. However, I found out that mini coopers are awesome so they hold up their resale value. What does this mean? It means that a used mini cooper is almost the same price as a brand new, custom made one.

So now I have a job. I've recently discovered that my credit score is not as bad as I thought it would be (in fact, it's much higher than it was last month, even though I've semi-stopped paying my bills). So don't be surprised when, in several months, you read that I have placed my new mini order, and will once again be a proud car owner.




ps - yes, I realize it's kind of sacrilege to drive a foreign car while living in Detroit, but I don't care. And yes, I now work in the auto industry, but I'm not one of the people with a bumper sticker that says "I work for Ford and I drive a Ford." In fact, my car has nothing to with my workplace, because I can't afford to use my work's services. (There's a reason our customer list is kept confidential - chances are, you've heard of the actors, musicians, and pro athletes that have gotten cars made by us, and would want their autographs.)