a99kitten's Musings

Spent a few hours today washing, vacuuming out and emptying out my old car in preparation for selling it. It’s weird. I got kinda sad. Not that I don’t love my new car – I totally do. Like…more than I thought I would!

But I’ve had my old car since December 1995. That’s a long time :) I bought him (yes, he’s a him..not a her..just felt like it) after an accident in my previous car – a Miata. Not so long story short – driving it in the rain on Highway 280 which is very windy in some parts and spun out in the rain. Hydroplaned, spun out up an embankment and ended up in the emergency lane facing traffic in a torrential downpour. But everything was OK. Didn’t hit anything, I was OK. I went to work early for stock market hours so few cars were on the freeway. As I started my car back up (it had stalled out I guess) I saw headlights coming at me. I was partially in the emergency lane and partially still on the grass. No part on the actual freeway at all. But the headlights were coming fast right at me. I jumped out of my seat and towards the middle of the car (Miatas are small – not much room to jump! And BAM – a truck crunched the entire drivers side into the middle of the car. Rain was now pouring in and I was basically sitting in the center console. I wasn’t scared though – I was angry. What the hell?

I had a car phone (an old relic nowadays but then it was quite fancy!) and called 911. I also called my boss to let him know what happened and that I’d be late.

When the police arrived, they pried my door open and got me out. Made sure I was ok, etc. After taking statements, turns out the driver of the truck saw my headlights facing him and in that split second slammed his brakes…in the rain. He hydroplaned just like I did but hit me instead of nothing like I did. Thanks. Oh…turns out uninsured, unlicensed illegal Mexican immigrant. Great. The police were very nice, very fast and got me a tow truck quickly. The tow truck driver said to me, lucky you thought to jump out of your seat or you would be part of that twisted metal. Ok.

After that, I decided I wanted a tougher car. Especially if I was going to be driving up to Tahoe a lot (which I was since I took up snow boarding the winter before and my boyfriend at the time was a pro snowboarder.) So I test drove a couple and decided on the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was quite the luxury SUV at the time since Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc didn’t make SUVs then. And it drove so nicely. I loved it.

Broke up with said *cheating* snowboarder boyfriend and met my husband. So I’ve had my car longer than I’ve had him. In fact, he will still remember how on our first trip up Tahoe with friends (we weren’t dating then) I wouldn’t let him bring leftover dinner food in the car. Hey pal – it’s a nice, new car. Keep your food out of here! I will be the same with my new car now. The huskies, they can do what they want but people – nope.

So over the years as we worked all the time, he went to Stanford Business school, we started our own company, etc. I lost interest in snowboarding. Sliding my face on ice didn’t help either. But then I got a puppy. And then another. And my car was their car. And so it went from the “cool, snowboarding chick’s” car who kept it immaculate to the fluffy, sandy, muddy, snowy husky mom car :) But they make me much happier than any day/trip snowboarding could. Yes, it gets fluffy. Yes, it needs to be vacuumed and cleaned a lot. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So 200K mikes later, it became clear I needed a new car soon. I wanted the H2. Yeah, yeah..gas-guzzler, carbon footprint, big American beast, whatever, whatever. I love it. Kinda the same reason I loved the Miata when it first came out (I had the first year) – it didn’t look like any other car out there. It was totally different. Plus it was DEFINITELY safe. I test drove – LOVED it.

But, the back was pretty small and it was higher than my car which means harder for the buds to get in. So I did eventually give up on that car. But didn’t really want any others. All other SUVs looked the same – boring. And I wanted a SUV and more room for the buds.

Husband finally got me to test drive the Range Rover Sport and I liked it. I knew I would – I’ve been an anglophile all my life so it was quite likely. And it’s quite fancy which I kinda like :) (and now I have an excuse need to buy more shoes, bags and jewelry to fit in with my car!) Plus it’s FAST. So I set out to find one. Found one at 50% the sticker (who pays that for a car???) in Texas. Supercharged even (I really, really, really need to watch my lead foot) and the color I wanted (silver). Bought it – love it. Really do. I bought a fan for the dogs and just put a bed in there today for them. We’ll see if they like it more now. They are used to having the run of the Jeep and this car has super soft fancy leather so none of that….for now anyway…

Also had a license plate frame made for it – chrome silver with black lettering “My Millennium Falcon”. Geek? Sure :) But that’s ok. My personalized plate (husky related) is now also on and it’s officially 100% the car I drive now. No more Jeep driving.

But in emptying my old Jeep today I did get oddly sad. Not that I don’t want my new car. Trust me – I do! But I’ve had that car longer than anything else I possess (except a raft of Star Wars toys and collectibles which will NEVER be sold.) Have had even longer than I’ve had my husband. So it’s weird to say good bye to him. But he’s worked hard protecting me and the huskies. So he deserves some rest now :) And my Falcon awaits some new travels!

