Cars and mostly other things

This past weekend, I visited my dad in Denton, Texas, where we spent an hour walking around the Denton car show in the downtown square. We walked downtown since it’s roughly a few blocks away from where my dad lives, and even though there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, the weather was pleasant, warm, and sunny with a cool breeze. On the way, my dad mentioned that it was hotter last year, which further exacerbated his dehydration after a few alcoholic beverages, and he couldn’t remember who accompanied him.

Car.

It was an outside event with sparkling cars lining the parameter of the old downtown courthouse. There were a variety of restored hotrods, vintage corvettes, and modern sports cars with flamboyant chrome and paintjobs. There were senior citizens reminiscing, adults and teenagers taking different snapshots, and kids sitting in the driver’s seat pretending. There were even a handful of dogs trotting about the event without a care in the world.

Car.

In between marveling at all of the shimmering spectacles, I thought about different themes for this blog post. I considered themes ranging from rescuing pieces of history and restoring them into something new to consciously being aware of our hobbies and how they shape our sense of self identity and the communities around us. And I wondered if the event was even worth writing about at all. After all, we only spent an hour in the downtown square, and afterwards, we went about our usual weekend routine of walking around a mall and watching a movie.

Car. It's American.

Sometimes it’s interesting to view time through memories. Unlike the conventional view of time through clocks and calendars, time can be distorted and prolonged through memories. Clips and events that only last a few hours or days can be more vivid and detailed than weeks or months of monotony. And whether we’re conscious of it or not, memories can have different weight and importance; in our minds, some events will be discarded within a day and others will stay with us for a lifetime.

Believe it or not, Mator's much bigger in person.

I think it’s like living vicariously through someone’s picture file on their computer. At the Denton car show, there were dozens of people touting different cameras from ones with high-end detachable lenses to small meager camera phones, and I wondered how many of those pictures were taken of random cars. We’ve accumulated all of these pictures and memories, and I don’t know how many of them we truly value, and which moments we regret not having a camera at all. And if my brain only has a finite amount of memory, I don’t know if I’ll remember this past weekend or what I’ll take away from its experiences.

But if I do remember the event, I’d want to remember the pleasant weather, the happy families, and spending a little time with my dad.