Okay, so I'm officially 20 years old, right? Two long decades. And it was celebrated by a birthday that I won't forget anytime soon. The night before my real b'day day, the parents took me all the way into Nashville, Tennessee, to eat dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory on 2nd Avenue near Broadway.

Afterwards, we walked along the streets of downtown Nashville to take a gander at the nightlife because I wanted to know what Nashville nightlife was like, and it's VERY lively. There are tons of bars in downtown Nashville, and they all have live music at night. And as we walked, we ended up going by the Ryman Auditorium, which has been the home of the Grand Ole Opry for the longest time before it moved to Opry Mills. So I finally got to see a wonderful piece of Nashville history, and not only that, but dad pointed out that there was an "A Prarie Home Companion" truck parked right outside, so I took a picture of that.

Then I suddenly remembered that APHC was having a show THAT NIGHT and that mom wasn't able to get tickets, so I was horribly bummed as we all stood by the front doors of the Ryman. But then dad pulled a Ticketmaster envelope out of his shirt pocket...

...AND IT HAD THREE TICKETS TO A PRARIE HOME COMPANION!!!!!

Oh my god I couldn't even think of anything to say!! And we still had an hour to kill before the start of the show! So dad and I walked around some more of downtown to see Printer's Alley and the Arcade (two historically old sections of Nashville that dad frequented back in the day when he worked for a copier and printer repair shop).

And finally, it came time to go into the Ryman to wait for APHC to start. And while we were waiting, it turns out that our seats were TRIPLE-SOLD! Meaning two other groups of people also had tickets to the two seats that mom and I were sitting in. >< And the ushers ended up taking our stubs and not giving them back either. But we still got to keep our seats, which was good because it was an awesome view of the show.

Garrison Keillor & Fred Newman

Oh it gets better...

BRAD PAISLEY WAS ONE OF THE GUEST STARS!!!!!

And the other guest group, the Sam Bush Band, sang "Wabash Cannonball", one of my all-time favorite bluegrass songs!

Oh the show couldn't have possibly gone any better.

So that was my totally awesome pre-birthday.

Now it's time to start lamenting... I thought I was home free for the summer after my final final, Thursday morning at 10:30AM. I was so bloody fucking close. My car had had a minor breakdown just a couple days before (no huge deal, it's an older car).

But when dad finally got home from work today, it was like Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. I swear it was the K-T meteor impact event when he told me the news.

My car's engine is totally shot. Main drive belt pulley had fallen off the crankshaft no-thanks to a sheared-off keyway (that's what dad and I caught in the driveway when my engine was severely rattling). Caused all the serpentine belts to fall off their pulleys. Two of them are just dangling and the alternator belt is totally AWOL (it's a wonder my car made it home). And apparently... the rattling pulley knocked against the timing belt cover and threw the engine out of time, and the Honda D15A is a zero-tolerance engine. Bent valves and destroyed pistons are highly likely, and the crankshaft would need replacing because of that bloody keyway. In other words, that engine will never run again.

And what's worse is dad started railing about getting me another used car instead of letting me make my own choices about my car. I want to keep that Honda and build it up right. Why? Because I can. People do it all the time with Japanese imports. Why can't I? When I told my dad that's what I wanted to do, he immediately jumped to the expense of it all, thinking I was going to make him pay for it all.

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

Technically, he's right. Yes. Getting another used car would be cheaper. But I don't want to let that Honda go because I know I can do that car up right. I could get another used car maybe to drive while I'm fixing the Honda. I'll agree to that, but I will NOT agree to just junking the Honda entirely. No. No no no no no.

It's my car, dad. I get to choose what I can do with it now.

So it looks like I'm going to have to get a job and work my ass off day and night to save up my money for car repairs. If the gods of car-tuning are reading this journal right now, please give me some sort of blessing. An opportunity to get car parts for crazy cheap. Someone willing to help me for not a lot of money. A job that's not hellish and pays semi-decent. Parents that actually see my point of view. Anything.

*sigh* This summer hasn't even started and it already sucks. -_- I probably won't even get to go to AnthroCon 2009 either unless I can get a week off at whatever job I end up working.

Okay, so y'all have most likely heard that President Obama ordered General Motors fire their CEO, hire a n00bie, and totally restructure their entire company. Well, for those of you car people, I got a question for you.

If YOU yourself were the sole person in charge of restructuring General Motors' automotive lineup, what would YOU do?

For my answer, if I started off restructuring GM, Oldsmobile is coming back with a vengeance and I hate to say that Hummer will just HAVE to go. I know. It's sad isn't it? All you people with tiny dicks are gonna be traumatized that you can no longer compensate with a set of oversized wheels. Go buy a Cadillac and put it on 22" rims and cap yoself some gangstahz.

