Winging It

You know, I’ve always wanted to learn to drive a stick shift. I figure it’s a good skill to have. I mean, who knows when you’ll be stuck in the Andes with only a local beater that might have 3 functioning gears? … It could happen. Don’t look at me like that, you know you’ve lain there, sleepless, wondering about what you’d do. And if you haven’t, you will now. Hey, I’m not fear-mongering, it’s just good to be prepared.

So anyway, back to the salient point here (in case you’d forgotten or gotten lost [not in the Andes]), learning to drive a manual. I’m a bit taken aback by how few people seem to be willing to let me beat up… I mean, practice with… their car. That’s ok though, really, the best way to learn is like learning a language - immersion.

Meet my new Hyundai Accent SE. Yay! Sure, it may be under $15k but compared to my now-gone Echo, it’s a palace of luxury. The Taj Mahal (but probably without the minarets). Actually, is the Taj Mahal a palace of luxury? Hmmm… I don’t think so. Ok, so not the Taj Mahal then, but somewhere else. Make it like a Choose Your Own Adventure, but no going back a couple pages if you end up dead!

No, that blur in the upper right is not my hand - I had to practically crawl into the bushes to get far enough away to take the picture.

This is supposed to be proof that it’s a manual, but that window’s awfully reflective

I think I’ve had too long a day.

[Edit] To avoid confusion, I got this Wednesday night.