Waiting for Silvio.

I'm picking up my new car at 10 a.m. today. But here I am, up at 6, so there are four more carless hours to go. Time to read the newspaper and maybe make a list of all the errands I need to run after going almost a week without a car. Nina nicely gave me many rides, to work and back and to Whole Foods and the bank, but there must be many accumulated errands. I'm actively looking for places to drive, so I want there to be things that need to get done!

"Silvio" is the name I gave my car in a post the other day, though I knew it would cause people to write and tell me you shouldn't give a German car an Italian name. I should give my car a German name? Silvio is the only man's name that came to mind when I thought of the color silver. I looked up how to say "silver" in German. It's "silber." You think I should call my car "Silber"? I also got email on the subject of whether a car should have a man's name or a woman's name. So many cars are given women's names -- beginning with the classic Tin Lizzy. Doesn't that mean cars are female? Please! So many cars have female names because they are men's cars. Silvio is my car! And you men who drive sports cars and other cars designed to appeal to men, take a look at the styling that appealed to you so much. If you're seeing "female," you are in denial.

How much does a car affect your self-image? Especially when a car is new, you have a real feeling that the car's image and your own are merging. I remember how I felt when I got my "cosmic green" New Beetle back in the summer of 1999. The image of the Audi TT Coupe is so different from the Beetle's. The New Beetle had a real childlike, sixties, hippie air about it. I'd gotten used to living in that aura. But, in that first year, it felt great! Now, the new car is exuding an entirely different sensation. What will it do to my mind once I start driving it and can get that feeling and its image merges with my sense of myself? Isn't that what a car is for? I mean, I need transportation, but I'm looking for a new feeling -- from my Silvio!