JD.

Homies to friends, friends to homies, the closest to me act like they don’t know me..

A good friend of mine held a small gathering and BBQ to celebrate his 18th birthday, the attendance wasn’t as much as I expected nor the atmosphere I expected at the time I arrived. But as the night continued, I started to realise some things.. the little things.. 

These little things and actions actually made my night without me realising until now. I don’t even remember the last time I clanked my Corona bottle with some close friends and saying the word: “Cheers”. It instantly gave me flashbacks of the good, old drinking days when everyone was young, stupid, close as blood brothers and didn’t have a single worry. 

Even though it was dark and everyone was being mauled by mosquitos at the BBQ, I loved the fact that the reunited group of brothers enjoyed each other’s company, catching up, having a couple of beers together,kicking back, laughing and cracking jokes. Just those simple, little things made the night a memorable one. Unfortunately, cases of events have occurred in the past which has formed separation, tension and lack of trust in the brotherhood. But last night, it seemed like everyone just left it all behind and chilled like back in the old days. 

I honestly, can’t remember the last time the boys properly sat down, enjoyed each others presence and celebrated like last night. Sadly, I know another night like this would be extremely hard to come by again or be as common as it used to. But I just find it amazing how such small things that occurred actually made my night and remind me of the carefree, young days that we all miss and love.

But sadly, I personally know that, no matter how hard and how long we want to try, we won’t be able to relive those old days and maintain the same relationship we used to have. An important lesson I learnt from last night is that we should all just stop and learn to appreciate the little things..

I used to always think of the old BMW models as outdated, ugly, cheap, old pieces of German metal scrap and couldn’t compete against the old Japanese manufactured sport and track cars. This was before I recieved my first car a couple of months ago: a 2005 BMW 325i E46. This is when I started to move my interest and my eagerness to learn away from Japanese manufactured cars, or as others call them; “JDM” and shared my interest on European manufactured cars - “EUDM”.

As time went by, like every other teenager and their first car, I did alot of research on forums and gaining knowledge from friends. Also like every other enthusiast, I wanted to spend money on it. Unfortunately, parts for E46s weren’t cheap. I spent ALOT of money and time on the car, slowly making it the way I want it to look and perform.

Back to topic, now that my stubborness towards European cars, thinking “JDM” cars had a much better look, performance and status is gone, I started to realise how brilliant, mean and gorgeous the E30 M3 and E36 M3 models look and perform. Browsing through reblogs on my Dashboard, I would see hundreds of neckbreaking Skylines, Civics, Supras, Evos, RX-7s, Integras and many more other “JDM” cars. But when a modified BMW E30 or E36 or most other modded European car pops up, I’d open the picture onto a new tab for a closer and better look. Then depending on how impressive the car is, my fondness and liking of the model grows.

Even though my knowledge on BMWs and other European cars aren’t as great as my knowledge on Japanese manufactured cars, I started to take much more interest in European cars than Japanese, especially the E30 and E36 models. Unfortunately, it is very rare to see any proper modded or unique European cars in my area. The majority of young drivers and enthusiasts are into the “JDM” scene and would rather own, build and drive something that would fall under the “JDM” category. I am still very fond of Japanese imports, but I reckon they are too common, tacky and too over-rated compared to the M3 E46 or the Golf R32.