Saturn, Holden, Vauxhall, Opel, Saab, Daewoo, and Wuling will remain untouched, mostly because they're foreign or pseudo-independent nameplates (Holden is Australian; Vauxhall, Opel, & Saab are European; Daewoo is Korean; Wuling is Chinese; and Saturn just runs their own little operation for the most part anyway).

Now, on to the American nameplates and how I'd restructure them...

First of all, GMC and Chevy trucks will remain in place, but they won't be aggressively advertised. People can't afford to buy or drive huge trucks nowadays, and hybrid SUVs the size of freaking trains is just... wrong. All the hybrid drivetrain does is SLIGHTLY improve fuel economy in those monsters and that's it. Trucks were originally designed for the people that needed the high hauling capacities. Stop telling average people they need a daily-driver with a roofline that's taller than they are!

Chevrolet will instead shift their focus towards their smaller cars like the Cobalt and Aveo. They need to look at downsizing their vehicles a little bit in order to compete with the smaller-sized models offered by Ford, Chrysler, and especially the Japanese Big Three: Honda, Nissan, and Toyota.

Just for the sake of comparison, the Chevy Aveo and Cobalt respectively compete with cars like:
Ford Focus hatchback & sedan
Dodge Calibur & Avenger
Honda Fit & Civic
Nissan Versa & Altima
Toyota Yaris & Corolla
Scion xB/xD & tC
Kia Soul & Rio
Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit & Jetta
Audi A3
BMW 1 series
Volvo C30 & S40/V40

As you can see, there is a STAGGERING amount of competition against just those two models alone. It's hard to get people to want your car over others, especially since the only thing that the American Big Three have going for them is EXTREME brand-loyalty from die-hard prideful Americans.

Also, I will have GM's smaller cars start to have turbodiesels (sourced from the Vauxhall and Opel divisions) as engine options. Chevrolet will still offer a full range of cars from subcompact to full size, but it will more bias its advertising towards the smaller, more entry level range.

Pontiac is next on the list for re-doing. Pontiac will be just above Chevrolet in price. Pontiacs will be, for the most part, just like their Chevy brethren, except while Chevy is entry-level, Pontiac is sportier. They have beefier engines, their suspension is tighter, and they have sportier styling. Also, Pontiac's range will be limited from subcompact to mid size, with maybe one full-size model.

Coming up next in the list is Buick. Now, Buick's time-honored image is personal refinement (referred to as "personal luxury"). So, Buicks will have a cushier suspension for a smoother ride, they'll have smoother engines, they'll have very quiet exhaust, and the interiors will be just as cushy as the suspension to make their occupants feel "loved" by their own car, and they'll have a more civilized and refined styling to their body paneling. FYI, my grandfather owns a Buick and they are pretty darned nice cars even though they're not a full luxury brand. They have extra amenities that aren't found in Chevies, but they don't have the overwhelming excesses of Cadillac. That's what defines personal luxury. Buick's range will be limited from compact to full-size.

Oldsmobile, which will be making a comeback, will have a different image from Buick. Now, Oldsmobile has traditionally been personal luxury grade as well, BUT... Oldsmobiles define themselves as being "badass" luxury. In essence, Oldsmobiles will be pretty much the same as Buick, except they'll have higher-output engines (more power, bitch >:3 ) and regardless the size of the engine, their exhaust will be tuned to have a deeper, throatier, more aggressive growl to the tune, and for the final touch, Oldsmobiles will have more aggressive, muscle-car like styling. When you get into an Oldsmobile, most people expect civilized refinement, but when they turn the key, they also expect that engine to make its presence well-known under the hood and to sound like it can just eat your face off for lunch. Again, like Buick, Oldsmobile's range will be limited from compact to full-size.

Now on to Cadillac. While Chevy is entry-level, Pontiac is cheap and sporty, Buick is refinement, and Oldsmobile is badass gentlemen, Cadillac's main focus will be raw performance and excessive luxury. Cadillac has always been a luxury marque, and that ain't about to end anytime soon. They'll have fairly stiff, but still refined suspension (after all, it's Cadillac), they'll have high-performance engines, and my god you'll be surrounded by as many bells and whistles as brands like Mercedes-Benz or BMW. Cadillac will be able to offer a full range of cars (including sub-compacts).

As I've said about Saturn, I'mm'a let the sleeping dragon lie. Saturn's doing their stuff up right for the most part, and they've got a really nice, angular image while still being pretty durned cheap. As a result, I'm just going to let them continue running their game the way they wanna.

So that's what I would do if I restructured general motors. Now that I've tossed away my two cents, I want to hear yours. What would you do (aside from dismantling the entire company) if YOU were in charge of restructuring General Motors?