Who do I still think I am??

This one's about cars and complaints.

30DBC PROMPT: "Share your story about the first time you drove a car. What type was it, color, year, model, etc. Did you get a ticket first time out? Were you scared? Did you drive like Speed Racer or The Little ole' Lady from Pasadena?"

Good afternoon everyone! Kick back, grab a beverage, get a snack, and make yourself comfortable. I'm about to do some good ol' fashioned storytelling like I did back in the good times.

I don't remember my first real driving experience, other than it was the classic "sit on dad's lap and hold the wheel while he works the pedals" gag when I was younger than six. And my first few driving experiences are murky at best as well. I tried taking my mom's car down our driveway once...and nearly potted it in the ditch on the other side of the road from our house. Between her screaming and my nervousness at her screaming, I was panic central. And here's a little fun fact: to this very day, I hate driving in reverse and backing out of long driveways.

There's the day my dad took me to get my learner's permit. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store, which back then was all of three blocks from our house. He had a large, older van, and he figured I could handle driving that from the store to the house. What his vote of confidence in me at the time neglected to suggest was that the brakes on the van were, for lack of a better term, in a sad state of disrepair. This necessary tidbit of information came to light as I uncontrollably rolled through two stop signs under Pop Diesel's nervous protests.

Now might be a proper time to mention that there was a small parking lot next to our backyard, and a long set of bushes separating the two small parcels of land. We occasionally parked vehicles in this lot when there wasn't ample parking on the street; this was before they had the parking patch of concrete poured in our backyard (which didn't have a driveway; there was an alleyway behind the houses on our side of the block for parking).

I'm glad to say that I made it home safely, stopping approximately four to six inches deep in the bushes. I believe these bushes had more to do with stopping the van than the actual brakes themselves did. And that's also not my worst driving experience.

I don't recall if I actually had my license or not, but since my sister's friend (who was four years younger than me) did, I'm pretty sure I did as well. She had a Mustang, one of those fancy-ass sporty sports cars that people who follow cars like. I couldn't care less.

But it was a standard. Stick-shift. Whatever. It had a clutch. And I wanted to be a well-rounded driver. I knew that a standard transmission was supposed to offer a better ride and more control. The cars that had them were cheaper to buy and to fix. And I figured it couldn't be that hard to learn. For one of the first times in my life, I was very visibly proven wrong.

The three of us went to a larger local park. My sis' friend explained the basics of driving a stick to me a few times, just so I was sure of what I was doing. You may want to buckle your seat belt and put on some safety goggles for the rest of this. Having recited what I just learned, and knowing in my head how to time everything I'd just learned, we all switched our seated positions and she turned me loose.

Needless to say, it was a busy night at the park, and in hindsight maybe it wasn't the best place (or vehicle or teacher) to learn how to do something that seemed at once so simple and yet so utterly chaotic.

The car instantly rocketed off when I hit the gas, and nearly jerked to a stop when I hit the clutch. This sent my passengers all over the place. I also lost complete control of the steering, wildly but swiftly overcompensating back and forth, and left to right. I obviously didn't make it very far down the park's access road, but I did manage to make a few pedestrians and joggers hit the dirt. I don't think I have to tell you how quickly that experiment ended.

I tried driving standard a few more times...once with a concussion (although we did practice in the police department's parking lot, so as to confront any suspicious-looking behavior head-on), and a few times in my uncle's truck. I did manage to get the hang of it in the pick-up, but that was many years ago. I most likely have not retained that information whatsoever.

I used to be a bit of a leadfoot in my younger days. I was once told that everyone in their lifetime should own one fast car. I did, and I managed to get pulled over doing 77mph in a 30mph zone. It was reduced to 60-in-a-40, but it was still a big fine. As I got older and bought more sensible vehicles, I've become safer and more responsible as a driver. Except for that time I got arrested for driving seven miles over the limit about three years ago. But I've told that story before, and maybe I'll tell it again some other time. I guess I never really had good luck with cars, from the day I got my permit until now.

BCF PROMPT: "Are you a complainer or one of those people who doesn't let anyone know you're annoyed?"

It could easily be said, and I'm sure many will agree, that people can be both depending on a given situation. I am no different. But I will say that if there were a middle ground in-between both areas, I have a hard time finding it.

Looking back in the annals of the "30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS" , before the current crop of leaders emerged, there was a bit of a leadership crisis. There clearly were two divided camps: those who didn't give a shit, and those who knew something was totally amiss at the top. Sister Mary Margaret was attempting to wrestle her way into control (that's saying it nicely), leaders were wilting under her pressure, the prompts got screwier and crazier, a rebellion of sorts was staged, and Sister Mary Margaret "stepped away' (again, putting it nicely) from the challenge, after outing several of us as "Complaining Males" (note the capitalization and sexism).

And I make no bones about the fact that I am a known complainer. I speak up when fairness is no longer considered tolerable. I can be outspoken when integrity in many circumstances becomes compromised. And when someone's straight actin' a fool, I'mma call their ass out on the carpet and find out what's up.

But there's another side of me that all too often prevails. I prefer being non-confrontational. I would rather talk things out and be rational. But I know there's a place and a time for things, and there are certain ways to go about certain feelings and behaviors. I realize that sometimes things don't always work out a certain way, and you don't always get the opportunity to have your complete say. What I'm saying is...sometimes I sit on my feelings for too long. And yeah, I know that's not always healthy or the best answer.

What happens then is that they bottle up. And I may leak these emotions here and there, or confide minor details, but in this day and age you have to be careful who (if anyone) you trust. Information spreads at such a fast pace that you can't possibly know who knows what until everyone knows and it's too late to do anything about it. That's why it's important to act in such a way that it doesn't matter what people say about you, because no matter what, people are always looking for ways to bring others down and as long as you've got a clean conscience, the damage can be minimized.

Back to my point about bottling things up inside...again, it's not healthy. But who do you fear more? The guy who gets angry over every little stupid thing, or the guy who really loses his shit once every blue freakin' moon? The guy who gets mad at everything just becomes wallpaper...his song-and-dance gets old and it becomes expected, and it's over almost as soon as it erupts. But the guy who only gets mad at the rarest of rare hat-drops...that's the guy you have to watch out for. You've stirred the savage beast, and there's a good chance that wrath is well-deserved. Everything else has rolled off his back for so long because it wasn't as important. And that's all the proof you'll ever need. Make no mistake about it.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

I've owned several cars in my life, and having once worked in consumer electronics (and being a music nerd), I've owned many car stereo systems. CD players, CD changers, even a Sony Mini-Disc in-dash receiver (it was suh-weeeeet). Every time I put a new deck or speakers in the whip (I recommend Boston Acoustics http://www.bostonacoustics.com/US/Pages/Home.aspx), there was only one song I would use to adjust the bass, treble and faders. That one song could calibrate my entire music collection, and sometimes my mood as well.

THE DAILY BOX SCORE:

8: The number of cars I've owned in the last nineteen years.

I will admit to having one of those crown air fresheners in my first few vehicles, as tacky as they were. I've upgraded in my later cars to hanging a miniature disco ball from the rearview mirror.

Anyone know how to turn hair into dreadlocks? I'm seriously Googling it now as I type this...it's open in another tab. http://www.dreadheadhq.com/how-to-make-dreadlocks

That's all for today folks. Gonna try to find somethin' I can peanut-butter-and-jelly up for dinner, maybe watch some movies, and hope Friday's a better day than today. Peace, anger is a gift, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!