Falling Together

It has been a long wait but May has finally and my Birthday has came and gone in the first week. Unfortunately being away from home made it pretty well impossible to do anything, but I have planned ahead to make up for this in June, so it won't be all that bad. Add to it, yesterday was the end of the first phase of my elective and the boredom of doing nothing in class because you have everything done. Next phase is going to be a lot better consider the material we are going over - Business Management, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, and Accounting. Then after that I am flying back home the evening of graduation.

I also have found a used truck back home for a fair price and since got it on hold and came across a parts car that I need to help restore my 1949 Hudson. However I am still trying to find a flat deck trailer, but I have a lead where I could get a new one. As for property back home since my car collection has grown, I have several possible places I could get which I have narrowed down to one. 

June for me is going to be nice and not too hectic. July, I doubt I will be able to update this blog since I am going to have a lot going on.

As for the future I am going to be opening an automotive restoration shop back home which I am looking forward to doing. Really everything does come together if you are willing to work for it.

Dream the BIG Dream

I have always been the type to set goals and plan ahead, sometime further ahead then I should. It has become I habit which I refuse to break since without it, to me, life feels very bland and mediocre. If you have not noticed, my view of life is a bit darker and more negative than others. The only thing that has really helped me with planning my goals is to prepare for the worst and all its wonderful scenario's which could and can happen but preferably do not. Unfortunately being the introverted type, I feel there is more pressure on me and more often than not I feel picked on because I am un-intelegent or do not know what I am talking about. It has not put me down nor will it but it has not helped with my goals, just made me feel like there very little support out there.

For me the ultimate goal is.... to become a real life Tony Stark (less the weapons). But what does he have to do with me? I want to have a car collection larger than his, the computer drafting and fabrication technology and a house just as cool as his. Add the fact I also want to design some huge things for our up coming space age. It is very ambitious to say the least and will require a lot of commitment but who say's it cannot be done? No one! I have a few other idea's in mind I would prefer not to share....

The next thing is going to figure out a way to improve our world before we burn. That is like trying to billions of people when only a few million care, which as much as one person can help, we need everyone to help. Why must be fail and turn out home into the biggest landfill only because we can? We have the power and the technology to change our ways and help the future.

Yet again the next difficult thing is to find someone who can accept me for who I am, easy to find? I wish... Eh, we will see what the future has in store.

Two Month To Go

I began this month in my elective and well, it really has been quite a lot of work and I am a little over half way through. Of course there always seem to be bumps in the road, which just loves to make your life interesting.

In a few months I am going to graduate and then I am going to back home which is going to so nice after being gone after 6 months after being home for Christmas. As of March I changed my elective over to Applied Service Management and as much as I want to start my own business, I really wish I took Street Rod since I would have more shop time instead of having to spend my last 12 weeks in a class room.

This has got me yet again even though I am really close to graduating questioning my future. The What if's of what I coulda shoulda woulda done if I did not come down to Wyotech. I tend to keep on going over the same idea's I had in the past, keeping to the CADD route and the Wooden Boatbuilding but I have also tossed Horticulture back in there too. One reason the horticulture is back in because of the recent news of Mars One, since I see that as a almost guaranteed trip to Mars but do I really see my self living on Mars permanently? Eh, probably not.

All I want to do is get home, relax... and open my shop. but that is still several months away.

Burning Eden with No Planet B

How come when change is absolutely needed to happen, our society always seems to end up disagreeing and bickering (to put it politely) about what should be done. Yet even with all this there is a substantial  amount of people who, just, would rather stand idly by and continue the path that is not survivable. It is almost like ignorance has become a badge of honour in our present day and common sense is seen as a fallacy. Words and trust have pretty well become hollow and meaningless....
Now where does one go from here, knowing that speaking up will put them into a situation where they would get shut down. Where does one go where standing up means that you are on the wrong side, and apathy and obedience towards the inverted totalitarianism capitalist consumer culture controlled by corporate giants is blasted through main stream media has the norm.

