Looks like we may be combining Roxy's blog with Dara's blog this year ;)

Been awhile since I've gone off on an emo rant post so why not get a good one out for the new year.

This scene is weird. I would say that it's worse than others but I'd be lying. I've heard stories that people in so-cal will talk shit about you if you don't have more than 2" of cuff in your Levi's at rod shows. I've known people with Honda's that have had people follow them home from shows just to have their cars stolen as soon as the lights went out.

I think the longer you stay in a scene, the more you notice how much shit talking there is in it. And if you are saying to yourself that you have never practiced what I'm preaching then you are lying. Now I'm not saying a little bit of shit talking isn't fun here and there but sometimes it just gets plain out of hand.

I'm assuming if you're reading this, you either are friends with me or hate me but you at least are in the scene a little bit to have heard of this site. I'll also assume that you know what EIP, Eastside and the like stand for. These places of business started out strong but after a little bit, corners were cut and they started to get a rep. With that rep, people started talking and comments turned into shit talk and then shit talk turned into legend and then out of no where, people who were just getting into the scene who had no idea who these people were, were talking shit about them because they had heard a lot of stories and just wanted to be part of the conversation.

Now, seeing how this blog is mine, I have every right to turn this post into something about me. I'm a fame whore. Always have been, always will. It started out when I went to art school in a sleepy boring town. I had shit else to do, I didn't drink, so for shits and giggles along with my friends, we went out to see just how big we could build a name up. We made signs, we pulled stunts, we threw parties. Pretty much wherever you went, you knew about that name. Of course the name was jkrew. It wasn't just a person, it was a group of bored college kids who all had names that started with "j".

Anyways, years progressed, I graduated and I kept the name. As I had jobs involved with the internet and design, I brought over the name to online communities. The name brought some weird cult following and of course I bathed in the notoriety and attention. My friends and I joked at my ability to get into events with the name alone. "Oh yeah, jkrew will be there. They/He will need 4 press passes." "jkrew wants access to the VIP room. They'll be arriving at midnight and don't want to stand in line." Blah blah blah. It was all a big joke. Pit passes to Le Mans races, free lunches at car shows, it wasn't so much of a cocky thing but more of a challenge just to see how far we could take it. We called it Ferris Buellering. I once got to test drive a brand new Ferrari of my choice because the online car magazine called jkrew wanted to do a review.

But now that I'm older, it seems to be sort of blowing up in my face. The reason why is probably because of the lack of enthusiasm I put towards the "name" as I used to a few years back. And what once was something that was so noticably over the top and tongue in cheek now looks like a half-assed attempt at famewhoring to a cocky and extremely fake level. That and the fact that Kate and I rarely even talk to new people anymore to reasons unbeknownst to me. Is it possible to become less social as you grow older and not know it? It's a shame too because most of the people we meet in person after having online interactions usually are surprised at how quiet and timid we are in person.

Anyway, the point being, it all goes back to shit talking. People are ALWAYS going to talk shit. It's a way of life. The thing that chafes my ass the most is that when people aim their shit talk my way, it's usually the ones who either are new or just don't get it. Kate and I still get shit TO THIS DAY over our fake wedding. It was a big joke folks. It made another one of our trips to Ocean City memorable to us. It wasn't serious, it wasn't an attempt to grab fame. We did it because people said we wouldn't or couldn't so we did.

So that's that. I just spent a good 30 minutes penning a blog entirely about myself and how I get pissed that people get pissed when they see me talking about myself. My only question is why are you reading this in the first place?

So, I found this car the other day...


And trust me, the more I stare at the glossy pages that house it's photos in one of my roder magazines, (warning, PDF popup) the more I get excited about it. It took me a good week of googling just to find the names of the guys who built it... THEN I just happened to go back to a rodder messageboard I found a few years back and found both of them on there. Weird small world indeed. Anyways, I sent over a few PM's to them both and it turns out that the guys who designed the car were old roomates in college. One guy paints, the other guy ages.

So after emailing back and forth with the both of them, I think we may be somewhat close to doing something together with Roxy. I don't want to give too many secrets away yet (or even jinx myself here) but if budget allows, I think this is going to be the fooking bees knees.

The reason why I wrote this entry was just to kind of comment on how rad it was that these guys were so willing and open to talk to a *shudders* foreign car driver. I mean, on paper, wouldn't you think if one of us dirty dub drivers tried to contact an american muscle guy or hot rodder for advice, we would be laughed out of the building right? Totally the opposite and I'm really kind of jazzed at how cool it is to be able to talk shop with enthusiasts of other car cultures. I won't get into the fact that Foose blew me off but I have a feeling he's a dork anyways.

I mean, how many times have you seen someone at a VW show attempt the "rat" look and wanted to punch them in the face for such a travesty. And don't get me started on the trend we all know and love as "rat stylez" on the vortex. God I would really love to sit these kids down and inform them that having a piece of shit car and calling it rat is disgraceful.

Anyways, going off on a rant here. All in all, I really look forward to seeing what can be done in the coming months. I have so many ideas that I think will finally finish Roxy off to be a respectable as well as ground-breaking car.

Stay tuned folks.

Dara was feeling left out because Roxy was getting all of the attention this past summer so Kate and I found someone who wanted to do a front end swap with their Jetta. We headed out to Poolesville, MD and got busy. Took a lil' over two hours which is pretty damn quick if I do say so myself.

Yeah, we're an odd bunch...

(editors note: yes, I am fully aware that my daily driver is now two different colors, has horribly horrible headlights and looks raised to the sky with a stock front lip... I'm working on it folks ;) First things first.)

Poor Dara will never be the same.


Yeah, no turning back now.


Body parts all over the lawn.


Pups.


Dude, this was so much easier with Roxy. Ugh.




A lil last minute help with the other doner.


Thumbs...


Up =)


Awwww, matching babies with Jetta front end swaps. Wheee =)

30,000 hits happened sometime yesterday. That's freaking crazy.

Thanks to all of ya out there checking in from time to time =)

Well, I've been forcing myself to catch the bug early this winter so I can get a jump start to working on Roxy so I can try to enjoy this summer instead of working on her like last summer.

Anyhoo, big things are in store (hopefully), we have a nice budget to work with (thanks AOL) and hopefully she will be taking a trip down south very soon.

Oh and I picked up some nice wheels finally. I've never had a teaser thread before so this may be as good as any...



Stay tuned ;)

xoxo,
krew