Introductions

"Amoore100" (amoore100) 07/14/2014 at 11:20 • Filed to: None

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Hello to all. Since I'm new here, I decided it would be best for me to introduce myself before creating a bunch of random posts about random things. First of all, however, I want to thank $kaycog and all the others who authorized me the other day on Fractal Footwork's !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (sorry for taking over your post!) Anyways, lets begin with some facts about me, my family, and our cars.

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If you did not notice already, my name is Alexander Moore, and I am 14 years old, birthday August 3, 1999. My family lives in the South San Francisco Bay Area in the San Jose/Saratoga region. My interest in cars began with the diecast construction vehicles on my first birthday cake, and continued after that. As a result, I am also a dedicated diecast collector, with what I think to be nearly a thousand cars (or soon to be.) I am also a violinist, having started at age 4 at my musical parents' persuasion, and have been playing for the past ten years.

In my family there is my dad, my mom, and my younger brother. Let's start with Dad. He is a software/computer engineer and Oboe teacher (mostly as a passion) and is reasonably knowledgeable on cars but not as interested in them as I am. However, this means I can sometimes converse with him on cars and he will actually listen and understand, and(by the way) he can drive a manual. My mom is solely a piano teacher and appeals to my interest in cars by picking up car magazines at the local library magazine exchange (cuz she's too frugal to subscribe to any, being Asian and all that) and asking me random questions about cars she sees. My younger brother is 12 years old and while he has absolutely no interest in cars whatsoever, he is fascinated by Lego and their Bionicle series as well as Star Wars and reading random fantasy novels. We have a Russian tortoise who I imaginatively named "Leafy" when I was five, and he is supposedly about my age. We also rent a room upstairs to a guy who helped build our house and is an old family friend who we call "Uncle Dan". Our garage is his workshop for his woodworking and metalworking projects, and oftentimes we go to him for help in building a school project out of wood. I am of Caucasian and Chinese descent, with my dad being half Cajun French (with a bit of Native American) and half Polish-Russian and my mom being Chinese through Taiwan.

My dad's parents are normal Caucasian grandparents who shower us in gifts whenever we visit (in my case, all the Matchboxes and Hot Wheels I could want!) However, my mom's mother, although divorced from her husband, is an incredible woman who can be quite eccentric at times. She is a retired accountant turned artist and paints incredible oil paintings, Chinese brush paintings, and silk scarves. She is a wonderful cook and also loves travel, leaving either the country or the state every other month or so (!) and through her is how I have been able to visit Taiwan, China, and nearly every country surrounding the Baltic Sea on a cruise (including Belgium, where my great aunt lives, and the UK-no France though). She also is part of the Worldmark timeshare system and so she often takes us on travels using her timeshare points.

Despite her love of travel, she's not the best driver, totaling her Maxima when rear ending a van at a stoplight just because "the light turned green and he didn't move." Then there was the time she tore off the bumper on her new Civic, then she high centered her Civic at a gas station, and….. Supposedly she says she's going to give her car to me when I start driving but first of all: a) It's a 2010 automatic Civic sedan (actually probably best considering I can't drive manual yet and I won't have time to learn until later, and she might total it before I start driving) and b) She keeps damaging the car in some way or another :P

Anyways, our family cars that my parents own include a 2005 Odyssey EX-L, bought new, and a 2001 Volvo V70 T5, bought used in 2011/12 (I don't remember). We used to have two Volvo 740s, a black 1990 Special Delivery sedan GLE, and a 1989 blue, turbo, manual station wagon (!). Unfortunately, after years of me being a stick in the mud, my dad donated them both to our local school's music program since they had been sitting for many years and had several problems. The black sedan was an automatic, and none of the gauges worked (pretty common for those Volvos) and it wouldn't shift out of fourth into fifth on the highway. The blue one had mostly mechanical problems that my dad could fix but he had no time and besides, I decided that if one was to leave, they would have to leave as a pair.

That's all for automotive history and family history and now for some history about me on Jalopnik. I started reading about a year ago, started posting a few months ago and discovered Oppo at the same time, and now I'm finally posting! While I love all cars, I'm particularly interested in Saabs, Volvos, Hondas, and Lancias as well as most stupid, minor, or obscure details and cars I may see. Again, thanks to all who granted be authorship and here's a link that really helped me in this post:

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After that, picture time!
(Note: All pictures in this post are from my Dad's picture blog, since I don't get a phone till I start driving...so in future posts, all pictures will be from Google, with image credits.)