Since the 70's we have found out that we are having an impact on this world that (even before then in the 1800's we already knew the effects of heavy industry), if nothing is done, will make it hard to live on our planet for the next generations. But what have we done to fix this? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Well, we have done a lot of things but none of them major enough to route the problem at hand. Meanwhile our space agencies around the world have slowed down to a snails pace. We are searching and have found more than several worldly bodies but all of them are light years away. Thanks to Moore's law we are more than capable now more than ever able to venture out into our solar system and stand colonizing other planets and therefore reducing the stress on our and giving it a chance to slowly recover (over several million years). So what are we waiting for? Well firstly the world financial situation is in the dumps and heads of the banks are richer than Midas (who in greek mythology turn everything into gold what he touched).

We could rise up in defiance, with civil disobedience but I doubt that will help create the change we need in the time we need it. Of course shutting down our country because we detest our elected government only means those changes are going to take longer to happen. Enough with the "we need to do this...." instead can we just GET THE BALL ROLLING. Money along with Propaganda has got us into this situation which has turned citizens who use to be able to think for themselves now let the corporate giants make all their decisions. Change must start tomorrow if possible (yes it is overly ambitious) but that is the only way we are going to get somewhere.

On top of all that we need to ramp up our space program A-SAP! Sure we have Mars One but that is going to take till 2023 and that is just the first manned mission sent there. We are a million way from sunrise on the darkest night before the dawn, running out of options and time.  Yet we still continue with what are doing without a care or whim in the world, like nothing is going to kill us. WAKE UP PEOPLE! How many times must we yell it and we are NOT crying wolf!

Inorder to make it to the next century we need to become a space-faring civilization, except in our case it has to happen over night. We have the means, we have the money (in all wrong places sadly) and we have the materials and skills to make such a ship. There are several options at hand which we could follow or of course all them too would be viable.

• Our space agencies could receive more funding to create such a ship
• Private billionaires could design and create it (like Richard Branson) [but one is NOT enough)
• Crowd Funded projects are the world could each create their own ship

Each of these has their own problems, and their own pros but we would be better off doing something instead of sitting on our asses doing nothing. 

Changing Tides, Planning for Summer

March has been one of 'those' months, where you have a lot going on and then there are family related emergencies back home. It is difficult to say the least when, as much as I want to fly back home from California, I am unable to since my grade would fall so much it would hurt my future in this career field. There has been some challenges this month, with one of my grandparents going into the hospital for a month and is currently back there again, I really hope they get better. Add the fact that the cars I am chasing, I am going one weekend next month to get it ready to be shipped to a storage locale until this summer. I am also speaking to someone else in acquiring several more classic cars this summer and early fall. However due to my present circumstances when I get home I lack the space to store them all, but I have found land for sale which hopefully I can finance when I get home.
Yes I have a lot going on, but I know what I want and need to get done. There is only 2 months 21 days left of my program and then I am going to be home which is going to be very nice. Somedays I kinda wish, I wonder, how things would have been different if I had gone to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. Maybe I would have had a yacht by now or maybe I would have saved enough to build a wooden sailboat when I got home. It would have definitely been different. Then there is the other option; going to Pacific Design Academy.... I would have become a building technologist which would have been cool. The only downside of that route would be the amount of stress the CADD career would be putting on me.

Really, a lot of things could have gone differently or stayed the same but in the end I feel think I am going down the right path. All I need to follow through with what I want to do when I get home and then, I'll take it from there, since once those goals are achieved it is time to aim higher and keep on progressing.

Twists n' Turns

How come every thing is great, life really is not. Regardless from past experience or what is going on today there always seems to be something, someone or some how that takes you off the smooth path onto the gravel road. Sure a life without challenges, turmoil and worries would be ideal but each time we try and approach it we get repelled away. Then of course there is the opposite side, where you go from one rut to another, where I have been myself. How can one get past the bad, how can one help influence their life and the world around them? It may sound off topic but in order to over come those challenges I have learn to look within before looking out what has to be done. But then again it is just me, it might be different for everyone else. As nice as it would be to live a care-free life that would be like wishing for the world to change and doing nothing. It aint going to happen! What you seek you have to create.
The last few months for me have shown me a lot and proven me that the current path I am is where I am suppose to be. Sure there are few things and people missing from my life, but they will come in time. But this is just my side of the coin, and each person has their own way of attracting either more turmoil or bliss depending on their actions.

One thing that I do not understand, yet, is why do some people force their morales on others. It is hard to change people's thinking and by forcing them on someone else by rudely joking about what they want to do or cussing and name calling... really come on! All you are doing is proving the world how immature heartless of a person you are. Considering the way everything is going I would advise not putting yourself in that type of situation. Since, unless you are that type that cannot change, all you are doing is digging and digging a bigger pit that you are going to eventually fall in yourself.

