Time seems to fly when you’re having a lot of fun.   It’s hard to believe that it was  five years ago when we met, but I remember the day like it was yesterday.

I can still remember Amanda’s first car, a Proton, and how she scared the absolute bejeesus out of me the first time I got in the passenger seat.  Picture this, old car, old suspension, crap tyres, automatic gear box, front wheel drive, and a 90 degree turn attempted at over 60km/h without a hint of touching the brakes.  I laugh now, but boy, was I furious at the time.

I can also remember the day Amanda bought her first “real” car.  An R32 GTST.  It was also her first manual.  It was my job to teach her how to drive it.  As you can imagine, we had a very long night that night.   I can still see the look on Amanda’s face when we stopped to take photos after her first drive.

A combination of disappointment, anger, and fear washed across her face as she stared at the expensive piece of machinery in front of her.  I don’t think Amanda knew I was looking at her, but I could almost hear the dialogue she was having with herself,

“I can’t drive this thing.  What have I done?  I’ve just wasted a lot of money.  What am I going to do? Wil won’t stop yelling at me.”

(I wasn’t yelling! HONEST!!!)

I think the thing that freaked her the most were hills.  Both the fact that manual car’s roll back on a hill start, and that the gearbox doesn’t automatically kick down if you’re going up a steep hill.

So I took her to an empty car park that I knew of.  It was perfect because it had a long straight bit of road, very wide, with 3 inclines and flat areas in-between.  It was here where she learnt where the friction point of the clutch was, how to hold the car on an incline using the clutch and throttle only, and where we took maybe 5000km’s off the life of the clutch.

Amanda picked it up incredibly fast.  Before we knew it we were attending track days.  Amanda even hit the track before I did.  Oh, and as testament to how well she can control a clutch, an acquaintance of ours told her she’d never be able to move his car without stalling it  (it had some dicky on-off twin plate clutch).  Amanda took off without even a bunny hop.  The look on the car owner’s face was priceless.

We’ve been through so much together.  So many firsts.  We’ve both matured alot too since knowing each other.  (Well, I think I’ve matured :p ).  Here’s to many more years, and more growth.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated.  I’ve had quite a bit of work come my way and my normal day-to-day has gotten quite hectic of late.  Also, my failing body hasn’t been of much help with getting things done.

For the past year and a half I’ve been undertaking some weight training.  Which, for the most part, has seen me put on 15kg, and a bit of muscle where there was none before.  However, my regime will need to change.  An old back injury flared up on Saturday after an increase in my weights and a new exercise I was trying, which saw me unable to walk on Saturday afternoon.  I could not even sit on a chair without being in unbearable pain.  Lying down also saw little relief.

Later that afternoon I would finally make a phone call to my mother.  The pain had become savagely unbearable, to the point where tears were streaming down my face.  Normally I can take pain, but this time I had no chance.

Mum came with Dad bearing strong pain killers, muscle relaxants, and some massage gel.  She helped relieve the pain so that I could sleep.  I am extremely thankful that my mum’s a registered nurse.  I do not know what I would do without her.  I feel that I would still be in massive pain right now if it wasn’t for her.  Either that or waiting in a hospital ward waiting for someone to see me.

Today, I booked my doctors appointment and have been put on strong pain killers and muscle relaxants, with 3 days off from work.  To be reassessed after this period.  I have also been told I will need physio/chiro after this.

I am still unable to drive, or sit for any normal period of time.

But it’s ok, the healing process has begun, and soon I will be able to begin some core strengthening exercises with the hopes of healing my back for good…hopefully.

For anyone reading this, if you ever have a car accident that causes some spinal damage, please, please don’t do what I did and believe it would just get better with rest and time.  Make a claim, get physio.  Your life afterwards will be much more enjoyable if you do.

Sometimes things just don’t make sense, and the more you try to make sense of them, the more they don’t make sense.

Throughout my life I’ve found that I’ve always made things the way I wanted them to be.  Even without realising.

From a young age I would learn how to take things apart, and put them back together.  When they went back together I had to make sure they went back together the same, or better, unless I wanted to face my father’s wrath.  I’d never damage anything, I’d always try to improve things.

The first thing I ever took apart was my radio control car.  When I put it back together, it went back together the way I wanted it to.  After that I felt that it was more a part of me than before, and my enjoyment increased ten fold.

We all have the power to make anything around us be the way we want.  If money is an issue, find a way.  There always is, even if it’s not tangible.