Auslan:

My Certificate 2 studies have finished, and I really think I’ve come a long way in learning the language. While I can’t keep up with a full speed conversation, I have a half-decent grasp of grammar, classifiers, and basic vocabulary. Enough to get by, anyway.

I’ve really enjoyed my studies, and I’ve made a lot of awesome new friends.

The plan is to enrol in Certificate 3 next year, and again, hope I pass. A few people have already told me that I sign at a Cert 3 level, but personally, like all the things I do in life, I’m not really sure of my own abilities.

My opinion doesn’t really matter, though. I’m sure the people around me will let me know how I’m doing, and a certificate in hand means the world to me.

Auslan is the first studies that I’ve undertaken since I left High School, so I’m somewhat proud of myself for completing the course.

Violent Crumble:

Broke the gearbox drag-racing, A new gearbox is going to cost a fortune. It’ll take a while.

TX5:

The TX5 goes for yet another blueslip attempt tomorrow morning. If it fails again, I’m going to be pretty pissed off.

If it passes, I’ll be off to Queensland on Wednesday.

Self improvement:

The main thing I’ve been concerned about this year is my crooked teeth, and on Tuesday I will be taking the first major step to having a beautiful smile.

Braces don’t interest me. Too much pain over too long a period, so I’m having things done surgically. Sure, it means a lot of pain for two weeks, and eating through a straw for two weeks, as well as having a semi-permenant retainer for god-knows how long, but at least when I smile, my teeth will be nice and straight.

I’m also having two extractions done. The two back teeth at the bottom of my mouth need to go. The dentist said it’s not important to replace them, because they’re fairly useless anyway. Not used much with chewing, and apparently I’m not going to miss them at all.

Mum:

A massive chapter has come to a close, and after two years of shit-fights with too many people, I’ve finally managed to buy mum’s house from the estate.

I have a few people to thank for helping me out with this. They know who they are, because I thank them repeatedly.

Finally I am comfortable in my own house. I own it. I have a mortgage. I can do what I want now, and I never have to move house again if I don’t want to.

Now I need to sort out work life and personal life. Life is not too bad at the moment, but if those two got sorted, I’d have everything I ever wanted.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

What happened? Who knows.

7/11 recently purchases 295 Mobil fuel stations, and are slowly in process of converting them. Not a single Mobil fuelstation remains untouched. Some are already fully converted. I say converted, not re-branded, because the process requires complete shutdown of the site, with a large amount of site-work.

Take the site closest to my house, for instance. There is a lot of structural work. The building is no longer the same size or shape that it was previously (it it considerably larger now).

I’ve been wondering if 7/11 fuel stations have light switches, because as soon as the power is reconnected to the site, everything lights up. I’m sure the place is still a week or two from re-opening, but all the fleuro lights int he signboards are on, all the new 7/11 signage is fully lit, and all the lights inside the shop and in the fridges are also on. Even the sign out the front with the fuel prices is displaying 7.11 (No, that’s not $7.11 per liter..).

I am also curious if our old corner service station is to become a 24 hour outlet, as a lot (all?) of 7/11 stores seem to be.

Will a 24 hour 7/11 work in this little-traveled corner of town, when a kilometer or two away on the highway, there are three of them? Who knows.

Their $1 coffee sign is intriguing me, and I think I might try a cup of their coffee.

My mind has not changed about boycotting them because of what they are doing with their staff (article here), and I intend to stick by that, unless this store turns out to be different.

He let me know that the gang is going drag-racing on Wednesday the 20th of July, and wanted to know if I’d come along. Silly question.

We have a bunch of cars lined up, and it’s going to be a lot of fun. If you want to come along to watch, or race, let me know.

It will be Violent Crumble’s first race since the modifications started, and I’m hoping for an eleven second quarter mile. The previous best was set when the car was standard at 14.337.

Confirmed cars so far:

2 x BA XR6 Turbo (Violent Crumble and Pete’s car)

VE1 GTS LS1

BA N/A ute

NL Fairlane 302.