Modifications or Abominations Verses Restorations

The more and more I check the classifieds for antique cars for sale, it is really noticeable how many people out there love to modify classic cars or attempt to only to sell their half finished project to some sucker to finish. Do not get me wrong, if the modifications have be done 'tastefully' they look really good. However if they have been done half-ass, over done, or incomplete they are sickening for those puritans who love bone stock classics. The worst part of all this is, misinformed people modifying a rare classic to make it worth more. Sorry to burst your bubble but by doing so, not only are you making it worth thousands less, you are destroying something that if restored would be appreciated by more people than you can think of. This mostly applied to modifying the classics made from automotive manufactures that are not around anymore. So those who appreciate Fords, GMC, Chrysler and imports can chop, drop and swap as much as they want since those classics are considerably more common.

Sure people can say all they want how returning antique cars back to stock suck is not as cool as modifying a classic. I beg to differ since it is not about being cool, that was the yesteryear, it is about preserving an antique for its history of the manufacturer and the car. However trying to get that across to some people of my generation is trying to talk to a wall.... some people just do not understand whatsoever. The Dogma is strong and yet at the same time some would rather blow black soot out their exhaust and make the next generation suffer because it is COOL. Not to change this to an environmentalism rant, but seriously, how many gear heads/ car enthusiasts are for protecting the climate? To more it a bit more to the extreme how many people who love modifications would chop, drop and put a Mercedes 300SL on airbags? Consider that, that car restored is worth easily 1.5 million dollars on the low end and their production numbers are lower than some Orphan Marques. So it is a Mercedes, what if is it would be a Nash, Hudson, Packard, Rambler or Kaiser; or one of the Big three? All I asking is before someone starts modifying the antique car they do some research and find out how rare or common it is. 'Cause you do not want to turn a car you bought for 2000, that is worth 7500 into scrap metal only worth 500 right?

To each their own everyone says... it is their car so they can do whatever they want...

Think before you start, since you could sell your rare antique car for more than you pay for in many cases and get something you might have been wanting for a very long time.

Soulful Serenity

To put it simply, everything the last few weeks has been falling together quite nice. Mind you I still have several things I have to figure out, but those shouldn't be too hard. The only unfortunate thing about February has been me getting sick, but it happens and at-least it wasn't the flu, since that would have taken my perfect attendance in a heartbeat.

Beside being busy this month and the phase winding down this coming Tuesday, I have been talking with my fellow car club members and they been encouraging me and are really looking forward to seeing my classics back on the road. I too, am looking forward to get them all restored but I the only that is going to slow me down from getting them complete is sourcing missing parts. I can do all the work myself. As for Upholstery, I found a text book on the topic so I am going to teach myself in the meantime and then maybe sometime next year go to Wyotech again (different Campus) and learn it to get the certification behind me.

Other than that I have been looking and finding more classic cars here and there. Some for sale, others that have sold already. The hunt for them is for me quite easy, I do not know how to describe it but I can find pretty well any car I wanted in under twenty minutes. Just if they are for sale/sold, or in the condition I want them is a complete different story.

Lately I was talking to another club member and we had discussed cars for sale around North America. We found many listing ranging in years from mid 30's to mid 50's but most of them Orphan Marques. For me to say the least, if it isn't 'rare' I do really want to own it. So all those classics made by the Big Three (Ford, Chrysler and GM) do not really interest me as much - however I am going to still save them from getting crushed since another enthusiast who loves them would buy it from me.
I am interested in learning more about Nash and Packard; Maybe something on Studebaker and Kasier Fraser too.

No wind serves a ship that has no port.