That's my brother in 2004 at the wheel (not literally) of our old 740 sedan.

There's my brother and me creating massive traffic jams when we were little (I'm in the blue.)

That's Leafy.

Legoland Volvo driving school!

There's our Odyssey in Sequoia Nat. Park :D

Again, at roadwork in Sequoia Nat. Park

Mom, dad, and younger brother

Asian grandma, teaching younger brother to play solitare...

Me, as I appear today!

Update: I realize this isn't LALD, but I have a question concerning diecast: does anyone know a reliable source for either Majorette diecast or Tomica Limited? I'm working on compiling my Christmas list... :D

Amoore100 > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:22

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Okay, so the captions are messed up, hope you can follow along!

ttyymmnn > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:22

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Legoland!

$kaycog > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:22

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Welcome, Alexander! Lovely first post!

ttyymmnn > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:23

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Congratulations, you're hired. When can you start?

MAXIMUMVRM > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:33

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welcome and enjoy. Hope your addicted add the rest of us

Jayhawk Jake > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:36

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Birthdate: 1999

mfw

Welcome! But damn, way to make me (and probably many others) feel old as dirt

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jayhawk Jake 07/14/2014 at 11:41

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Also mfw.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 07/14/2014 at 11:42

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Ahem: child labor laws.

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake 07/14/2014 at 11:44

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I was 33 in 1999.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 07/14/2014 at 11:45

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I'd do another mfw with a young person, but I'm not googling 'young child'.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 11:48

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Welcome! One of the things I love about OPPO is the depth and breadth of people who are here, all brought together by our love of all things automotive. " a bunch of random posts about random things " - I'd suggest you become a very active reader and commenter, but try to make any posts here as substantive as possible. There are hundreds of authors on OPPO, and it's already a lot to try to keep up with as a regular reader (just ask DasWauto).

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake 07/14/2014 at 11:50

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I'm not googling 'young child'.

With age comes wisdom. I'm so old I had to Google "mfw."

Amoore100 > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 07/14/2014 at 12:44

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Yeah, idk how active I'll be with school and all getting busy (AP, SAT, ACT, etc.) but I do want to post about all the weird RV's/Campers I saw last week in Yellowstone...there was a Vixen, a Hymer van, etc...

Amoore100 > Jayhawk Jake 07/14/2014 at 12:44

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Hehe, I like to think I'm starting young...

zeontestpilot > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 12:50

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Hey Alex (can I call you that?), welcome aboard!

Wasn't sure if you're interested, but just in case, there are other blogs the feature car-related material as well.

There is...

LaLDiecast - blog about diecast cars like Hot Wheels, Matchbox, etc. Anything related to it, we love to see.

Digital Burnouts - blog about racing games and simulations. It's small, but does have a dedicated audience.

Cars & Coffee Central - blog about the various Cars & Coffee car shows, where we keep track of what shows are available, when and where, and also post photos from the show as well.

Again, welcome aboard. We are glad to have you here, :).

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 13:00

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Nice! Perfect idea for a post. Hope your tests go well.

Amoore100 > zeontestpilot 07/14/2014 at 15:44

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Yeah, sure, I'm ok with Alex, and while I haven't seen the other two, I regularly go to LALD since, you know, I'm still kinda a kid...

zeontestpilot > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 16:01

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Ha, there's nothing wrong with being a kid. In fact, it just means you have a longer time to learn and become interested in different things. I'm 27, and am a newbie gearhead. I've only been into cars for a couple years, so I'm a little jealous your into cars at such young age. And technically, I'm a big kid myself. I'm still looking for a MMPR Mighty Morphin Zord Action Figure....no one carries it...-_-

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Amoore100 07/14/2014 at 16:35

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welcome to oppo!

I too, joined when I was 14, going on 15! just wait till you get your permit (that's when the fun starts!) liked your story BTW! with all those Volvos that you've experienced you'll fit in nicely haha! :D

ttyymmnn > Amoore100 07/16/2014 at 17:23

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Alex B > Amoore100 08/26/2015 at 18:23

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Since I never formally introduced myself, here goes!

Name: Alex Brogan

Age: 15

Grade: 10

Current family cars: 2008 Honda Odyssey EX-L and 2013 Nissan Leaf SL

and a 2013 Nissan Leaf SL

I’ve always been interested in cars, I don’t know what started it, but even my first word was “car”. It wasn’t until I started watching Top Gear that I started to know more than just brand and models.

