The Beauty of Cars

I went to the car show on Havelock a few weeks ago by accident. A few football players and I were supposed to help break down an event at an elementary school. All we knew was that the school was somewhere near Havelock. The major event that day was the car show. The whole street was shut down for beautiful cars to be put on display. The cars ranged from the old mobster refurbished cars to modern day corvettes. I am not a big car enthusiastic, but two cars catch my attention: the Dodge Viper and Cobra. I think they are the most beautiful automobiles to ever be created. The first row of cars that I saw when we entered was just Vipers and Cobras. I was in heaven. The beautiful racing strips running up and down the hood to the roof to the trunk. The multiple color schemes of red and white, blue and white, silver and blue, or black and silver were most appeasing to my eyes. Even if the cars were beaten up and old, I would still love them because of the feeling that arises whenever I see one. Of course, many other beautiful cars were being judged. The corvettes had their sleek, well-polished look. The older cars carried a sense of pride and age. All around the hicks and red necks were looking in through windows or conversing about this engine or that one because they are the only ones who really enjoy coming to car shows. Therefore, the music had to appeal to such a crowd through classic rock bands, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd. The smell of food having been cooked all day hung in the air, popcorn, hot dogs, and pretzels. But I will not forget the gleam that those cars gave when I first walked in and how it sent my heart racing.

Mi Amigos

The other day after taking my friend to the hospital, we decided that taking a detour to a restaurant before returning to practice would be a good idea. We ended up at Amigo’s. I have never been to an Amigo’s before in my life because none are in Colorado. So sitting down on the concrete benches, I observed the people passing by in their cars and the beautiful sunset silhouetting the building across the street. The umbrella added cool shade to sit under. The building itself is not that extraordinary. I chose it because it was new to me. The walls were the tan color of any Mexican color in the tradition of the early Native Americans. The sign is ugly and plain with the word Amigo printed in green and a sombrero sitting atop it. I sat drinking my strawberry milk shake, feeling I was in a less fortunate neighborhood or Lincoln. The building resembled this, as many of the other buildings did, by looking grimy and not very well-taken care of. I felt like I was back on Colfax, instead of Cornhusker Hwy, on one of the late night Dairy Queen runs. Altogether, the building and its surroundings were not that impressive.

Seeing buildings and surroundings like this always make me wonder what it looked like when it was first built. Now we have new shopping centers that look so nice and better, but these buildings and the Amigo’s have seen a much better day. I wonder about how the people thought of the buildings looked when they were first built, if they installed the kind of awe of newness that the shopping malls of O street do today. Otherwise, the street and people just seemed like normal people going about their business. Nothing was brand new though, not in this part of town.