Marvin Pebblestones Tan

Ok... I've kinda stolen this post from my sister's blog, but even if it's copyrighted, Marvin Pebblestones Tan is part of the family and so I don't think I would be plagiarising... Anyway, as I read this post, it brought back so many memories for me... I couldn't stop smiling and thinking of my time with Marvin. Maybe one day, I too, will blog about my perils and adventure with him... Oh and he's called Marvin after Marvin the comstantly depressed motorcar in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Taking you on a circle of thoughts

Bear with me on this one, won't y'all. I just need to get this out of my head.

Ok. So. this starts around 5 minutes into my 20 minute commute to work.

1) My car's squeaking and creaking kinda freaks me out a little. I had a dream last night where I was driving a brand new black (dunno why it was black, but it was) car...and it died-ed on me, so I had to steal someone's car which had the keys in it, for some reason to drive around the block (again, have no idea why I had to do that, it just made sense in the dream) and then parked it back where I found it...only to find out it belonged to a friend(acquaintance?) who really doesn't like me anyways...and well. whatever. I think that dream had to do with my dad saying yesterday, in a very non-chalant way: "Well, dunno when your battery's going to conk out, it's very old already" (we know where Marvin Pebblestone Tan aka Proton Saga '87's fate is once I leave the island....but let's not go there, he's almost a family heirloom already).....so.

2) Then I thought about how I've always had a thing for driving old cars. I mean, I like the shiny newness of new cars....but at the same time, whenever I've had the chance to drive one, I've been terrified. Like ulp, no, what if I'm the one who fucks it up first....like give it its first ding, or have it understand what contact with another vehicle - moving, or stationary, it don't matter - sounds and feels like? Back in Grinnell, I drove a '88 Ford Ranger, and oh, even though the muffler almost fell out once, and continued sounding like some dude from the hood's best friend even after my host-dad extraordinaire replaced it with a new one by the time I'd relinquished it, I'd driven through gravel road, paved road, pot holes, the I-80 (insterstate?) and Highway-6...and oh the memories of owning and driving that old junk were glorious though laced with a little bit of scariness (though again, that element only serves in retrospect a little bit of bravado and hoo-ha, living life on the edge kind of tinge to those memories). What can I say, I'm a young one yet.

3) However, dear old Marvin, being old, to the point of a recent passenger remarking "I was scared it'd fall apart" after alighting from Marvin's chassis ... really does have me worried sometimes. But that thought didn't stay long. Instead it led to something else which I forget already....but here's another thought I remembered.....old cars are great. You don't have to worry about banging them up because they're about ready to go already and resale value is a non-issue. Plus one can stick all the bumper stickers and whatever galore on 'em because well...resale value is a non-issue, and there's something quite liberating about driving something that you don't really "care" about anymore....I use " " because I actually still do care about Marvin...as in when he retires from active duty, my heart will feel a little twinge....and should he decide to die in the middle of the road, I will not only cry from the scariness of being stranded in the middle of the road amidst the crazy motorists permeating Penang streets, but also because with the demise of Marvin, the end of an era would've arrived.

With that, I shall end my unexpected (hopefully very)premature obit to Marvin Pebblestone Tan (only in my head, no one else in my family calls him that...he's known as "the old car").

To the creakiest, squeakiest, crankiest car I've ever driven.

Yasas!

This is Marvin Pebblestones Tan...hehe...