**** SORRY FOR LENGTH***
This question has had me pondering for quite some time.
Amongst personal relationship issues, falling grades, gaining weight, and generally being more sedentary, this car addiction has taken over my life.
I have no idea why, what or who to blame, or how i will remedy it.
Basically, let me get into it.
I was always a star soccer player. Starting at a very young age i always played on the "A" club teams around COlumbus, OH (where im from). COme junior/senior year of high school, my club team won the State championship for Ohio. I was actively recruited by many colleges to go fulfill a needed goalkeeper position at their respective colleges. Long story short, I ended up going to the University of Michigan and joined the varsity squad as a "preferred" walk on.
I played well (started 4 games or so) and even received big ten player of the week honors for one of my stellar goal keeping performances against my rival Ohio state.
Summer comes along and I start getting into my Mx-6 hardcore. I throw a nitrous kit on it blue neons--- the whole shabang. At this time I was contemplating not returning to the team my soph. yeah because I didnt want to go through all the physical training, yelling, demeaning talk from coaches etc. I didnt need that again.
I worked at Mongolian BBQ that summer and ended up slipping on some oil. Lo and behold I ended up with a very acute case of sciatica (pain in the lower back/leg). I had found an excuse for my coach of why i wouldnt be returning to the team that next year. Coach took it rough and I was off the team.
At this point in time, i began to put a lot of time into my mx-6. As i mentioned before i thew a nitrous kit on there, neons, borla exhaust etc. Also at this point in time, i had been dating my Gf, Annie for about 2 yrs or so. She had always been my best friend and understanding parter. Needless to say, when I started modding the car, there was less time for my baby, Annie. She didnt make a big stink or anything, just rested and spent time alone when i modded.
Sophomore year rolls around. I have gained about 20-30 lbs since i was playing soccer ( i wasnt working out, i was spending time on the internet researching car parts). While at school, I now have my mx-6 at my disposal. ( i did not have the car my frosh. year.) Anyways, with the car there i was able to work on it and buy things for it. At this point in time, it started to get a bit obsessive. I borrowed money from my gf for wheels, flywheel and clutch. Also Projector headlights. In all i racked up a bill of about 1600 dollars with her. She was so giving and did it in a heart beat.
Needless to say, with all this time spent on my car, my classes werent getting as much attention. It was a tough year for me too. Organic chemistry philosophy etc....(this was when i was still pre-med). WInter comes, the semester ends and My grades have actually gone up a bit from last semester. (fluke) .
I have new rims and tires and am prepping for my second semester. Durring the winter, it was hard to work on the car, so i spent more time inside on the computer, not working out or anything. I probably gaind 5-10 more lbs and wasnt doing my school work as i knew i should have been. I still owed Annie the majority of the money ( i had no job but any money i did get i still out towards my car not paying her back). She was pretty soft spoken and didnt ask for it much so i didnt pay her back, even though i knew i should have.
Fast forward to the end of my soph. year. My parents agreed to get me a more reliable car. We go car shopping and pick out the beautiful MSP. At this point in time, i did not want to mod it at all. I promised my parents i wouldnt touch it at all and focus on school. That didnt work too well.
SO, it is summer and i have my new msp. As with any new car, you do research and kind out what is cool for it etc. SO, that summer my gf and i planned a trip to mexico. My father helped us out and gave us 1K for the trip. Where did 600 bucks of that money go?? Injen CAi, apex DP joes fpr kit and mbc. I was starting to get way out of control at this point. Boost was so addictive, and i wanted a quick, good looking car. It didnt stop there. When my junior year started i was still modding. Sparco torinos/new custom fmic, hks ssqv etc went on the car. I still had not paid my gf back any significant portion of what i owed her. I knew she cared, but i turned a blind eye and found pleasure in my new found toy (modded msp).
im loving 11 psi fmic'ed bliss at the beginnig of my junior year. Im sharing all my mods with the forum members (one of the first with an fmic actually) and just loving my car (at the expense of my personal relationships and more importantly my classes).
Then came the knock. The rod knock that is. 8660 miles i hear rod knock. I am totally bummed. Spent ALL my time trying to put the car back to stock and take it to mazda. It took 3 months of my car being dead to finally get the NO from mazda. At this point, i am knee deep in research about forged rods etc and building my motor the right way. Annie is still visiting me every weekend and is being exposed to this. SO i finally take a plan of action and have wagner build my block and perfowrk order my pistons/rods. That took forever. I was always on the internet talking back and forth with other forum members about my car etc. No school, just www.mazdamp3.com. Skipping classes was the norm for me. Not every class, just the big lectures where no one would notice me gone. My reading and HW was not getting done etc.
