Firstly, I've just made a lovely dinner of pasta with a creamy sauce mix of bacon, mushroom and onion. It was the first time I tried it, and it was great! I impressed myself.

Secondly, there's a big reason why I've just made dinner instead of buying it, as I've often done in the past. I've suddenly become inspired to cook more. My inspiration is called Penny, the latest lady in my life.

It's bizarre how things work.

Her and I have been friends for a few months now, and then suddenly, we're more than just friends. It's like, suddenly you wake up and everything's different, and you're not exactly sure how it got to that point, but you know that you like it.

I've cooked for her a few times now. Nothing really fancy, but I'm working on it. I've never been inspired to cook before, always preferring to eat whatever is put in front of me, and then just doing/helping with the dishes afterwards. My excuse has been that I just hate cooking.

But I don't hate it any more, and I really enjoyed playing around with it tonight. I knew what I wanted to eat, and I knew the taste I wanted, and I put it all together and got exactly what I wanted. Woohoo!

Hey, be tolerant. Tongue Not all guys like cooking or have done a lot of it, and I'm one of those that haven't.

I also think that part of the inspiration has been that I'm living here in my own place, and she comes over here to eat, 'cause it's easier and more comfortable, as she has flatmates. So there's an onus on me, somewhat, to be responsible for cooking, as she's coming to my place.

And I like it.

Thirdly, Nicola came online last night and started chatting with me. She's engaged now, with a wedding date set for November next year. I chatted a little bit, and then realised that I felt nothing about it, and about her. I felt that I didn't need or want to have her part of my life any more, or be part of hers. So I wished her well, said goodbye, and deleted her from my MSN Messenger contact list, never to talk to her again. And I'm happy with that.

I'm not sure why I kept her on my list. She's only spoken to me twice since we split up almost a year ago.

Obviously it's time to move on now.

Fourthly, the Photo-A-Day isn't being updated every day. I know, I know. And yes I'm actually taking photos every day, it's just that I'm not getting good ones every day, so you'll just have to accept that the Photo-A-Day will be a GOOD photo-a-day - if I have one.

But I'm always trying to get the best photos I can, of whatever might be interesting. I just don't always succeed.

Fifthly - is there such a thing as 'fifthly'? - I started looking for another car on the weekend. I made a decision that I wanted to increase the amount of money I have each month. I've got a few choices. 1) I can look for another job that will pay me more (which I'm doing as well), or 2) I can look for a second job to supplement my income, or 3) I can sell the car and get a cheaper one, getting a cashback on the trade to reduce my expenditure.

However, I think number 3 is probably the most unreasonable, 'cause it doesn't give me a longer-term benefit that extra income would.

So I'm not looking for another car now. Instead I'll be looking at increasing my income.

This was inspired by the fact that I got it re-registered a few weeks ago, but in order to do so, I had to spend over $1,000 to get some repairs done and get it re-registered. I was shocked by that, and not prepared for it, so I'm wanting to ensure shocks like that don't happen too often in future.

Probably an unreasonable want, maybe. I've had that car for two and a half years now, and this is the first time it's needed some 'major' work on it like this, so I haven't done too badly.

As I was looking around the car yards, I found a 1996 Ford Fairmont for less than $10,000. That car has been my dream car in the past

I discovered that it was so cheap because it's done over 250,000 km, which really drives the price down. I took it for a test drive, and loved it. With a 4-litre engine, it's got some grunt. But expensive with the petrol.

I told the salesman if he takes my BMW and gives me the Fairmont and $2,000 cash, I'd be happy. He tried to tell me my car was only worth $6,000 though, so I laughed a bit and left. Salesmen are fools.

Apparently I had a 'short' attitude with the car salesmen I spoke to, according to Penny. I explained to her that I used to be a car salesman, and I know that if you give them a chance, they'll hold on until they've sold you a car or you've shaken them off your leg as you're trying to leave the caryard. Hehehe.

But seriously, it's always fun for me to 'deal' with salesmen. I listen to their 'qualifying questions' and go with my gut feeling: some of them are alright, and others are arseholes. The feelings I get about potential arseholes ends up with me brushing them off, and nice guys have me answering their qualifying questions.

What are qualifying questions?

"What is it you're looking for?"
"Did you have a particular car in mind?"
"How much were you wanting to spend?"

If your'e a salesman and someone answers those and similar questions, you know that the person know what they're looking for, and you're that much closer to selling them a car. All you need to do is give them a car that they're looking for.

My most common answer is, "I'm just looking around."
"Have you an idea of what you're looking for?"
"Nope, that's why I'm just looking around." *wanders away browsing*

Rude? Ordinarily, yes. But not to car salesmen. It's all business.

Ok, I better be off. I've got Penny waiting for me... and I like that too.