Car Talk

[ownedsubgal]

Homburg, you and Rosco are made up of some gritty tough nonchalant man-stuff that frankly scares the snot outta me.

 

[00Syd]

I had to go to driving school in NYC for a refresher course when I let my license lapse. They are used to people who are nervous and they won't start you out in heavy traffic if you let them know that you want to work up to it. You should do it.

I know I should. And I will. Eventually. Again, probably won't be able to seriously consider it until I graduate, but I do want to know how to drive.

I have my doubts that I'll ever feel like a real adult, but it seems like a complete impossibility without the skill of knowing how to drive. Grown-ups know how to drive. Kids don't.

 

[Netzach]

God, thanks. I was just enjoying the highway, you know.

We haven't taken out bambi, but I think maybe a squirrel or something. And I was in a van that hit a female mallard duck. That was grim. She almost cleared the windshield but caught the corner. Ew.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I know I should. And I will. Eventually. Again, probably won't be able to seriously consider it until I graduate, but I do want to know how to drive.

I have my doubts that I'll ever feel like a real adult, but it seems like a complete impossibility without the skill of knowing how to drive. Grown-ups know how to drive. Kids don't.

My aunt learned when she was 38. It's just a skill like any other.

 

[Cattypuss]

i would like the answer to this one also, and i don't even have the excuse of being a New Yorker...i am a country southern girl from a place where folks typically learn to drive manual shift pick-ups at 11 years old tops. the message just didn't take with me...i have a major phobia about driving. what if you hit another car? what if you run over a pedestrian? what about bambi?

I felt EXACTLY, EXACTLY like that.

And then, at the age of 40, I took a very very very deep breath, screwed my courage to the sticking place, and learned to drive (manual, of course, cos this is the UK where automatics are rarer and more expensive). I passed my test and got my licence one year and three months ago and I now find it hard to believe I ever didn't feel perfectly at home and relaxed behind the wheel. Even the thought of drivng used to turn me into a gibbering wreck. Now I sometimes go for a drive just cos I need to relax a bit (don't tell the environmental police lol). A couple of months ago I drove the Hardknott Pass (most hair-raising drive in England), and lived to ell hetale, although my brake pads were smokin' for a while there.

So never say never.

 

[ownedsubgal]

I have my doubts that I'll ever feel like a real adult, but it seems like a complete impossibility without the skill of knowing how to drive. Grown-ups know how to drive. Kids don't.

depends on your perspective. my mother has 6 married brothers, only one of them has a wife who knows how to drive and the men seem to like it that way. they (the wives) range in age from 45 to 60.

 

[rosco rathbone]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/83-86_Chevrolet_Monte_Carlo_SS.jpg

 

[Homburg]

Homburg, you and Rosco are made up of some gritty tough nonchalant man-stuff that frankly scares the snot outta me.

MIS says I lack the "fear gene". I don't really get this, as I feel fear just like anyone else. Part of it was how I was raised, and part of it is probably genetic. Everyone on my dad's side of the family is just as nonchalant about such things. My aunt Tina used to do things that even I consider crazy, and I've done some really stupid shit.

There is this family tendency to have no reaction beyond what is physically necessary to danger. No yelping or crying or any of that mess. And as soon as any sort of danger has passed, we start cracking jokes about it. When my dad almost died from the heart attacks, his doctor might as well have been talking about the weather for all that my dad was worried about it. He just soaked in the info, and asked the necessary questions, same as he would in any business meeting or debriefing he'd been in. I'm the same way, as is the rest of my paternal family. Personal danger is just something to be dealt with, not fussed over. And then you cut-up about it later, and everybody laughs.

Hell, my dad nearly killed me after he shot himself in the leg. I thought I was going choke to death from laughing at the story. It is probably illustrative that when I was told that he'd popped himself in the leg, my first comment to him related to "Watch the front sight more."

 

[ownedsubgal]

I felt EXACTLY, EXACTLY like that.

And then, at the age of 40, I took a very very very deep breath, screwed my courage to the sticking place, and learned to drive (manual, of course, cos this is the UK where automatics are rarer and more expensive). I passed my test and got my licence one year and three months ago and I now find it hard to believe I ever didn't feel perfectly at home and relaxed behind the wheel. Even the thought of drivng used to turn me into a gibbering wreck. Now I sometimes go for a drive just cos I need to relax a bit (don't tell the environmental police lol). A couple of months ago I drove the Hardknott Pass (most hair-raising drive in England), and lived to ell hetale, although my brake pads were smokin' for a while there.

So never say never.

wow, thanks for sharing Cattypuss. at least Daddy will know that if he ever decides to teach me how to drive, there's hope yet.