I’ve been taking piano lessons since Kindergarten... In 2014 my Dad purchased a Yamaha N3 Avantgrand. What kind of piano does your Mother teach on?

I have one pet, a Dachshund Beagle mix named Mattie:

In my family there are five of us all together. My Father, my Mother, my older brother (19) and my little brother (9).

I too have been to Lego Land

There I am at the Volvo School of driving!

And here I am as I appear today

So yeah

Amoore100 > Alex B 08/26/2015 at 21:23

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Nice! Good to know there are gearheads other than myself in my age range, considering there are none at my school...also, where in the country are you located? Always interesting to find out where everyone comes from on Oppo... My mom used to have an old Yamaha baby grand but upgraded about three years ago to having a used concert-series Steinway D 12 ft (basically a retired concert hall piano) and a new 7 ft Bosendorfer 225...they’re basically her pride and joy (well, besides me and my brother) and were kind of a dream come true :) What pieces are you playing currently?

Alex B > Amoore100 08/26/2015 at 21:53

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Sadly teenage gearheads are a dying breed. :( I am located in Bucks County, PA

Wow! Her pianos sound amazing!! You must have a pretty large room for them both. At times I wish I had an acoustic grand. Overall though, it’s nice to always have perfect tune, and the room that it’s in couldn’t support a 7 foot grand acoustically... My piano teacher currently has a 7’ Mason and Hamlin and a 5’ Petrof. The Mason is a fantastic piano, built in the 20s, but it has been fully restored. Amazing bass. I would hope that you and your brother are of more value to your mother than two beautiful pianos. ;) A variety. Just some plain Lesson book sight reading type of stuff... This piece called Goldfish by William Gillock. Very impressionistic. Also trying to pick songs for the recital in November. I am stuck between Tarantella by Burgmüller and Sonatina in A minor by Benda. I also may be doing Country Concerto 2nd mv. by Kasschau, but that’s still up in the air.

I see you play Violin. What made you choose that over piano?

Amoore100 > Alex B 08/26/2015 at 22:24

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Nothing, other than the fact that my parents basically chose for me when I was four. Since they are both musicians, I’m pretty sure they made the right choice! That and they felt that if I learned piano with my mom as a teacher I would not have improved as quickly since I would get lazy without regular lessons. I have been working on the Paganini Concerto #1 lately, although with all the school work it’s been difficult to find time to practice... Interesting to see you are doing more contemporary, my mom has been playing through all of Chopin’s Ballades in her free time so all I get to hear nowadays is Chopin unless she’s teaching...our front room is really not that big, perhaps 20’ x 15’ (or something close to that) but her playing spreads throughout the house...I respect Petrof pretty highly since my mom was learning from a professor from Poland for some time who swears against Petrofs despite having played many more reputable manufacturers...

Yeah, it can be a bit annoying since my mom’s Steinway is older so it detunes more quickly so whenever she does two piano literature with a friend it’s always slightly off...and it’s unfortunate that you’re so far, otherwise it would be interesting to have an Oppo meet! (once you start driving of course...)

Alex B > Amoore100 08/27/2015 at 10:53

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I totally understand what you mean about the motivation. I did homeschooling for 3 years in elementary school. I was not as motivated as I would have been going to a traditional school. That is why I switched back to traditional school. Plus the social factor of real school is a huge plus. :)

I switch between genres all the time. Clementi Sonatinas are nice pieces to play... Although I don’t play jazz often, it just doesn’t appeal to me as much. She sounds like a very skilled player so it must be pleasant to have it spread throughout the house. Generally you can hear my piano through most of the house. The first floor is pretty open concept, and the 2 story foyer allows the sound to waft up to the second floor. And from the basement as well. My mom plays a little as well so I can hear what it sounds like around the house. ;)

Huh, intersting! The Mason and Hamlin holds better tune than the Petrof! Although the Mason does have a climate control system on it...

That would be great to have a meet up! I don’t know when I would be in CA next... My Dad used to work for eBay so he would go out to San Jose a lot so we would go out with him sometimes.

Amoore100 > Alex B 08/27/2015 at 19:30

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Yeah, at first I didn’t understand either but then after seeing my brother play piano for nearly five years now studying with my mom with little improvement beyond basic Bach, I now see the issue...however, he has been studying oboe for about a year with my dad now, so it’s not as if he hasn’t been busy...his primary instrument though is the Gu Zheng, known outside China as the “Chinese Zither”, and he has been playing it for about three years now (although these videos are from last year, he’s since improved....) Since it’s not as popular an instrument outside of Chinese institutions and my parents make us practice in the Western style (repetition, repetition, repetition...), he is better than most other players of his age just because they use the Eastern philosophy instead (play it fast until it sticks)...

