I have had my car, which I have fondly called "Blinky" due to it's rather loud blinker noise, for nearly 5 years. That's right my friends, five years. When I graduated high school back in '007, my amazing grandparents gave me a hefty sum of money which allowed me to buy Blinky, and make payments on the loan for a few months. This wonderful car has had it's ups and downs, including transmission failure and squeaky breaks, a stereo with a mind of it's own and a trunk that cannot be popped from the inside because the button is broken. Most importantly, Blinky has an automatic transmission. I have loved this car to pieces, and it's been on quite a few adventures with me. Journeys through LA, San Diego, and the greater Glendora/LaVerne/Pomona area.
With all this back story, you'd think that Blinky would be a shoe-in for our journey to Indiana. You'd be wrong. Apparently when it comes to cars, boys get their way. *Sigh* So it has come to pass that Blinky will remain in CA under the protection of my little sister, while Matt and I travel across the country in the 2000-something-odd, red, STICK SHIFT, Saturn which Matt named "Agent 99" because of Anne Hathaway in that one Steve Carrell movie. Boys will be boys.
AND SO. Here I am learning how to drive a manual car. I attempted this once at the age of 16- stalled 13 times at a red light on the way to school, cried my way through 1st period, and swore never to drive another one of those beasts again. God is giggling at me as I write this.
A few days ago was my first lesson in the Saturn, and I must say that I am grateful for such a wonderful teacher. Matt is very patient with me, and also rather creative. The hardest part of driving a stick shift is making the car move, which makes me nervous for green lights. So Matt and I drove around the parking lot at my Dad's church and practised making the car move. It's a rather involved process have to do with the clutch peddle and the gas peddle and a need for coordination. If you move one peddle or the other too fast or panic, the car stalls. I am very good at stalling, a pro really. However, I got the car to move forward. HUZZAH!
When Matt thought I was getting the hang of it, he'd make up these crazy scenarios to motivate me to make the car move quickly. You see, I was being very cautious and slow about it because I really didn't want to stall.
One of these scenarios was, "Ok you just cut off the lady behind you and stopped at the yellow light she wanted you to run. She's pretty angry at you right now, and the light just turned green...GO!"
I stalled.
He tried a different scenario -
"Jen, all the jeeps at jurassic park are broken this is the last mode of transportation. You are our only hope. The T-rex is right behind us! GO GO GO!"
I stalled again. I looked at him, "I don't do well in high pressure situations!"
We laughed at me.
If he didn't offer one of his crazy scenarios I started the car moving just fine, but as soon as I imagined a T-rex about to eat me.... I stalled. Word of advice, if you and I are ever inside Jurassic park and the last car available is a stick shift don't make me drive. It'll save your life.
I have a month to figure this out.... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....