In honor of San Diego Comic Con, that I am sadly missing this year :(, I have been staring at my collectibles for the past few days. Sometimes I just like to take them down and look at them. Truly renews my affinity for them.  I usually get something new at the Cons when I go. And I have to pre-order at least 1 Con exclusive each year. This year, even though I am missing it, a friend is picking up my pre-ordered Gentle Giant Darth Vader helmet in PINK! YAY! But still quite sad I am not going. There really is a crazy fun energy there and I ALWAYS have a great time. I won’t be this stupid next year and miss it again…

But as I was perusing the Sideshow Collectibles site for their convention pre-orders I saw their new Millennium Falcon. Wow! This is a pretty awesome collectible!

http://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=900584&utm_source=news-scroll

Sideshow's Falcon

I love all things Millennium Falcon – mostly because I love all things Falcon’s Captain and co-pilot :)  I am definitely a sucker for these particular character/ship purchases.  I have a dangling tiny Falcon suction cupped right under the rear view mirror in my car.  And Chewie is my co-pilot after all :)

Chewie is my Co-Pilot sticker - have the Diesel Sweeties t-shirt too :)

I have the Code 3 Collectibles Millennium Falcon which is sold out on their site so no link to theirs – but here is mine!:

Code 3 Falcon 1

Code 3 Falcon 2

Rebelscum.com has a great description/specs: http://www.rebelscum.com/code3millenniumfalcon.asp

It’s a GREAT piece. I remember when I bought it and how excited I was! I believe it was the 3rd or 4th relatively pricey Star Wars collectible I bought.  I had been collecting mostly the action figure/toy lines up until then. Of course, I think that’s right around the same time Gentle Giant, Master Replicas, Sideshow and others all decided that little geeks grew up to be adult geeks who had cash to spend and the same geeky passion for Star Wars. Damn that George Lucas!!

When I went and visited ILM in the Presidio in SF (thanks to a friend who was AWESOME and hooked me and a few other SW nuts up with a tour), I got to eat lunch in their very generously-subsidized employee cafeteria and felt no guilt due to the thousands and thousands of dollars I have generously given up to the Lucas cult over the years :) (p.s. It’s awesome there – please hire me!!!)

Me at ILM in front of Yoda Fountain. Yes...in my Han & Chewie t-shirt :)

My Code 3 Falcon is proudly on display in my office and it always gets a lot of attention from new employees or vendors who come by :)

Of course, I also have the (released 1979 I believe) Kenner Millennium Falcon – in original box – from The Empire Strikes Back. This is the old Kenner commercial for the Falcon. This one is for the Star Wars version but dang cool:

I did most of my original toy collecting right before and after (and forever after) this movie (TESB) came out. Had more allowance to spend :) And yes, I kept them all unplayed with (had them on display in my room) and kept the boxes.

I love my old stuff. I take it out and look at it sometimes (like the giant dork that I am.) But it generally stays safely packed away in my home office closet. My home office is my dedicated Star Wars/collectibles room (there and my work office!) I have 1 large bookshelf full plus some of my framed posters, my Master Replicas lightsaber rack, and a few things on the desk. What I want…someday…is a dedicated room for my collectibles with glass cabinets to house my old and pricey stuff. Again…DORK! But really – how many Hummel, Lladro, doll, art, watch, etc, etc, etc. collectors are there out there?!?!? NOT DIFFERENT! :)

I also covet the Master Replicas Falcon.  It was $$$ ($2800 plus tax and shipping) with only 500 made. They sold out at MR then. There were a few that Harrison Ford signed which I would have given up a kidney for…every so often I check eBay for them and they are still going for $$$. Hmmm…I only really need ONE kidney, right??  Here is my pic of it from SDCC 2006:

Master Replicas Falcon

Close up this thing is AWESOME! And it’s big! Like 3 feet wide! Sigh…there is one on eBay right now ending Thursday. The bank probably wouldn’t mind if the mortgage payment was short $3000 – right? Right??

But this Sideshow item is fantastic! I wish I was going to SDCC this week so I could see it (they MUST have a prototype there on display!) Very pricey though…but they are offering it as a FlexPay (their version of lay-a-way!) option…I think my husband’s head would explode. But then more room at home for my Star Wars collectibles!! Hmmmmm….. :)

Now if only Sideshow would GET ON IT and make the Premium Format figure for Chewbacca (to go with my Han and Leia)!! But Han and Chewie collectibles really deserve a posting of their very own…

For history on the Falcon (is to a real ship!) you can peruse Wookiepedia.  I love Wookieepedia because…well…it’s called Wookieepedia: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Millennium_Falcon