I didn’t have the motivation to do much of anything today, so instead I constructed a chart of the mileage of my car, based on repair receipts, oil change records, inspection certificates, and photographs. It’s interesting to see where the slope changes; if you look over the summer months, especially last summer, the slope gets pretty steep as I drove 43 miles into Boston and back most every day for work. It levels off a bit during the months I’m back at school, because I drive less, but the 300-mile round trip from Wes to Abington and back (or the other way around) makes up for some of the decreased use.
But wait! I also dug up some old scanned photos from some backup discs I have yet to fully organize. I’ll start with the oldest.
This is me with my first “real” girlfriend, Melissa Spaziani. We were at a party in Julianne Anderson’s basement; this photo is probably from eighth grade, which makes it about six years old. Our relationship lasted a little bit more than a year, and we broke up, I think, freshman year of high school. She went to Notre Dame Academy—an all-girls school—while I went to Abington High, so we grew apart, to put it nicely. While I made abortive attempts at friendship in the years after the breakup, we haven’t talked in at least a few years. She recently got married in Las Vegas and, I believe, has a child.
In the winter of sophomore year of high school, I got my driver’s license.
I figured this photo was appropriate since the post started with the mileage of my car. This is me after I arrived home from getting my license. My mom took the photo before I rushed out to take my first drive around town as a fully licensed driver. I’m standing in front of Aurora, my 2002 Chevy Cavalier. She’s been mine since she had 93 miles on her, and I love her dearly. Aurora currently has 36,184 miles under her belt and I fully expect her to reach 100,000 soon enough.