The positive terminal on the battery is a bit small for some reason, and the positive clamp doesn’t have a solid grip. I thought these were fairly standard on car/truck batteries, goes to show you what I know.

What this means in reality is that there are some intermittent issues starting the car.

Most of the time it starts fine, but every so often there’s not enough contact to provide the current required to start the car but if I leave the key turned, after a bunch of clicks and dash-light dimming, the car starts eventually.

It only needs one more drive (tomorrow) before I can take it down to get looked at.

The positive terminal on the battery is a bit small for some reason, and the positive clamp doesn’t have a solid grip. I thought these were fairly standard on car/truck batteries, goes to show you what I know.

What this means in reality is that there are some intermittent issues starting the car.

Most of the time it starts fine, but every so often there’s not enough contact to provide the current required to start the car but if I leave the key turned, after a bunch of clicks and dash-light dimming, the car starts eventually.

It only needs one more drive (tomorrow) before I can take it down to get looked at.

1. My Telstar TX5 will be moved up to Sydney so that I can drive it seeing that Violent Crumble is going to start spending a lot of time in workshops.

2. Speaking of workshops, I phoned Frankie’s today, and made some plans with Frank for a couple of weeks from now. I’m bringing Violent Crumble down to see them, so they can start on a few ideas, and to make set plans for the first phase of installation. While I’m down there, we’re going to check out some of the other cars he’s done. I’m (not so secretly hoping) that I can get an up-close tour of VIBE Dredd.

With the future development of my car, I decided to throw up a website for promotional purposes.

The new site is at http://violentcrumble.info/.

Go have a look, and let me know what you think.

At this point I’d had a week to think about the system we’d nutted out and decided that I wanted more, so we looked at a few things, upgraded a bunch of stuff, and added more stuff. I’m aware that “stuff” isn’t real specific, but I’d really like to keep what’s happening on the down-low, until the car shows up somewhere with the system installed.

Speaking of upgrades, after attending the Fusion Sound-Off tonight, I’ve decided that I want more upgrades. I wonder if they read this blog.. Yes, I’m going to edit my order again.

Numerous names came up, Violent Crumble, Statutory Grape, Purple People Eater, and many that are probably a little off-colour.

After about a week of discussion, the decision was made to call it Violent Crumble.

Now, for the last two year, there hasn’t been much to write home about, or so to speak. Some repair work here, a set of tyres there, and the occasional modification.

With the repair work finished, it’s time to get on to some cosmetics, getting the car ready for shows, and ensuring that there is something to show off.

Another thing I need to look at is promotions. Professional photography, a nice looking website, and a display for the shows. I’m certainly open to help or suggestion on all of those.

I did spot a little something at Frankie’s that I want for the display, and Brett (the sales manager) suggested he could help me out there.

There are a large number of Mobil fuel stations around where I live, and I have been known to stop in at any of them for snacks, drinks or milk. The Mobil that is closest to my house has been a part of my life since before I first got a car. My first mechanic runs the workshop there to this day, and it’s always been convenient.

There is a guy that works there, he’s part of the Commodore club. I know I’m a Ford person, but he and I love having a bit of a chat, and we always check what the other is up to with their cars. I heard from him on Saturday that 7/11 has told all the Mobil employees to bugger off (more or less).

The Mobil stores in the area that have already been converted to 7/11 have all had their staff fired/made redundant and replaced with Indian staff. While I’m trying to keep race out of anything I have to say, the customer experience of 7/11′s new staff is nothing short of rubbish.

There’s no longer any such thing as the casual “Hey Hi Hello”, no longer is there the equal footing of a peer who just happens to be on the other side of the counter. It’s all a very-obviously put-on “Hello, Sir”, “Thankyou, Sir”.

I, for one am boycotting all 7/11 stores. No fuel, no more snacks.

I’m sick and tired of Americans attempting to dehumanise Australian business.

Fix your shit, 7/11.