He Managed

The trip last night took a mere 6 hours and 20 minutes, excluding one brief stop. No toll was involved, thus it's full-fledged challenging. Nothing uneventful happened, I'm utmost pleased to say. The ride was basically well flowing.

I was worried something might break, but STELLAR managed well. We had a small break after 300km of non-stop driving at a Petronas just before Club Med Cherating, for prayers and drink.

Arrived at around 8.30pm or something and finally had my full meal called luncher (lunch dinner). Had only a kebab before the trip, just after my Friday prayers, so there.



A car so proud of his stickers. Location, at Tok's house.

Colour Confusion

When you read this, I will probably have reached Kuantan or something.

I will head to Terengganu after today's Friday prayers.

The painting of STELLAR will probably commence next week. To be done by dearest Pak Su. I will pick him up three weeks later. That's my budgeted time anyway.

Will be back on Wednesday, although I'll might already arrived to Putrajaya by flight on Tuesday.

I'm actually feeling quite nervous looking forward to this trip. It's been a while since STELLAR went for a long distance run.

He still looks stunning in black. But the stickers are somewhat off-putting. Hehe.

But I realised, eventually he will need his coat of paint anyway.


PS: Believe it or not, I'm still open to options on the colour. But I guess blue is good.

This Morning

Mini engines are heavy. They need all the oil they can get. And the carburettor needs warming up too. So before moving off, I usually will prime the engine a bit with oil, and the carburettor with fuel, for a minute or two.

I usually use my MWalker MP3 player in the car. Since the engine are way noisy, I need more than just a radio and speaker in my car. And rather than spending so much on audio, it's better having a small but audible small unit with earphone.

The drive today was pleasant, albeit surprising. I was expecting to be late, as I had to stop at BP for 20 dollars of fuel. And I really wonder where are all the traffic, especially at the usually jam-packed Pandan Indah stretch was? I was driving at 105kph at that stretch today, where I usually crawl at 5kph. And I managed to spent only 40 minutes on the road. And I arrive before time.

Logged in and out, and then went to Projet to get my free copy of The Sun, and two nasi lemak. Felt hungrier today I guess.

More Than A Car

STELLAR is more than just a daily-driver. It is also my hobby, diner, studio and racer. And a Mini being a daily-driver is really a rare occurence.

Him as a hobby is when it comes to driving and maintaining. I don't usually maintain all aspects of it. Mostly basic stuffs like checking and simple repairs. But most of the time, I treat it as a hobby when I drive it. The cornering, the acceleration, the stunts. As a hobby, it tends to be an expensive one. Maintenance by a third party is one of the things that matters to make this a prolonged hobby. It's an old car, so I would expect to give more TLC. And even more if I drive it to the limits.

As a diner, I regularly eat food in it. And it's not just about any bite-sized tidbits. It includes rice and other staple food, usually in the poisonous styrofoam container (it's still easier than plastic all the time). And the spoon will move while I'm on the straights, or at a traffic light. And he witnessed me eating chocolates everytime.

STELLAR is also a recording/vocal studio. Sort of. I always sing in it. And sometimes, you can see me playing air drums, air bass, or even air guitar, not to mention air singing (singing while holding an invisible mic and stand). And it's always full-fledged singing, falsetto or real voice, and trying very hard to do everything they do.

Current sing-along favorites:
L.A. Guns - Never Enough
Mariah Carey - Someday

It's a quick racer too, though I doubt I will outrun most cars. Usually I love tailing people, instead of outrunning them. At least I won't get embarrassed my mind said I lost. First gear and second gears are good enough, though at third and fourth, I can only get moderate pick-up.

I plan to race it someday. When expenses permits, and more go-faster mods are done. Drag race, motorkhana, hill climb and rally are some of the options.

I guess STELLAR will stay in my life for quite a while.