Isn't it also pretty tough to get citizenship in NZ? I looked into it years ago, and while both my wife and I are skilled professionals (Physical Therapist and Programmer, respectively), we weren't eligible. Though part/most of that was being overweight.
I was this way with books too. I went through several phases where I just couldn't get into a good series, but could read "stand alone" books all day long. These days, I feel like just as I get to know the characters, the story is over.
Enjoying both, I find myself leaning toward the "drawn out" stories, because they let me interact with characters that I like, for much longer periods.
At first I was annoyed at how TV series seem to have gone from 20+ episodes a season to down to as few as 8 per season (less than 4 in some cases, IIRC), but the almost "mini-series" style of shorter seasons makes less filler, but without the rush a movie has.
Impressive! I had a little over 2,000 books years ago. I got mine in a similar way, I'd purchase lots of books on ebay for < 1.00 a book, and would go to those used book stores and trade them in (2 for 1) for books I wanted. I did this between the ages of 19 and 25 or so, at which point I went away to college and didn't want to move them with me so I donated some to a friend and some to a library.
I much prefer starting earlier and getting done earlier. A lot of this has to do with my schedule vs the babysitter's (my parents) schedule, but getting done at 3pm is a great feeling. Getting up at 4am (and starting work at 6am) isn't always fun, but I'm a bit of an early bird anyway.
Can't you just order a car online, on the car manufacturers website? I've not yet done it, but I have built a few custom vehicles, to checkout out options and configurations. I've done it on Nissan's website, as well as GMC, Chevy, Audi, and Jeep.
Is there further haggling on the price once you have your car custom built and shipped to the dealer?
