Awakening

Dear friends: it is a fact that the economy is a royal dump, but I firmly believe there are no excuses to forge one's own life with a decent level of comfort. The Occupy Wall Street movement, crowds living paycheck to paycheck, foreclosures left and right: they are all products of a system that failed long ago and has kept dragging with tradition.

Finances are very tight, but I can say I am lucky to have some savings. A few weeks ago I purchased a 1987 300TD wagon, which I will review very soon in a rather... creative way. I have been learning to work on the W124s by addressing all the problems that this car had... and hopefully resell it for the right due for my labor.

As much as I am surrounded by Mercedes 300SL's, Jaguar XK120's and other European beauties... I see no exit. A nine-to-five job deprives me of most of the usable time in the day to do other things. It almost makes me feel guilty for running to the bank or the DMV. And at the end of the day, I am so tired I just end up with a little bit of strength to cook dinner and perhaps watch some Ren & Stimpy. Beautiful chains, but chains, nevertheless. Thankfully, I have internet now! My apologies for not writing often enough.

Last week I sat in the car, after work, and turned on the radio. This stupid song spoke to me. Who was I turning into? Where was the wild, road-loving, free-spirited cowboy that I was? Why was I submissively moping floors and emptying trash, designing a full company website for peanut money and performing hundreds of dollars worth of service at janitorial wages? It is true that I have learned a lot about the way Mercedes work and driven some mouth-drooling vehicles... however, I found out recently I was working without health coverage. That did it.

So, here is my promise to myself and to you: I will not compromise with life, because it is up to me to fashion it into what I want it to be. Many wait for opportunity to happen (and it might), but only a few step forward to create it. And that is what I will do: a lot of people can work on cars, fewer can write, and even fewer can make this into an exciting experience for many.

In very few words: starting next year I will grow some massive balls of fire, quit my job and dedicate myself fully to the production of a travel/automotive internet show in the line of Top Gear and Wheeler Dealers: finding cars, traveling in them, visiting places, meeting people, fixing automobiles, testing them on the track, selling them. I will grab all the money I have saved in my lifetime and get the necessary equipment, I will demolish all kinds of social media, ring all my friends and connections, and make a name for myself. If I become desperate, I shall hit Kickstarter dot com. I will go big or go home. Literally. If I fail, I shall sell Newport and go back to Spain empty-pocketed, but proud that at least tried.

Failure is not an option. I love Newport, I love the people and landscapes of the US more than my own. I am the master of my own life, and I shall let no one convince me of the opposite.

Photos of the pretty cars coming soon.