DREAMING IS FREE

And this is apropos of the last post:

You Are a Dreaming Soul

Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you awy from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all… But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life. Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul, Prophet Soul, and Traveler Soul

TBP DREAM GARAGE

I like to play this game with myself every once in a while, usually while I’m lingering over a cup of coffee: Imagine you’ve got a four-car garage and a million dollars. How would you fill it? The only restriction is that you have to include at least one brand-new vehicle . . . because what’s the use of having a million dollars if you have to drive an old car? Circa mid-December 2004, this is how I’d fill the three stalls.

• First of all, for the new car, I’ll take a Dodge Magnum SE. No Hemi for me, thanks; I spend enough time at the gas pumps. I like the way this thing looks, and I’ve always had a soft spot for station wagons. Which the Magnum is, whether Dodge wants to admit it or not.
• Every dream garage also has to include at least one car for a sunny summer day. Mine would not be a brand-new funmobile, though . . . I live in Wisconsin, after all, so I’m only going to drive this car two weekends a year, unless our annual ten-day summer starts on a Monday, in which case it will only be one weekend. Make mine a 1988-90 Chevy Cavalier Z24 convertible, which is not a great car, but it looks like an updated ’60s muscle car, and that’s good enough for me.
• Likewise, every dream garage needs one doddering old crock, usually a ‘57 Chevy Bel Air. But I am a child of the 70s. A ‘57 Chevy does nothing for me; it’s an old guy’s car. Since I’ve previously lamented the death of the big family car, I’ll put my money where my keyboard is and preserve one of my favorite examples of the North American Vinyl-Backed Road Pig: the 1970 Pontiac Bonneville, goofy-looking pseudo-Deusenberger grille and all. I’ll take mine with a 455 engine–if you’re going to do something wrong, do it right, I always say.
• Lastly, there has to be one car in every dream garage that’s nothing but pure nostalgia. When I was five years old, I didn’t think there was a vehicle on the road neater than my dad’s work car: a 1974 Ford Country Squire, in that gorgeous Ford powder blue. I know it’s not a great car. I still want one.

Now, since I can easily–easily–acquire all these vehicles for less than $100K, what to do with the rest of the money? With careful investment, I could just about pay the annual gas and repair bills on my fleet of Yank Tanks. But hey, I’d look good doing it . . .