After Ever After 2

PAINT, AKA Jon Cozart is one of the greatest YouTube artists ever. He put this thing out...two years ago? called After Ever After. If you haven't seen it, you should look it up. It's great social and political commentary on past events and current events. It basically talks about how the Disney princesses ended in lies. It's brilliant. It's a cappella and all parts are sung by him. The man is so cool. Anyway, the first one is Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, and Pocahontas. I heard that one for the first time in English class of my junior year and about fell out of my chair laughing hysterically because of it. And I have that one pretty much memorized. It's gorgeous.  So funny and so applicable to right now. I can't wait to see what my children think of it.

Anyway, so Jon Cozart put up a sequel. This one has Mulan, Cinderella, Tiana, and Elsa. Holy crap. I'm caught between having my conservative ideals disturbed and laughing hysterically. I love it. I'm trying to get the words memorized just so I can have something else that will hop into my head at inappropriate moments. SWEET!!!!! "Theeeeeey stuck two steel rods in my brain!" That was from the Cinderella part. It's brilliant. Just...Just brilliant. I mean, it's like a social and political commentary mixed with Disney music, quite possibly the best combination ever. And you can definitely see the recent (and not so recent) international events threaded through the Elsa section, which is funny just because I've always wanted to have a story where the main character is a good ruler, does everything right and the country is falling apart because of outside forces so the ruler turns evil to fight against the injustice of what is going on. I know the words "evil" and "fight against injustice" don't usually show up in the same sentence, but neither do "burrito" and "klutzy witch". That's a long story. Actually, it literally is a long story and not the point. The point is how great that song is and how much it isn't flattened and dulled by political correctness. It's on YouTube. Y'all should find it and watch and go "Yup. Americans are crazy." After Ever After 2. There ya go, peeps. And, this way, I have the link forever. Yay!! And I apologize in advance if your sensibilities are offended. But I suppose it could be worse. And it will forever change the way you hear the Disney songs these come from. Under the Sea is one of those that I can't hear without hearing this version. And I have a feeling that I'll Make A Man Out Of You will be another. "I've got the brains and the bite of females plus the brute and the brawn of dudes." Best of both worlds.
No car for today. I'm kinda just not feeling it. Next post will probably feature a Jaguar concept.

2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LTZ/ The actual one on moving

I feel like I've been favoring the sports cars lately in my interests when in all honesty, I'm a truck girl. Now, maybe it's because I did grow up on a farm or maybe it's because trucks are big and I naturally favor big vehicles, but I've always been a truck girl and that will never change. This is not my ideal truck. That one will show up eventually but I want to save the cars that I actually want for special occasions. So I'm going to honor my love of trucks with a Chevy. This is a 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ. It's got a 5.3L V8 or a 6.2L V8 and either RWD or AWD. The bodystyle of the truck in this picture is crew cab and I believe standard bed although it could be the short bed. The angle makes it slightly difficult to tell. Americans get too many choices on their trucks. And cars for that matter but it's slightly more irritating in the trucks because really, trucks should have big beds and big room in the cab. That way, there's room for whatever you need, people room, cargo room, whatever. Anyway, the 6.2L V8 gives 420 horsepower and the 5.3L V8 gives up to 355 horsepower. The 5.3L has a 0-60 at around 6.6 seconds and the 6.2L has it at around 6 seconds. And what's really cool about these engines is if there's a light engine load, they don't use four of those 8 cylinders. Which helps with the fuel economy. I get it that it's less common to find a truck in places outside of the US but I still and will always and forever love trucks and it is my ambition in life to have one. Well, one of my ambitions in life. I have several. But being the proud owner of a truck is one of them.

Okay, well, I have mixed feelings about moving. On the one hand, I'm super stoked to be out of Vegas. I mean, seriously, it's a horrible town to live in. And I've found so many cute clothes here that you can't find in Vegas that it's not even funny. Went a little overboard but whatever. It's summer and those clothes are for the Fourth of July. It's our tradition.
But at the same time...I've spent years there. My high school is there, the people that suffered through IB with me are there. The people I'll miss, the actual city itself, I won't. But again, it's strange. I didn't realize that I would miss Vegas until I left and now I find myself feeling vaguely sentimental. Part of it, I think, is because I'm beginning such a big, new chapter of my life and while that is exhilarating, it's also slightly terrifying. My life is officially mine to screw up and there are so many things that I want to do but I'm not sure if I'll be able to and I'm kind of on a time crunch. But I've always enjoyed a challenge once I get to it. I'm just sitting here waiting right now. And I hate waiting more than nearly anything else on the planet.

2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0/ I'm so tired...

Can I just say that this is a beauty? It's a very sleek car isn't it? I would call it little but there is nothing little about this puppy. There's a whopper of an engine (6.0 L V12) producing 550 horsepower. This car, if it can be called a car, has a 0-60 of 3.4 seconds. Take that and add to it a top speed of 205 mph. Seriously, just look at that car a second. It's not as beautiful as the Gallardo, but then I'm more partial to the Gallardo anyway. Although, Diablo means devil so I'm automatically fascinated by it. It's big, it's fast, and it's got (decent) mpg of 12 city and 18 highway. This is definitely a supercar and it is just...Man...