This was not a good semester. I was all too caught up with my car comming back to life, that i did terrible in my classes. No failing, but C's and B-'s. SO, winter semster starts and im vowing to do better this semester. My car is going to be fixed, and i wont have to worry any more. I was right, i didnt have to worry any more--- about my block. I then got excited with the idea of forged internals and bigger turbos etc and i just went off the deep end. With all this potential sitting in my block, i neede to go bigger turbo, EMS etc to take advantage of it (or so i thought). SO about 7-9K dollars and 5 months later, I have my baby back. Stock turbo bliss. At this point in time i was having serious issues with getting my manifold made. I had to do countless hours of research to see who could do it for me. Not countless hours of studying, because it wasnt important to me. 3 months later i have a manifold and my car back. It is now July of 2004 . I am stoked!! Finally i got it all done! But what did i have to show for it?
A number on a dyno sheet and some pictures. That was about all.
I had lost 2 years of College schooling (their full potential) and the respect of my girl friend, Annie and my parents.
By the time my junior yar ended, and my lack of Preparation for the MCAT had already set in, i decided to change career paths to Law. My father is an Immigration atty. and I thought it would be nice to do something like him since i had already been around it for so long. SO i made a decision to study furiously for the lsat and bomb it out of the water.
Long story short, the LSAT is in 2 weeks (oct. 2) and I am no where near as prepared as I need to be. I am very complacent about my own abilities and i have something deep down inside of me that thinks i will do fine on the lsat even though my conscience knows better.
I have no control over myself or my life. My car owns me. I have spent over 17K dollars modifying this hunk of metal, and to what avail? SOme recognition and some dyno numbers, that is about all. Was it worth it? The childish side of me says "Yeah, you have one of the most unique cars out there, and it is damn fast" but the adult side of me says " No way will you gain back 2 years of bad grades and loss of respect from your girlfriend or parents."
Tonight i had grandiose plans of buckling down and studying hard for the lsat, but i have been glued to my computer chair for the entire evening looking for ******* gauges and just doing nothing basically.
SO,
My question for all of you out there is this:
Why do some of us get so tied up with this car addiction that we will let it set us in debt with not only our partners and relatives, but creditors as well ; as well as let it jeopardize our real genuine opporunites we have (my case college) ? why do we spend thousands of dollars (not even our own in a lot of cases) on a piece of metal?
I think it has something to do with this:
We are all insecure in some way. We need our car to speak for our worth as a person and seem to be better then others. We all have ego's. we need to have the biggest and baddest turbo setup to kick that evo's ass or stomp that stang.
We need others to notice our cars and give us positive feedback because we cant achieve it in any other way.
DO any of you all sypathise with these hypotheses?
I need help, and suggestions from you all.......... (sad1)
i apologize immensely for the length lol
-Bryan
This question has had me pondering for quite some time.
Amongst personal relationship issues, falling grades, gaining weight, and generally being more sedentary, this car addiction has taken over my life.
I have no idea why, what or who to blame, or how i will remedy it.
Basically, let me get into it.
I was always a star soccer player. Starting at a very young age i always played on the "A" club teams around COlumbus, OH (where im from). COme junior/senior year of high school, my club team won the State championship for Ohio. I was actively recruited by many colleges to go fulfill a needed goalkeeper position at their respective colleges. Long story short, I ended up going to the University of Michigan and joined the varsity squad as a "preferred" walk on.
I played well (started 4 games or so) and even received big ten player of the week honors for one of my stellar goal keeping performances against my rival Ohio state.
Summer comes along and I start getting into my Mx-6 hardcore. I throw a nitrous kit on it blue neons--- the whole shabang. At this time I was contemplating not returning to the team my soph. yeah because I didnt want to go through all the physical training, yelling, demeaning talk from coaches etc. I didnt need that again.
I worked at Mongolian BBQ that summer and ended up slipping on some oil. Lo and behold I ended up with a very acute case of sciatica (pain in the lower back/leg). I had found an excuse for my coach of why i wouldnt be returning to the team that next year. Coach took it rough and I was off the team.
At this point in time, i began to put a lot of time into my mx-6. As i mentioned before i thew a nitrous kit on there, neons, borla exhaust etc. Also at this point in time, i had been dating my Gf, Annie for about 2 yrs or so. She had always been my best friend and understanding parter. Needless to say, when I started modding the car, there was less time for my baby, Annie. She didnt make a big stink or anything, just rested and spent time alone when i modded.
Sophomore year rolls around. I have gained about 20-30 lbs since i was playing soccer ( i wasnt working out, i was spending time on the internet researching car parts). While at school, I now have my mx-6 at my disposal. ( i did not have the car my frosh. year.) Anyways, with the car there i was able to work on it and buy things for it. At this point in time, it started to get a bit obsessive. I borrowed money from my gf for wheels, flywheel and clutch. Also Projector headlights. In all i racked up a bill of about 1600 dollars with her. She was so giving and did it in a heart beat.
Needless to say, with all this time spent on my car, my classes werent getting as much attention. It was a tough year for me too. Organic chemistry philosophy etc....(this was when i was still pre-med). WInter comes, the semester ends and My grades have actually gone up a bit from last semester. (fluke) .