As for my mom, I sure hope she is skilled so that her master’s degree from Johns Hopkins in Piano Performance wasn’t for naught! (I kid, she is a wonderful player although she rarely gets to practice because us kids = no time...that’s why she’s recently taken it up again...)

Our house has some very odd design idiosyncrasies that I don’t see often since my parents commissioned their own design about ten years ago when they had us...for instance, we have an atrium library upstairs with skylights but no real tall spaces downstairs, and there are three fireplaces in the building although where we live it never gets below 30 degrees F, even on the coldest nights...so yeah, it’s perhaps not the most efficient or common design but it has loads of character, and so I love it for that...

I would love to have an Oppo meet up although as it stands currently I don’t go anywhere without my parents, so it would probably be easier after I start driving myself...

Alex B > Amoore100 08/29/2015 at 13:22

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Sorry for this delayed response! I was so busy yesterday. I had a meeting with my guidance counselor, piano lessons, and went to a baseball game.

I have never heard of a Gu Zheng beforehand! I quite like the sound of it, but it looks very complex to play.

Haha, it’s good to hear that your mother has found the time to being practicing again. :-)

I think having fireplaces on those chilly nights would be quite useful!! I live in one of those McMansion-y type subdivisions. Overall it works very well, but it could have been done better. For instance, they seemed to have skimped out on the isolation in the walls and between floors because sound travels from the lower levels up pretty easily. It was made towards the beginning of the McMansion boom, so it doesn’t have all of the features that newer homes do (3 car garage, grand 2 story family room, etc).

Same haha. I mean, I do go places without my parents, but they still have to drive me places. I think for them a meet up of random people form the internet would be a questionable event to go to.

Amoore100 > Alex B 08/29/2015 at 15:08

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No problem! I’m taking 5 AP classes this year so I understand what it’s like to be busy...

The Guzheng is nice but yeah, I don’t see myself playing it anytime soon...

The fireplaces don’t get much use because of the drought and odd weather...I don’t think its dropped below 60 degrees F even on the coldest nights around here in the past months...also, one of the fireplaces is wood-burning and it can only be used on non spare-the-air days so we usually only use it when it rains (usually not spare-the-air). Our house’s sound insulation isn’t that great either, that’s why whenever someone is practicing it can be heard everywhere...that and our garage isn’t really for storing cars...we have a family friend renting a room with us upstairs and the garage is basically his workshop as he’s a carpenter/fix-it-all...it was very nice to have his help last year though, when we needed several things built with his tools for AP Physics...

Yep, you understand the plight, then, of being a bit less independent because of parental transportation...sometimes I envy those who can do basically anything and go anywhere (like the girl that I’m currently car shopping for) but then I realize how much family activity they miss out on and I realize how lucky I am...

Alex B > Amoore100 08/29/2015 at 15:36

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Ouch! You’re a junior, right? I’m taking all honors courses this year to prep for AP next year.

Haha, that’s fine. I don’t see myself playing any other instrument any time soon.

Oh, well I’ve never heard of these spare-the-air days. We don’t really have anything like that here on the east coast that I know of. Here in PA we definitely use our fireplace!! It’s a super effiecent wood burning one. So nice to have. Pushing to get an electric wall mounted one put in the piano room with the upcoming remodel. If anything else, it’ll look cool. XD

Yeah, that's what my mom tells me. And like you, sometimes I wish I could go where ever whenever. My moms parents let her do that and she kinds of regrets how much time she spent away from home looking back.

Amoore100 > Alex B 08/30/2015 at 00:04

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Yep, getting ready for college apps...

Yeah, because CA and emissions standards we have days where if there’s little to no wind, wood burning is illegal of any sort...actually it’s not even legal to have wood burning fireplaces built anymore but ours was installed literally weeks before the regulation was in place so it was grandfathered in...

Yep, parents are parents and like it or not, they technically have more experience than we do, although that doesn’t always equate to correctness or anything else...

Alex B > Amoore100 08/30/2015 at 19:17

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Yeah, that’ll be happening to me before I know it. I’m still not even sure what I want to do yet!!

Haha, that’s intersting. California has some of the most interesting laws/regulations.

I know they do have more experience, but like you said it doesn’t always equate to correctness unfortunately.