Car of the week: Audi A4

So I've been slacking off with the car of the week. My apologies to the three people that read my blog.

That said, this week's car of the week is the Audi A4. I have LOVED this car since I first went with my parents to test drive one back in 1997. I have a very clear memory of being at the well appointed Audi dealer in Palm Springs, CA. There was a beautiful woman that worked as a salesperson at the dealer. As they pulled the Champagne colored A4 in front of us, the woman smiled at me and said "this is a sharp car!" My reaction to this was "OMG, rich people use the word sharp!" Unfortunately, the A4 was way too small for a family of six. We did test drive the larger A6, but it was WAY too expensive at the time. Alas, we ended up getting a 1997 VW Passat. A much more affordable and comparable sedan to the A4. (The original body style of the A4 shared the same platform with the 97 VW Passat) Sigh.

But I digress. It wasn't until 2000 that an Audi A4 Quattro appeared in the front driveway of my parents house. But it was my older sister's car. No joke, I used to stand in front of the car just taking in the soft beautiful lines of the design. I'd walk around the perimeter of the car to see how many pieces of sheet medal were used, and how they fit on the car. The interior wasn't my choice, as it lacked the life-altering wood trim. But she loved that it didn't have wood trim. The one drawback that I see with the Audi A4, is the amber glow of the interior dashboard lights. I cannot stand this. It pretty much ruins the car for me. I'd prefer a clean white light, similar to that of the interior glow on the latest Honda Accords. Or even (possibly) the yellow glow that Mercedes-Benz uses in their cars. I've pretty much alienated myself from all of the Audi enthusiasts out there by suggesting using styling cues from MB or...*gasp* Honda...... but I stand by my suggestion. I just don't know that I can get passed the red amber.

Here's a visual history of the Audi A4 from its inception in 1994 to the latest 08 Model. You may also enjoy more personal opinions of each redesign!

1995-2001


2001-20005

THIS IS MY FAVORITE BODY STYLE to date! I LOVE how they took the soft lines of the previous generation, and made them more aggressive and sharp. If you look closely at the 2002 Passat, they have similar front fascia lines around the headlights! Beautiful!

2004-2007

HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. It looks like a pig.

2008-present

They recovered nicely from the previous generation. I sat in one the other day when I went to pick up the VeeDub from the dealer. VERY nice. This design has renewed my love for the Audi A4. (However, there is a slight design flaw in the interior of the 08 A4: When the parking break is up, the center console cannot be completely down. It's as if they were trying to fit a 3 foot wall into a 2 foot space. Not cool Audi. Not Cool.)

Cocktail Party Personna: A Personal Revelation

In the wake of my fourth quarter, I have discovered a little something about myself. I was debating for a while if I should blog about this. But I'm finding that the more I talk about it with friends and family, the easier it gets, and the more real if feels. So here it goes.

I finished my fourth quarter last week. And so ends an entire year at the Portfolio Center. I feel okay. Well...okay isn't really a feeling. I feel disappointed. Disappointed in myself. I've realized that for this whole year, I haven't been 100% honest with my work. Don't get me wrong, all the work that I've done is all mine. But I haven't been putting 100% of myself in my work. In short, I've been holding back, keeping a safe distance from my work. This same mentality is true for a lot of things in my life. Friendships, relationships, performance at work, keeping my room clean, things like that. I've realized that I really put up a "cocktail party persona" most of the time that I'm out and about, be it at school, in most classes, or even when I'm at a party. For the past year, I've been designing with this cocktail party persona in mind. And it has shown in most of my work. I think I've gotten lucky with a few cool projects. But on a whole, I know I'm holding back, and I'm hiding behind this cocktail party persona.

I've blogged a few times about how I haven't had a real relationship in seven years, going on eight now. And I think I've finally figured out why. Fear. I am so scared to be who I really am. There's a big part of me that's actually homophobic. A lot of the time, I feel like people are uncomfortable being around the gay guy, so I feel like I have to make it okay for everyone to be around me by making self-depricating jokes, or just being a caricature of myself. It's truly exhausting to do that all the time. In fact, I've done it so much, that I've actually lost sight of who I really am. To be honest, without that persona, it's so hard to be who I really am. I think I come across as generally friendly and up beat, fun to be around and things like that, which are good things to be. But I fool myself into thinking that's how I always need to be. And in thinking this, I have taught myself to hate myself.

So it's with this discovery in mind, that I go into my second year at Portfolio Center. I feel like now it's time to get serious, and truly give my organic self to my work. I can't say that I won't assume that cocktail party persona. I think it'll take some time before that goes away completely. But the only way I know to make that go away, is to be truly honest with myself and with other people. To do things for myself, that mean something to me. For example, I've always wanted to keep a little notebook with inspirational things in them. Like companies that I'd like to work for, or artists that I'd like to know more about. And I've never taken the time to do it. I intend to learn how to make a book like this from scratch, just for me. But for the meantime, I've purchased one from Pearl. It's not bad. It just feels flat and impersonal. One of my mini-projects for the break, is to make this little book personal.

I'm still excited about being here and being this PC world. I just think from now on, I'll be able to give myself over to the work, and to myself.