Well, I'm thinking that I should make some comments about how I feel about moving from my home for the past eight years of my life. But I've been in a car for about 12 hours today and I'm so exhausted. Seriously, I take that drive at least twice a year and I've never slept on that ride. I fell asleep five, count them FIVE times. And I'm still so tired! I love my grandma, really, I do, but she just drives me absolutely bonkers and makes me so tired. So tomorrow, maybe, I'll make some comments about how I feel. Tomorrow or maybe Saturday. Maybe. It'll happen eventually.

2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS/Driving

Yesterday, I was in a Chevy for...oh, about fourteen hours driving around. I've seen more of Salt Lake City, UT, than I've ever seen before. We also got a little lost and had to rely on my fabulous sense of direction (seriously, it's crazy) to get us back to where we needed to be. And we ended up somewhere that we knew but it wasn't where we wanted to go because my darling mother didn't listen and turned right when I said to go straight. I'm telling you. I'm like a bloodhound when it comes to directions.
But I also took another first for my driving career. And even though I was panicking because I don't have a lot of driving experience, I managed to drive in a strange city and I didn't get us killed. And I didn't panic because my grandmother is a Nervous Nellie and she's not very comforting when another car is anywhere near ours. Eh, I managed to keep my cool and I only got honked at once because I had no idea where I was going. Oh, well.

This, lovely friends, is the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS. Here we have a sexy little American car that might as well say "Check out how fast I go!". Its 6.2L V-8 engine produces 426 horsepower, giving it a nice little bit of oomph. Seriously. All that horsepower in a car that can be as low in price as around $33,000. What a gorgeous piece of machinery! I mean, look at it! It just looks fast and it's so sleek and beautiful that it's even making me want one and I am not a fan of Camaros as it is. But man, look at that car.
The only question I have is about the handling. American cars are notorious for terrible cornering capabilities. If this car can turn corners decently, that would pretty much cinch my desire for one. But I figured out why. We build our cars to drive on our roads and streets, which are pretty straight. Reason for that would lie in our history of pioneering behaviour (which across this landmass means a straight route is the fastest one and could mean the difference between life and death). Also, we tend to just go right over things or blast tunnels through them, decreasing the need for curves. No curvy roads means that our cars would be terrible at cornering. Mystery solved!

2010 Audi Quattro Concept/Memories

I'm going to be sharing a car for each of my posts for now just because I've reawakened my love of cars.

Welcome to the 2010 Audi Quattro concept. I'm not a total fan of Audi, but it's German and that's a beautiful car. Underneath that hood is a turbocharged, 5 cylinder, 2.5 L engine. Absolutely gorgeous. 408 horsepower brings the 0-62 to 3.9 seconds and a top speed of I have no idea. But that is still a nice little car. Coupe with a cute little rear-end that has this funny spoiler under the other spoiler. I'm thinking I'd like to see this car in that burnt orange that most people hate.

Anyway, memories should be stored and made into keepsakes. I'm staring at these old memories I've been accumulating because I'm cleaning and packing and trying to figure out what I can't live without. And I've realized something. Unless you continue to refresh memories, they fade and lose their emotional attachment. There are so many things that I thought I would never want to get rid of because I remember that I had an emotional attachment. But because I don't have those memories attached to them, I actually don't mind getting rid of them.
This is a big achievement because I'm ridiculously sentimental and I hate getting rid of things. So when you get the urge to clean, just do it. You'll be more likely to just toss and not worry about wanting to keep whatever it is. Some things you should keep. But most you don't need. You just don't need them because if they don't have the sentimentality anymore, most things don't have a practical purpose.

An Unexpected BMW

Beginning a new chapter in my life has always seemed like a frightening prospect. I don't do well with change, you see. But at the same time, there's always been something in my heart urging me to stop thinking and just free fall, part terror and part exhilaration. I've been playing with the idea of studying abroad in London. This would require ridiculous amounts of work and taking me, the person who before this year had planned on moving back to my hometown after college or at least to Salt Lake City after becoming an FBI agent and didn't have much of a desire to travel, to a completely different country. Granted, I'd always sort of wanted to go to Ireland, England, Scotland, and Germany but that was only because that's where my ancestral heritage is and I've always been fascinated with that. But I figured it would be a quick trip and then I would be back home and would probably stay wherever it was until I died. I kept forgetting how much I want adventures and exploration until I would get back into Lord of the Rings or another fantasy novel and then it would just burn and I would get antsy and I would want to just go somewhere. That dratted practicality that is rampant in my family always overpowers that urge.
But I'm literally staring at change right now. I can't avoid it. And so I'm playing with the idea of adding the change. But again, ridiculous amounts of work to get it. Tuesday, I was wondering if the work would be worth it. Not even thirty seconds after I had that thought, do you know what I saw? A BMW with British license plates. I wasn't anywhere that a car with those license plates should have been. Yes, there would be sections of Vegas where that wouldn't be especially surprising, like on the Strip or near some of the bigger off-Strip casinos, but that wasn't where I was.
And I'm taking that as a sign that that is what I need to do. Major change for me and ridiculous amounts of work, but if I'm supposed to do that, then things will work out so that I will be able to do it. If I'm not, then it won't.
But that's still super exciting. And weird. And unexpected. And thrilling. What the heck was a BMW with British license plates doing here?