 

[Kajira Callista]

Question from a fellow dyed in the wool New Yorker: How does one drive an automobile?

LOL I was 35 and 5 years living it the woods before I drove. Learn how...and then do it!

 

[rosco rathbone]

I actually like the "non driving girl" thing...kind of old school.

But perviness aside, it opens up your life incredibly.

 

[Kajira Callista]

I actually like the "non driving girl" thing...kind of old school.

But perviness aside, it opens up your life incredibly.

To Nathans in coney island at 2 am and not having to take the subway back home.

 

[rosco rathbone]

To Nathans in coney island at 2 am and not having to take the subway back home.

Coney was the last time I ever drove drunk. After a Senders show. I had to hold one eye open all the way back and promised God if I made it without being arrested, I'd never drive drunk again.

 

[ownedsubgal]

There is this family tendency to have no reaction beyond what is physically necessary to danger. No yelping or crying or any of that mess. And as soon as any sort of danger has passed, we start cracking jokes about it. When my dad almost died from the heart attacks, his doctor might as well have been talking about the weather for all that my dad was worried about it. He just soaked in the info, and asked the necessary questions, same as he would in any business meeting or debriefing he'd been in. I'm the same way, as is the rest of my paternal family. Personal danger is just something to be dealt with, not fussed over. And then you cut-up about it later, and everybody laughs.

Hell, my dad nearly killed me after he shot himself in the leg. I thought I was going choke to death from laughing at the story. It is probably illustrative that when I was told that he'd popped himself in the leg, my first comment to him related to "Watch the front sight more."

now that's disturbing on a whole other level.

but with the concept of driving, i don't struggle with personal fear so much, it's more a fear of my potential damaging effect on others. people, bambi, the geico gecko. i am far too empathetic. that is the man-stuff that scares me...where is the empathy, where is the compassion and suffering for those you've caused to suffer?

like, how you can be so casual recounting the tales of vehicular-animal slaughter you've witnessed, or how Rosco was able to get behind the wheel of his car the next day after killing that deer? when i see a dead animal in the road, it makes me wish that there were less highways and a whole heck of a lot less people overpopulating and completely decimating this planet, leaving animals who have every right to be there with no place left to go. i start hoping for some kind of large scale natural disaster to wipe 40% of us humanfolk away. i don't think, "eh, sh*t happens."

i can't even imagine how i would feel if i witnessed a person being hit, no matter how it turned out. a guy yesterday was telling me that he got hit by a car while riding his bike as a kid (went up and over as you described Homburg). as he attempted to crawl out of the ditch that he had flown into, his first words to the driver, who actually stopped and was walking around looking for him, were: "you assh*le!" if i were driving a car and hit some kid on his bike, i don't care if he was okay and able to curse me out afterward, i would probably needed to be institutionalized from the psychological trauma of it all.

just too much power dangit, that driving thing...too much power and too much responsibility for a girl like me.

 

[Kajira Callista]

I want to learn how to drive, but have no real opportunity to do so. My mother no longer owns a car, and my dad hasn't owned a car since he moved to NY in the 80s. Nobody I know who could teach me how to drive owns a car. I could go to a driving school but that would mean learning on the streets of NYC, and having been in many taxi cabs in my life, the thought of that is terrifying.

Similar to learning how to ride a bike, I never had the opportunity to do so (landlord wouldn't let us keep the bike under the stairs, can't keep one on the street, too heavy to carry to a 4th floor walk up, etc.) and so have only recently acquired that skill. I'm not sure when I'll learn to drive. Probably sometime after I graduate, if at all.

Come up here and I will teach you. Curvy back roads are the best for gaining driving skills

 

[BiBunny]

Heh. I learned to drive in a hayfield when I was 12ish.

I like to think of myself as a really good driver to be only 25. Daddy is an OTR truck driver now, but he spent many years while I was younger training people to get their CDLs. When he returned to driving (after massive layoffs within the company he worked for left him without a job), he was one of I think seven Master Drivers in the state of Alabama. Master Driver = one million or more miles driven commercially, accident-free. So, yeah, he made sure I could drive and do it well. I don't know anyone my age who's as good at it as I am, and that's not me bragging. It's just a statement of fact.

He also spent a number of years driving dirt-track cars before I was born. I might've inherited a bit of that tendency, so he taught me how to drive WELL fast, since he couldn't get me to NOT drive fast, LOL. So while I drive like a bat of hell most of the time, I know what I'm doing.

 

[Kajira Callista]

Coney was the last time I ever drove drunk. After a Senders show. I had to hold one eye open all the way back and promised God if I made it without being arrested, I'd never drive drunk again.

did you?