Spanish proverb

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Epictetus

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

Marshall Ferdinand Foch

Confusion, Contradictions, and Constant Change

Three weeks ago I posted a list of my new years goals hoping to accomplish all of them listed. However now it is as the carpet has be pulled out from underneath me and pretty well all my plans are up in the air. It has pretty well, got me wondering what I can do and what I should do and even how I should approach this unexpected turn of events.
Starting from the top of the list I posted.... getting a Job in the US is going take a bit longer than expected, so I doubt I can find one and get hired in Jan. It is out the window per say but it is definitely going to have to wait because I am taking a Hybrid course offered at Wyotech on Sunday's for the month of January.
I would be ecstatic if I could reduce my rent but it is a huge catch twenty two since in order to lower the rent I have to move somewhere further away from Wyotech which is going to cause more headaches due to the commute times.
Dropping my living my expenses has been for the most part successful, being able to drop it about $100 a month but I need to work on it a bit more to see if I can get it a bit lower without starving myself. We shall if it is even possible since I am unable to shop around
No news on the other two cars, which is good because I am quite busy at the moment.
I wish I could restore my 49' currently but I do not know.... it may be delayed.
The next few goals from six to ten are either going on presently or will have to wait till after I graduate.
As for looking for land near to home, I have had some mix results, good and bad. Yes I can get the land I want in the area of town I was thinking however I do not know if they will still be available when I graduate and even later once I have enough to go forward and purchase the land with of course having a little help from parents.
I am on the fence about going to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. I would love to go, but it is going to burn another large hole in my wallet. I know I could put the skills to good use, but will I be working on boats a lot after... that is the thing I do not know.
The last two are also on the fence, since I honesty do not have an exact fool poor way to approach this without burning myself in one way or another.

Yesterday and Today has been quite interesting, the biggest thing of the most part is I have been studying what I feel enough but the last two exams I do not know how it happened but I was unable to pass them which is really bugging me. On top of that I found out today the plan of going on weekends to take Trim and Upholstery is out of the question, instead I have to go to a different Wyotech Campus. So my plan is to grab the ASM (Applied Service Management) and then work for the summer and in the mean time re-apply to go to either Wyoming or Pennsylvania to get the Trim and Upholstery. I could add Street Rod for the metal fabrication after ASM but, do I really want to go another three months? Eh probably not worth it because I am a black smith and I bet I could just figure it all out myself.

Somedays I wish I had a more mobility financially, so I would be able to buy a probably back home and not have to worry about. It also would help me considerably since after I graduate reguardless when, I am going to open my own business. As much as I would like to work under someone or be employed by an awesome employer, I would be restricted in hours. Personally I would rather have to freedom to work as hard as I want to do on my hours so I can earn my living. Hopefully by doing is going to make it so I hire employees on sooner, with a similar worth ethic.

"The most successful people are those who are good at plan B."
James Yorke

Happy New Year -=2013=-

Over the two weeks I had to think about how was going to approach my future by choosing whether I would remove Street Rod and Custom Fabrication from my Wyotech Electives and only take Trim and Upholstery came to a indecision. Really it was probably due to the fact I wanted to get a lot of stuff done with my 1949 Hudson Commodore in a very short amount of time. Not to mention also visit friends, family and help out around home. I managed to get all the tools I needed to extract the Flathead Six engine and a compressor to remove the corroded bolts with ease. Unfortunately I did not consider to check the house wiring, only to find out after the fact, when I blew the fuse to out door circuit and all the lights in the house which happened to be on the same circuit. So due to that  I was unable to remove the front clip to my classic car and pull the engine.

As of the New Year I set myself a huge list of goals I want to complete before the year is over and here it is: (in no particular order)

1. Get a Job down in the USA in January 2013
2. Move to somewhere with lower rent and a carport or garage
3. Reduce living expenses to below $100/month (from my current 300)
4. Buy two more classic Hudson's I got a lead on last year
5. Restore my 49' Hudson in 3 months
6. Get hired at a shop in Victoria or Open my own Business
7. Get a 118 lb Peter Wright Anvil
8. Get a propane forge
9. Create my Business Plan
10. Graduate Wyotech with Perfect Attendance & Eagle Tech.
11. Start looking for land near where I live
12. Buy or Fiance the land if it meets my criteria 
13. Get accepted at Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
14. Work for 3 months back at home and earn enough to fund my education south of the border
15. Find several more classic Hudson's and acquire them. 

This year my list of goals is the longest it has ever been, considering 2012 was only 6 things and before then it was even shorter. In a way this year is going to give my the biggest challenged I have came against in a long time but I plan on completing it without worrying one bit whatsoever. 

I'd ask or wish for more, mostly to find someone who is like minded with similar interests and view of the world but that might be asking for too much. Considering all what I want to get done this year I do not want the house of cards I am building up to come crashing down if I trip up because of love. Saying that also does not mean I am not totally against I will let it in if the chance would arise. 

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe."

Anatole France