Driving

My first days of driving have gone really well. Wednesday was spent anstily waiting for my Dad's automatic to be available for me. I worked hard on school and even cleaned the house a little. Then I called Daddy to see if his car was ready for me to use, and guess what? He had to go to Portsmouth. Well, that left three options.

Option #1: To wait till he got back
Option #2: To illegally drive the uninspected GMC Safari
Option #3: To attempt the standard.

Option 3 being the most appealing to me, I decided to drive the standard. (Here's where I heave a long sigh.) Mama graciously set aside somet ime for driving with me, and we set out in the Camry. Starting went really well. I smoothly started, got out of the driveway and accelerated on our road, and then...I forgot that there's more than one gear. Yes, I know, it's embarrassing, but I totally forgot that I had to shift and then I did it really hasty and then I freaked out and decided to have my mom drive me to the parking lot and to practice driving there. Some more humbling things happened which I'll leave to your imagination...

The parking lot was good. I practiced shifting between gears, and starting on hills. It all was good, until little kids started to run in directly in front of me. Then I had to back down a hill to let someone pass me, and from there on it was downhill...no pun intended. I had difficulty starting up again. Lots of mothers at the playground nodded their heads sympathetically when they heard me stall. They all knew what it was like...argh. After a while I got tired of people watching me, and I had Mama get me out of there.

When Daddy came home around nine he asked if I still wanted to drive with him in the automatic. We decided to give it a try. I got the crash course (my dad laughs when I say that, then he starts making jokes about the "crash" course...) in driving that evening. We went on some back roads, jumped on the highway for a few minutes, took some shortcuts to a gas station, Daddy had me pump the gas, then we went to Hannaford and I parked, then we got back on the highway and went home. It was all so unbelievably easy and uncomplicated. I want to drive to Fairwood and visit Bria now...

So that is my saga about my first day of driving. I have attempted the standard one more time since then. I drove it to my house from my grandfather's, about two and a half miles. It was a magnificently flawless ride. My spirits were boosted and now I'm ready to shift again.

Onto other things--

Highspeed Internet is the most glorious thing in this world. A few hours after we had it installed, Aaron was looking up some stuff online. I needed to call mom, so I was hunting around for the cell phone. Then Nancy pointed out to me, that I didn't need one. I could actually use the phone and be online at the same time. Thank God for wireless and highspeed.

I've been chipping away at War and Peace for the past couple of weeks. I had expected it to be a totally baffling, boring book. On the contrary, it's very easy to read. It also has an enjoyable story line. The most daunting part is the length. My copy is 1384 pages. The Russian names are sometime difficult to remember. I get Anna Pavlovna and Anna Mihalovna mixed up now and then. But for the most part, it's a straightforward book. I wouldn't say that Russian literature is my favorite stuff to read, but it definitely isn't too bad.

The pool is open! Come on over and swim, everybody! The majority of the leaves have been skimmed out, but there is still a layer of dirt which needs vacuuming. However, with a little zap of the heater, and a little warmer weather I'll be in it, dirt or no dirt. I can't wait to start this year's lap chart. Last year I started counting laps in the end of July/beginning of August. (A lap is there and back across the pool) I got 200+ something in, but I've already blogged about that. Maybe I'll get 500 in this year...

That's about all the news I have right now. Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!