SterlingN’s Midnight Driving
Episode 2: Herky-Jerky at the Shopping Center
Someone --I believe kellibelli– asked how do I get laied without knowing how to drive. Well, it takes a bit of deception, a good humble self-deprecating personality, and lots of money to lavish gifts. Well, that’s back in high school where I didn’t know any better. And when I had money.
Well, that’s beside the point. It’s been high time that I’ve learned to drive an actual car. That way, if I were to move to a school away from home, I wouldn’t need to worry about three days on a Greyhound. So, I’ve gone and put my life in harms way…my dad is teaching me how to drive the car. And it is a stick shift.
I’m not a complete greenhorn when it comes to driving a car. I had to drive my grandmom to the hospital in an emergency a few years back, and I am comfortable driving a normal automatic car. However since I can’t afford to rent a automatic car, and none of my friends trust me with their insurance premiums should I drive off a cliff, I must take the test with my father’s (actually my) stick shift. The state of Virginia doesn’t provide a car for DMV tests.
So this is my second lesson (let’s not talk about the first. That was an ugly, ugly day.)
Anyway, we went to this parking lot at the CrossRoads Shopping Center around 1:30am. It’s pretty expansive. Actually I think the parking lot is excessively expansive for the shopping center, but it make for a good beginners training course. Behind the stores there are long straightaways and in the parking area is pretty hilly. You can use the parking stripes as a makeshift course and there are enough actual barriers to make the course challenging. However one drawback was the fact that since they are trying to open a new store there, some construction equipment was left in the parking lot. Of course today’s lesson was how NOT to stall the car four-hundred time in the course and how to shift to 2nd gear, without crunching the gears. Today I only managed to stall 326 times so I guess that bit was sucessful. I’m still wary of the concept of simultaneously releasing the clutch and applying the gas. I either apply too much gas and speed off like a monkey on meth, or I gass too slowly and stall out.
Of course my dad became a better instructor over time. He gave me the directions before I was to perform them, unlike last time. (“I meant to tell you to go left.”) Afterwards, I managed to drive home using 2nd gear (it involves driving down Columbia Pike a four lane divided highway, and makeing a left turn over a a slight hill.) without getting us killed. All and all it was a good lesson.