I have new rims and tires and am prepping for my second semester. Durring the winter, it was hard to work on the car, so i spent more time inside on the computer, not working out or anything. I probably gaind 5-10 more lbs and wasnt doing my school work as i knew i should have been. I still owed Annie the majority of the money ( i had no job but any money i did get i still out towards my car not paying her back). She was pretty soft spoken and didnt ask for it much so i didnt pay her back, even though i knew i should have.
Fast forward to the end of my soph. year. My parents agreed to get me a more reliable car. We go car shopping and pick out the beautiful MSP. At this point in time, i did not want to mod it at all. I promised my parents i wouldnt touch it at all and focus on school. That didnt work too well.
SO, it is summer and i have my new msp. As with any new car, you do research and kind out what is cool for it etc. SO, that summer my gf and i planned a trip to mexico. My father helped us out and gave us 1K for the trip. Where did 600 bucks of that money go?? Injen CAi, apex DP joes fpr kit and mbc. I was starting to get way out of control at this point. Boost was so addictive, and i wanted a quick, good looking car. It didnt stop there. When my junior year started i was still modding. Sparco torinos/new custom fmic, hks ssqv etc went on the car. I still had not paid my gf back any significant portion of what i owed her. I knew she cared, but i turned a blind eye and found pleasure in my new found toy (modded msp).
im loving 11 psi fmic'ed bliss at the beginnig of my junior year. Im sharing all my mods with the forum members (one of the first with an fmic actually) and just loving my car (at the expense of my personal relationships and more importantly my classes).
Then came the knock. The rod knock that is. 8660 miles i hear rod knock. I am totally bummed. Spent ALL my time trying to put the car back to stock and take it to mazda. It took 3 months of my car being dead to finally get the NO from mazda. At this point, i am knee deep in research about forged rods etc and building my motor the right way. Annie is still visiting me every weekend and is being exposed to this. SO i finally take a plan of action and have wagner build my block and perfowrk order my pistons/rods. That took forever. I was always on the internet talking back and forth with other forum members about my car etc. No school, just www.mazdamp3.com. Skipping classes was the norm for me. Not every class, just the big lectures where no one would notice me gone. My reading and HW was not getting done etc.
This was not a good semester. I was all too caught up with my car comming back to life, that i did terrible in my classes. No failing, but C's and B-'s. SO, winter semster starts and im vowing to do better this semester. My car is going to be fixed, and i wont have to worry any more. I was right, i didnt have to worry any more--- about my block. I then got excited with the idea of forged internals and bigger turbos etc and i just went off the deep end. With all this potential sitting in my block, i neede to go bigger turbo, EMS etc to take advantage of it (or so i thought). SO about 7-9K dollars and 5 months later, I have my baby back. Stock turbo bliss. At this point in time i was having serious issues with getting my manifold made. I had to do countless hours of research to see who could do it for me. Not countless hours of studying, because it wasnt important to me. 3 months later i have a manifold and my car back. It is now July of 2004 . I am stoked!! Finally i got it all done! But what did i have to show for it?
A number on a dyno sheet and some pictures. That was about all.
I had lost 2 years of College schooling (their full potential) and the respect of my girl friend, Annie and my parents.
By the time my junior yar ended, and my lack of Preparation for the MCAT had already set in, i decided to change career paths to Law. My father is an Immigration atty. and I thought it would be nice to do something like him since i had already been around it for so long. SO i made a decision to study furiously for the lsat and bomb it out of the water.
Long story short, the LSAT is in 2 weeks (oct. 2) and I am no where near as prepared as I need to be. I am very complacent about my own abilities and i have something deep down inside of me that thinks i will do fine on the lsat even though my conscience knows better.
I have no control over myself or my life. My car owns me. I have spent over 17K dollars modifying this hunk of metal, and to what avail? SOme recognition and some dyno numbers, that is about all. Was it worth it? The childish side of me says "Yeah, you have one of the most unique cars out there, and it is damn fast" but the adult side of me says " No way will you gain back 2 years of bad grades and loss of respect from your girlfriend or parents."
Tonight i had grandiose plans of buckling down and studying hard for the lsat, but i have been glued to my computer chair for the entire evening looking for ******* gauges and just doing nothing basically.
SO,
My question for all of you out there is this:
Why do some of us get so tied up with this car addiction that we will let it set us in debt with not only our partners and relatives, but creditors as well ; as well as let it jeopardize our real genuine opporunites we have (my case college) ? why do we spend thousands of dollars (not even our own in a lot of cases) on a piece of metal?
I think it has something to do with this:
We are all insecure in some way. We need our car to speak for our worth as a person and seem to be better then others. We all have ego's. we need to have the biggest and baddest turbo setup to kick that evo's ass or stomp that stang.
We need others to notice our cars and give us positive feedback because we cant achieve it in any other way.
DO any of you all sypathise with these hypotheses?
I need help, and suggestions from you all.......... (sad1)
i apologize immensely for the length lol
-Bryan
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