(no subject)
Interview from mentoslad
1) Little. Yellow. Different. Tell us about the car and what it's successor will one day be or already is if you don't have it still.
Ah, the car. The car and I go way back :) I'm going to cheat a little and steal from an old post about my car for part of this answer.
I've got a 1981 Toyota tercel, it's mostly yellow. It still runs well, and it's only got about 120K on it. It makes some noises here and there, but over the years, I've had to put very little money into. I love this car.
I got it in Nov 1995, my last year of college. I had been driving another 1981 Toyota ( a corolla) before that. My dad knows how to fix cars, he's especially versed in Toyotas and he firmly believe that the 80-82 range was the best years Toyota ever had. So, I had been driving around this 81 corolla, the body was shot, and it definitely had a personality - not in a good way. It had over 200,000 miles on it, and I knew I didn't trust it to drive across 2 states, let alone the country. I desperately wanted to take a cross country trip after I graduated and I knew I couldn't do it with what I had. So I searched the classifieds. One day, I found it, a 1981 tercel for $1,000. My Dad and I went to look at it immediately. It was in great condition (overlooking the mismatched hood), it had 42,000 miles on it (it had been driven by a little old lady to church and back) and only one accident - hence the mismatched hood. My dad found one problem (which he could fix) so we were able to talk the guy down to $750. I paid the guy on the spot, and learned to drive stick on the way home.
This car took me across the country and back, actually we ended up driving about 17,500 miles in 49 days. The only problem we had was with the clutch, but can you blame a 15 year old clutch for finally dying on the hills in San Francisco?
The car had a brief fling with being an art car on that trip. I took a road map of the united states, put silicone rubber underneath it and spray rubber over top of it. We had little magnets to indicate where we were and where we had come from. It was wonderful. I didn't know much about art cars though, and I didn't think about the fading issue. It lasted for the trip, but by October, you could barely make out half of the states. I always meant to put another map on the car, but I never got around to it. So now I've decided to make an art car out of it. I've started, but one of my flaws is follow through on projects, so I've been really slow about it. I do want to continue working on it, so maybe I'll make some progress this spring.
It does have problems: no air conditioning (and vinyl seats- what a fun combo), you can't control the heat from inside the car, it leaks a little, and there is no back seat. There were basically 2 reasons I moved it back from CA: 1) the art car goal, and 2) insurance in it i incredibly cheap and we decided that picking up a car payment and higher insurance costs right after we bought a house might not be the best of ideas. When we start having kids, I'll need to get a different car for safety purposes. I had a little love affair with the mini cooper when I lived in CA, but I would be shocked if I ended up getting one. At some level it seems too expensive for what it is, especially since I'm not used to spending real money on cars. My car's successor will probably be something with great gas mileage, a good safety/repair record, and hopefully something that doesn't blend in with the 500 other cars in the parking lot. If I can't get in interesting shape, then maybe I'll have to make it an art car too :)
2) Digital or Film?
Film. I love the speed and accessibility of digital, but there is something about film. Maybe it's the romance of the faded and forgotten photograph. There was always something special about pulling a picture out of a drawer or a box in the attic and suddenly getting a glimpse of what my mom or grandmother looked like when she was my age. I also sort of like the anticipation associated with film - waiting to find out if that picture turned out as good as you hoped- and discovering the beauty in some other picture that you didn't quite expect. So, not for any technical reason, but yeah, film.
3) What's the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph?
Gosh, that's a tough one. I guess it's the thing that makes you stop to look at it for longer. It's a photo that you appreciate even when you don't know the people or the places captured. It's the picture that makes you look at someone or something familiar in a completely different way, or, one that captures the essence of them or the emotion behind the picture in a way that a stranger to the person or situation would suddenly understand.
4) Beyond Stitch and Bitch: Start of the new wave of self-help books or a topic worth investigation?
Eeek. Really, I think any shared hobby can bring people together, and while it is neat to have created something, that is in no way unique to knitting or crochet or any other yarn craft. Knitting and crochet have become really popular in the last few years and everyone seems to have a different theory on why that it. For me it was the lure of the pretty yarns. I had a few friends who crocheted and I thought it was rather odd - a little too 1950s housewife for me. But I went to the craft store to get supplies for making an art car and I fell in love with the pretty soft yarn. I tried it, and it was addictive - so now I'm hooked, so to speak.
5) What's the first thing you'll be changing in the house?
Well the first thing that was changed was taking down the awful wallpaper and ripping up the carpet and having the floors refinished. The next thing we'll be doing is a little painting - we've finally decided on colors for our bedroom and are working on picking out colors for the other two. We're having a really hard time deciding on what color the living room should be, but I'd love to get that done soon. Oh and we'd like to get the texture on the ceiling removed too. And I think we're going to be investing in gutter covers soon.
As far as big changes - the kitchen is the thing we really want to change. It just doesn't have enough counter space for the way we like to cook, and since it doesn't get alot of light the dark wood has got to go. Our current vision is to expose more of the brick, put in maple cabinets, maybe soapstone or some other black colored counter top, and we're leaning towards stainless steel looking appliances. We're also planning on taking down a wall between the kitchen and the living room so we can chat with people while we prepare food and extending the kitchen into the living room towards the fake french doors. I have a million different projects I want to do to the place, but we have to save up for them so it will be a fairly slow process.