 

[ownedsubgal]

I actually like the "non driving girl" thing...kind of old school.

But perviness aside, it opens up your life incredibly.

"opens up your life"?? maybe if you're an independent or someday-to-be independent person, not so much if you're property.

 

[graceanne]

I've only been driving about four years. I would have been content never driving, but K was about to leave for basic training and was really pushing me to get my license.

I hate driving. Hate it. I hate dealing with all those assholes, and I swear I have a 'hit me' sign on my car cause people will go out of their way to try and ram me. (I'm not paranoid - other people have seen this.) I don't know what it is about getting behind a wheel that turns normal people into assholes, but if I never had to drive again I'd be happy.

Last summer my car broke down, and K was worrying about getting me another one, and I was like 'don't worry about it. I don't need one' and he was shocked. He figured I'd want the freedom of a car, but what I loved was that I couldn't go anywhere, and therfore DIDN'T HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE. I could sit at home, clean my house, and if people called and asked for a ride I'd say 'sorry! no car!'

It was awesome. *sigh*

 

[graceanne]

"opens up your life"?? maybe if you're an independent or someday-to-be independent person, not so much if you're property.

Yeah. It doesn't open up my life, it just free's up K's time. He doesn't have to take me shopping, he doesn't have to drive the kids to their things, he doesn't have to take us to doctor appointments. . .

Driving did squat for me, but K sure loves my license.

 

[rosco rathbone]

now that's disturbing on a whole other level.

but with the concept of driving, i don't struggle with personal fear so much, it's more a fear of my potential damaging effect on others. people, bambi, the geico gecko. i am far too empathetic. that is the man-stuff that scares me...where is the empathy, where is the compassion and suffering for those you've caused to suffer?

like, how you can be so casual recounting the tales of vehicular-animal slaughter you've witnessed, or how Rosco was able to get behind the wheel of his car the next day after killing that deer? when i see a dead animal in the road, it makes me wish that there were less highways and a whole heck of a lot less people overpopulating and completely decimating this planet, leaving animals who have every right to be there with no place left to go. i start hoping for some kind of large scale natural disaster to wipe 40% of us humanfolk away. i don't think, "eh, sh*t happens."

i can't even imagine how i would feel if i witnessed a person being hit, no matter how it turned out. a guy yesterday was telling me that he got hit by a car while riding his bike as a kid (went up and over as you described Homburg). as he attempted to crawl out of the ditch that he had flown into, his first words to the driver, who actually stopped and was walking around looking for him, were: "you assh*le!" if i were driving a car and hit some kid on his bike, i don't care if he was okay and able to curse me out afterward, i would probably needed to be institutionalized from the psychological trauma of it all.

just too much power dangit, that driving thing...too much power and too much responsibility for a girl like me.

I hate seeing any kind of animals killed or injured on the road or any kind of pain and suffering generally except in the bedroom. I shot the deer because it was severely fucked up and dying slowly in front of me.

did you?

Never drove drunk again and never will.

 

[ownedsubgal]

Yeah. It doesn't open up my life, it just free's up K's time. He doesn't have to take me shopping, he doesn't have to drive the kids to their things, he doesn't have to take us to doctor appointments. . .

Driving did squat for me, but K sure loves my license.

yeah, i can see how having a partner who drives can benefit someone who may view it as a burden having to deal with all that day-to-day stuff on their own. i feel very, VERY lucky that my Master is not that type, at least not yet!

but what you said before Grace, about the freedom...not everyone wants that kind of freedom. that kind of freedom comes with a lot of scariness and pressure for some of us.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Yeah. It doesn't open up my life, it just free's up K's time. He doesn't have to take me shopping, he doesn't have to drive the kids to their things, he doesn't have to take us to doctor appointments. . .

Driving did squat for me, but K sure loves my license.

Point taken.

 

[graceanne]

yeah, i can see how having a partner who drives can benefit someone who may view it as a burden having to deal with all that day-to-day stuff on their own. i feel very, VERY lucky that my Master is not that type, at least not yet!

but what you said before Grace, about the freedom...not everyone wants that kind of freedom. that kind of freedom comes with a lot of scariness and pressure for some of us.

It does. I honestly would be a lot happier without my license. I never wanted one, I got it because K insisted.

 

[ownedsubgal]

I hate seeing any kind of animals killed or injured on the road or any kind of pain and suffering generally except in the bedroom. I shot the deer because it was severely fucked up and dying slowly in front of me.

yeah i understood why you shot it, that was being merciful. it is the accident itself i was referring to as killing the deer, sorry for not being clear about that. how you could have that experience and then go on to drive another day, rather than being paralyzed with fear and trepidation.