Overdue Again

Today I learnt something. Or at least I'd like to think I learnt something. I'm writing here again so I must have learnt something.

I learnt that unless you keep reevaluating your actions, you cannot grow. I haven't grown in a while. Physically, yes. And sure, I've been able to graduate and get a job, but I haven't kept a proper record of my day in a long while.

I gave myself a lot of excuses for no doing this, but really none of them are valid. I have the time and I know how to do this. It's not a new skill. In fact, I think blogging may have been the only skill I was ever any good at.

And by that I mean the only skill that anyone other than myself ever derived any joy out of. Because the people who read my blog, or used to read my blog back in the day had good things to say about it. Blogging was one of the few things that made me proud.

Anyway, today I learnt something. People who are mean are lazy because it takes effort to be a nice person and being a nice person means that you're willing and able to contribute to society. Or something like that. Someone in a vlog said that and it hit me that I've been lazy for far too long. I've been lazy since 2010.

Five years of my youth spent moping and being glum and browsing websites without adding a damned thing. It's not the Subhash I want to be, I want to keep doing what makes me happy.

I'm not cynical enough to say that I've always been cynical. I know I wasn't in 2009. I really want to keep talking about the past but going that far back would only be discouraging. Let's focus on some of the more recent developments.

1) I got a job
Undeniably, my dream job.
I get to test out new cars. I get to review new cars. I get to go to launch events for new cars. I get to work flexible hours from home. I get to wake up at noon and sleep at dawn. I get paid enough to keep me fed and happy. I get sent to driving courses. I get sent to auto shows.

I love it.

But I should love it even more than I already do. I've been meaning to do a lot more with this job than just sit around and wait for press releases while shitting out a review every fortnight.

Before I go any further, let me do something I've been meaning to do from day 1; list the cars that I've been lucky enough to drive along with some thoughts on each model.

1) BMW M4 Gran Coupe - my first BMW, first test car. Thought it looked and drove great but was worried while driving
2) Chery Maxime - China MPV. Well designed, but it felt plastic
3) Mazda MX-5 NA - Employer's car. Actually only very recently drove it. Had hoped I could fit in better but the larger steering didn't cooperate with my knees. Still, exciting, very responsive
4) Lexus NX200t - Actually blown away by the looks and some of the features. Why buy continental?
5) Mercedes C200, C250 - That's why you buy continental. Drifted in one of these. Loved the looks as well
6) Perodua Axia - If this is the cheapest new car you can buy, modern drivers have nothing to complain about
7) Honda City (1.4, 2014) - driven before, but smoked headlights work better. Loved it until I realised what it represented for Honda
8) Honda Civic(2.0, 2015) - at first blown away by small steering and futuristic cockpit, later a bit underwhelmed by gearbox and SOHC. My 24 year old Civic is more fun in stock config.
9) Honda Accord (2.4, 2014) - One of the more memorable cars. Loved it. Handled so well, felt like a baws driving it with the cockpit and gadgets.
10) Mazda 3 - drove twice. thought it was very 'together'. everyone behind the creation of that car was talking to each other. Only Jap car that felt like it was going the right direction.
11) Ford Fiesta ST - omg don't even
12) Land Rover Range Rover Sport - Took this through mud and shit and hills. Got stuck in the mud in a million ringgit Land Rover. Everything inside is not for pleb fingers.
13) Jaguar F-Type - Jaguar found a way to make burning petrol sound glorious. beast acceleration.
14) Mercedes E300 Bluetec Hybrid - bit out of place on product line, for good and bad reasons. would recommend, would not buy
15) Porsche Cayman GTS - INSTRUCTED to spin it. Spun it. Loved it.
16) Porsche Macan Turbo, Macan S - Felt a bit too expensive to be thrashing around like that. But that's just Porsche.
17) Porsche Cayenne Diesel - handles like a car half its height. Unexpected.
18) Ford Mondeo (2015) - omg don't even pt.2
19) Ford Ecosport - Loved it, but couldn't see why anyone would buy it.
20) Chevrolet Malibu - Only bad experience I had with a car. Tried to have character but has none. Feels corporate. Feels soulless. Feels like a hollow badge. Car itself was ok, didn't break down. A bit guzzly tho.
21) Mercedes GLA45 AMG - Great but not as good as CLA45
22) Mercedes CLA45 AMG - Noise, looks, handling. Best track day ever.
23) Mercedes A45 AMG - Very briefly on brake test. Great performance but interior, like GLA45 didn't seem Merc-y
24) Mitsubishi Triton - IMMORTAN JOE. Why did they use the 2.5L though?
25) Honda CR-V - I finally see why people buy it. But would never buy it.
26) Honda HR-V - I can't see why people buy it. But would buy it.
27) Isuzu MU-X - If i was 14 again, I would love this car.
28) Kia Cerato - Actually great to drive. But the fact that busted fog light ruined most of my photos for the review made me mad. Bit tacky but overall good experience
29) Kia Cerato Koup - Powerful and pleasing interior. Kia badge in Malaysia needs to keep pace with global efforts though.
30) VW Jetta - Great to drive. Lovely. But also scary to think of owning. The things I would do. The bills I would have to pay...
31) VW Polo - Built to lure the average Joe into thinking this is what people talk about when they talk about conti cars. This is the worst of conti cars. It's not even conti. It's Indian or South African or something.
32) VW Passat - Like a bigger Jetta. More powerful, but in the bends, this was more reassuring
33) Porsche Panamera 4 - Hated it until I drove it. Drove it hard and won my first (and probably only) award for driving
34) Porsche 911 Carrera - First time I thought I was going to lose the back. Saved by instructor.
35) Mazda CX-5 - Great little SUV. Still wouldn't buy. Why would I buy an SUV?

I THINK that might be it, I'll update the list later on if there are more that come to mind. Now that that's out of the way, I want to talk about the things I plan to do with my job.

I plan to get an SJ4000 camera and start filming things. This mac does video editing so well, I should take advantage of that.

I also plan to be more proactive. Starting now.

Tune in tomorrow for more updates. It's getting late.