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The naming of cars is a difficult matter

Look what arrived on Friday!

2015 MINI Cooper S

Apologies to T.S. Eliot for the title of this post, but throughout the ordering process I tried to think of a good name for this car, and now that it’s arrived I’m still trying to think of a good name. Probably something tiger-related, because even though it’s orange and black like the Baltimore Orioles, it has more of a tiger feel to me. Unless I think of something else, right now I’m waffling between Hobbes (since it’s orange with black stripes, like a tiger), or Neko (after Neko Case, since at the last concert of hers I attended she remarked during her stage banter that if she was in a zoo she’d want to be a tiger, and then I found this picture of her, and – besides – the car is probably too sexy to be a Hobbes, hahaha).

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Overly PC

Today at therapy we got to talking about how I can be too hard on myself, and how if I think that I’m X, I’m X to the extreme. Some examples:

I had been hearing about different random assaults in DC recently, and then when waiting for a bus two guys approached and walked close by on my left and my right, and I tensed up and shook a little (which is apparently my fight-or-flight response). My brain’s response: “I’M RACIST.”

I find myself checking a woman out and thinking she’s attractive. My brain’s response: “I’M SEXIST.”

Over the past few years I’ve tried being more cognizant of how my behavior comes across to other people, and to take more responsibility for my actions, and to be more mindful of other people in general, but it’s turned into me trying to be overly PC. My therapist and I are thinking that others might be picking up on my anxiety from not trying to offend others, and that comes off as off-putting. Or, I feel like I have to keep up this appearance, and people don’t get an opportunity to get to know the actual me. A variety of possibilities from me trying to be more aware and taking it to an extreme I never meant to take it to, and now am finding difficult to turn off.

She said that during our talk she basically thought I ought to try to emulate Bill Clinton. Paraphrasing: “Yes, he’s sexist and womanizing, but he doesn’t shy away from that, and yet women love him.” I think I’d rather emulate James Bond, but either way it’s something for me to Think About.

I’m also looking into possible events / activities where I can meet up with a consistent group of people on a regular basis. Things like dancing lessons, or an improv class, or a running group, etc. I think a lot of the events I’ve looked at doing in the past have been the sort of events where people show up if/when they feel like it, so it’s not the same people on a regular basis. I’d like to have an opportunity to get to know people, so events where I’d be able to see them on a regular schedule would help with that.

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Production

It’s interesting to see how your car is built. Your car. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve always liked buying MINI: you can configure your car online, print out your specifications, bring it to the dealer, and say “order this.” I’ve never really had an interest in buying a MINI off the lot – maybe if it met my exact specifications – but configuring a car to your taste is part of the fun. Another part of the fun is tracking its production status.

The other day my Motoring Advisor ((The MINI equivalent of a salesperson, since they’re more there to help guide you with your decisions.)) called to let me know my car was in production. It took another day or two, but now the online site has caught up with the current production status:

Screen Shot 2015-06-14 at 12.11.35 PM

You can also use your production order number (what you’re given when the dealership places the order with the factory) or the last seven characters of your vehicle’s VIN (which you get once the car’s scheduled for production) and call 866-ASK-MINI for details on its current status, which was what I had to do while I waited for the online status to update.

A few years ago I had the opportunity on vacation in England to visit the MINI factory in Oxford. Before that tour I always thought of factory tours as being ushered along catwalks above the action, but here you were walking right alongside the people and robots doing the work.