Those are words you rarely hear these days, but no matter what type of day I have.. I always try to say thank you.. Thank you to my family for being there, thank you to my staff for working hard and pulling together as a team... thank you to friends for being my second family, by my side no matter what.
.. but do I ever get a simple thank you?
As most of you know, I am an enthusiast. I LOVE cars... so far be it for me to not find a community of Enthusiasts so I can talk and share my interests and make new friends...
I've spent the past few months trying to promote the site, getting promotional materials made with money out of my own pocket, running contests.. again.. out of my own money.. and the icing on the cake, getting our club published in an INTERNATIONAL publication.
I wrote the article, I sent the pictures that were posted on the website (as y'know.. it is public domain unless otherwise noted), and for 6 months I spent communicating with the editors.. until this past month... we got published.
They published my article word for word, which I think is a great honor... the pictures they published were pulled from the site... but I've often called for pictures to be submitted that I could use...
I rarely rant on about things, but this really got to me..
instead of thanking me for working so hard to get such great exposure for the site, I experience this backlash..
... I got no respect.
and I've done nothing but try to earn it.
I am a girl in the tuner culture.. unless I'm D cups posing on a car, I am an oddity. I put in my own wrench time on the car, learning as best as I can about everything that has to do with the car, I put the time and money into it... and i even put my ass on the line and took her to the track and learned how to race, and kept getting better and better... I never wanted anyone to see me as a Girl who likes cars... I wanted people to see that I am a person who likes cars.. a person who should be respected.. a person who should be looked up to... someone to talk to.. an equal.
but.. I get treated as if I'm a second class citizen.
put yourself in my shoes... how would you have felt?
but no matter what... i get back in my car and drive, and day after day.. I realize that no matter how hard you work.. if you've got the money to pay someone off, you're ahead of the game... no matter how much time you devote to something, someone can take it away...
but at the end of the day, it isn't about the reputation, the respect.. the club, no... at the end of the day.. it's just me... the driver's seat and the open road.
goodnight.

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