The rules:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
1) Little. Yellow. Different. Tell us about the car and what it's successor will one day be or already is if you don't have it still.
Ah, the car. The car and I go way back :) I'm going to cheat a little and steal from an old post about my car for part of this answer.
I've got a 1981 Toyota tercel, it's mostly yellow. It still runs well, and it's only got about 120K on it. It makes some noises here and there, but over the years, I've had to put very little money into. I love this car.
I got it in Nov 1995, my last year of college. I had been driving another 1981 Toyota ( a corolla) before that. My dad knows how to fix cars, he's especially versed in Toyotas and he firmly believe that the 80-82 range was the best years Toyota ever had. So, I had been driving around this 81 corolla, the body was shot, and it definitely had a personality - not in a good way. It had over 200,000 miles on it, and I knew I didn't trust it to drive across 2 states, let alone the country. I desperately wanted to take a cross country trip after I graduated and I knew I couldn't do it with what I had. So I searched the classifieds. One day, I found it, a 1981 tercel for $1,000. My Dad and I went to look at it immediately. It was in great condition (overlooking the mismatched hood), it had 42,000 miles on it (it had been driven by a little old lady to church and back) and only one accident - hence the mismatched hood. My dad found one problem (which he could fix) so we were able to talk the guy down to $750. I paid the guy on the spot, and learned to drive stick on the way home.
This car took me across the country and back, actually we ended up driving about 17,500 miles in 49 days. The only problem we had was with the clutch, but can you blame a 15 year old clutch for finally dying on the hills in San Francisco?
The car had a brief fling with being an art car on that trip. I took a road map of the united states, put silicone rubber underneath it and spray rubber over top of it. We had little magnets to indicate where we were and where we had come from. It was wonderful. I didn't know much about art cars though, and I didn't think about the fading issue. It lasted for the trip, but by October, you could barely make out half of the states. I always meant to put another map on the car, but I never got around to it. So now I've decided to make an art car out of it. I've started, but one of my flaws is follow through on projects, so I've been really slow about it. I do want to continue working on it, so maybe I'll make some progress this spring.
It does have problems: no air conditioning (and vinyl seats- what a fun combo), you can't control the heat from inside the car, it leaks a little, and there is no back seat. There were basically 2 reasons I moved it back from CA: 1) the art car goal, and 2) insurance in it i incredibly cheap and we decided that picking up a car payment and higher insurance costs right after we bought a house might not be the best of ideas. When we start having kids, I'll need to get a different car for safety purposes. I had a little love affair with the mini cooper when I lived in CA, but I would be shocked if I ended up getting one. At some level it seems too expensive for what it is, especially since I'm not used to spending real money on cars. My car's successor will probably be something with great gas mileage, a good safety/repair record, and hopefully something that doesn't blend in with the 500 other cars in the parking lot. If I can't get in interesting shape, then maybe I'll have to make it an art car too :)
2) Digital or Film?
Film. I love the speed and accessibility of digital, but there is something about film. Maybe it's the romance of the faded and forgotten photograph. There was always something special about pulling a picture out of a drawer or a box in the attic and suddenly getting a glimpse of what my mom or grandmother looked like when she was my age. I also sort of like the anticipation associated with film - waiting to find out if that picture turned out as good as you hoped- and discovering the beauty in some other picture that you didn't quite expect. So, not for any technical reason, but yeah, film.
3) What's the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph?
Gosh, that's a tough one. I guess it's the thing that makes you stop to look at it for longer. It's a photo that you appreciate even when you don't know the people or the places captured. It's the picture that makes you look at someone or something familiar in a completely different way, or, one that captures the essence of them or the emotion behind the picture in a way that a stranger to the person or situation would suddenly understand.
4) Beyond Stitch and Bitch: Start of the new wave of self-help books or a topic worth investigation?
Eeek. Really, I think any shared hobby can bring people together, and while it is neat to have created something, that is in no way unique to knitting or crochet or any other yarn craft. Knitting and crochet have become really popular in the last few years and everyone seems to have a different theory on why that it. For me it was the lure of the pretty yarns. I had a few friends who crocheted and I thought it was rather odd - a little too 1950s housewife for me. But I went to the craft store to get supplies for making an art car and I fell in love with the pretty soft yarn. I tried it, and it was addictive - so now I'm hooked, so to speak.
5) What's the first thing you'll be changing in the house?
Well the first thing that was changed was taking down the awful wallpaper and ripping up the carpet and having the floors refinished. The next thing we'll be doing is a little painting - we've finally decided on colors for our bedroom and are working on picking out colors for the other two. We're having a really hard time deciding on what color the living room should be, but I'd love to get that done soon. Oh and we'd like to get the texture on the ceiling removed too. And I think we're going to be investing in gutter covers soon.
As far as big changes - the kitchen is the thing we really want to change. It just doesn't have enough counter space for the way we like to cook, and since it doesn't get alot of light the dark wood has got to go. Our current vision is to expose more of the brick, put in maple cabinets, maybe soapstone or some other black colored counter top, and we're leaning towards stainless steel looking appliances. We're also planning on taking down a wall between the kitchen and the living room so we can chat with people while we prepare food and extending the kitchen into the living room towards the fake french doors. I have a million different projects I want to do to the place, but we have to save up for them so it will be a fairly slow process.
The rules:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.