Monday, April 7, 2008

California dreamin' on a Winter's Day

I'm snowed in! I should be in class right now. But I'm here in Springville and just don't feel like braving the snow on the freeway up to Salt Lake. So not feeling like grading papers and with the satellite not working because of the snow, what is there to do but blog! And I'm way over due for a post anyway.

So lately I've been thinking about dreams. Not the kind at night, but the things you've always wanted to do and not the big ambitious life goals either, but the little dreams that you'd love to accomplish one day. One of my little dreams has been to own a Volkswagen Bug! Can't you just see me tooling around town in a little Beetle car maybe a convertible with the roof down? I don't know what the fascination is, maybe it is my hippie side coming out or maybe they just make me nostalgic for the past. I remember watching Gidget reruns on television when I was young and I'm pretty sure Gidget had a Bug that she would take down to the beach. So maybe I equate Bugs with youth, summer, the beach and freedom. Pretty good connotations.
Every once and a while I will see a bug for sale and I will long to buy it or at least test drive it. In the last few weeks I've noticed that a neighbor has had a dark blue bug for sale. And I've been itchin' to find out the price and maybe test drive it. On Friday I finally called and asked about the car-a 1973 VW Bug with a new engine for $5000! Well I don't really have that much money, but I thought there was no harm in test driving it just to see if it was a steal and I had to have it. So on Saturday I walked over and they gave me the keys and let me take it for a spin(now that is trust!).

So here I am in this little car trying to drive it up and down the hills of Salt Lake. First of all it had a very old stick shift (now keep in mind I haven't driven a stick in awhile) and I couldn't even get it into 3rd gear! Also the speedometer didn't work and neither did the blinkers and neither did the seatbelt. So here I was sticking my arm out the window everytime I had to turn and trying to remember from driver's ed how to sign a left turn and how to sign a right turn. It was probably an interesting sight. Oh and I also accidentally killed the engine at a stop sign and it took me forever to get it started again! Ok so not exactly a dream machine, but I probably looked really cool driving it around (except for maybe the occasional looks of panic on my face). I guess I'm not going to get this car, I don't think I have the mechanic skills to maintain it, but the dream lives on for the perfect Bug and one day, one day I will buy one.

But I have other dreams too, here is the short list:

to be a drummer for a band (I think I'd be really good at drumming, I just need a drum set and a teacher!)
to play the harmonica
to live in a village in Italy and maybe own a little villa
to learn Italian well
to have my very own garden
to be a great dancer

3 comments:

jennifer said...

At first I read 'or own a little village' instead of villa. My, you do have lofty goals!

Amber said...

Well if the shoe fits. I would mind running a village or small principality.

jennifer said...

A small principality? Well, if Monaco comes up for sale, I'll let you know.