Closing out 2013

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, I know I did.  This year has brought on a lot of changes to my life.  Some good, some not as positive, but have seemed to lead to positive things for the most part.  Two of the biggest changes to happen this year happened in the last week.  I finally published my 8 page mini-comic, Dangers of the Road.  It was delivered last Friday and I must say they look gorgeous.  I used a service called Ready Comics to print them.  I'm doing a bit of soft launch on these and mainly using them a resume piece.  I plan on setting up an Esty store during my New Year.  Till then if you want a physical copy just shoot me an email or comment below.  If you want a digital copy you can buy one for $1.99 at Amazon, Click Here.  I wanted to charge less but that’s as low I Amazon would let me go.  It make up for the high price I add some concept art to the Kindle version.

The other big change that just happen with I bought an NEW CAR!!!!! Well, not bought, but leased a new car.  Hey it's the first time I have ever driven a brand new car that no one else has ever owned.  While the end of the year may be the best time to buy a car in terms of getting a good price, but it really it the worse time to shop for one.  Trying the find the time to do all of the Christmas stuff and finding time to go to the different dealerships was a real challenge.  Also it seemed like every time I was free to go to a dealership the sky would open up and pour snow everywhere, or it was Sunday.  In Pennsylvania you can't sell cars on a Sunday.

The impetus to buy a car wasn't just because I had a little bit of money from finally settling with the insurance company after my car accident from last august.  It was because Goldie, my old 2001 Honda civic was once more acting up.  First the muffler separated from the exhausted pipe.  I was able to fix it with a clamp, some muffler tape and YouTube video.  Then it started to overheat again.  I found out the radiator reservoir was empty.  Once I filled it up with coolant and water, it seemed fine and I don't know why it was empty.  After that I started looking in earnest and borrowed my mom's car.  Having literally been burned by this sort of issue this summer, I wasn't going to take chance.

My original plan was to wait till my tax return came in and I had a big chunk of money to put down to find a car.  With that out the window, I started looking at used cars.  I went to one dealership to look at a used 2009 Civic.  I figured I'd stick with Honda, because despite the issues I had with it, I loved Goldie and she had given me 140,000+ good miles.  She only had 23,000 when I bought her, for a really good price.  That car didn't owe me a thing.

From the moment I went to the dealership red flags started going off.  First even though I had made an appointment, the car was not ready when I got there.  Turned out the battery was dead and they had to jump it before I could give it a test drive.  Then I saw it didn't have a sunroof, which it was listed as having on their website.  The test drive went well enough and I would have been fine with the car.  Red flags started again once we brought the car back and they started in with a really push soft sell, that nearly spilled over to a hard sell.  Even after I told them I, would need to think about it and that I don't make any time of big decisions after a long day of work.  Then they brought over a super sleaze manager.  I felt like I need to check that I still had all my fingers after shaking his hand.  Sufficed to say, I didn't leave wanting to buy that car, even though I kind of liked it.

This led me to dread going to look at any more cars.  I also was worried about my credit score and what kind of loan I could get.  I imagined finding a car I loved and thought I could afford, only to have them tell me that they couldn't sell me a car.  Of course my depression got a hold of this notion and multiplied 1000 times, where I almost had a panic attack at the thought of looking at another car.

I had just read the Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick a nerd self-help sort of book.  In the book he talks about how knowledge is the key to conquering fear.  Taking that advice I called the bank where I had gotten the loan for Goldie all those years ago.  The woman I talked to was great.  We ran some numbers and I was pre-approved for a loan.  I now knew exactly how much I could spend and that if one dealer couldn't make it happen with those numbers another one would.

When I went to the dealership the next day, I made sure to tell them that it was just a fact finding mission and that I kind of shut down when people are pushy even in a passive aggressive way.  Mike Winter over at the Kia in Limerick took that to heart and showed me a bunch of cars without being push or making me feel like I had to decide on one then and there. 

I ended up leasing a 2014 Kia Forte for him a few days later.  On the way home I was trying to decide what to call my new car.  The name Shadow just popped right into my head.  Over the next few days of driving the car I knew I made the right decision.  It's a really nice car and because it only had 47 miles on it I'm not worried about anything going wrong with it and getting stuck some place.

As I write this I also realize that it was good for me to get out of Goldie.  She was filled with the ghost of the past.  I was trapped a bit in her with memories both good and bad. With Shadow, I have but a weeks' worth of memories, all good, and nothing holding me back from moving forward.

New Year's Eve is tomorrow and I can't help but think about the past year.  To be honest a lot of it is blur of depression.  It was such a tough year, as I outlined in this post, but I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who were there for me this year.  Without the love and support of my friends this year, I really don't know how far in a hole I would have fallen.  I most certainty would not have been in a place where I could have not only written a comic book, but gotten it printed and used it to get more lettering.  I was incredibly fortunate to have such kind and support of friends.  To everyone who help me, both year and years past, thank you. 

May you, dear reader, be as lucky as I am and may we all have a wonderful 2014.