Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Stick

I got it into my head recently that I should learn to drive a stick.

Seriously, there was no way in hell my dad was going to teach me twenty years ago when I was first learning to drive (Gak! Has it been twenty effing years??!!) For one thing we didn’t own a stick and for another, our father-daughter driving lessons lasted all of twenty minutes before my dad yelled at me to stop the car and get out. When he’d calmed down, he told me to sign up for Driver’s Ed at school.

That was my own and only D in school. I was pissed that it dragged down my GPA, but hey, I passed. (Actually got a B-minus in that class – Written: A; Practical: D-minus)

I’m a much better driver now. My main problem back then was that I was timid and inattentive. (And it wasn’t just driving where those personality traits manifested themselves – my whole persona was timid and inattentive)

“Timid” definitely does not describe my driving now. I like to call myself “assertive” – aggressive enough to move through traffic but patient enough to deal with gridlock and other people’s stoopidity without losing my nut. And I’m very attentive and aware of what’s going on around me (I do NOT understand how people can think that it’s OK to text and drive – Seriously? You’re flinging around a full ton of metal, glass, and flammable fluids! Pay attention!) And I’m good about sharing the road with motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, and squirrels.

So I’m a fairly good driver aside from a bit of a lead foot.

But I never learned how to drive a stick.

I know that it’s a skill that I’ll probably never NEED but you never know when you might be stranded on some third-world island nation with only a 1975 Jeep Wrangler available to get you out of the path of the grumbling volcano….

So I think I’m going to look into taking a few driving lessons.

But it’ll have to wait until my bank balance recovers from the recent repairs to the car I already own.

I was gonna wish you all a Happy Monday but then I realized it’s Tuesday.

It’s Monday to me. Yea! Mondays Rule!

;D

Cheers all.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually it's Wednesday!

EEE said...

Wow. I'm really off my game.

I wrote this yesterday (Tuesday) but didn't get around to posting it until today.