Saturday, May 9, 2009

Try, Try, Try Again

If you never understood why I choose the handle "LittleMissPossible" for this blog, let me explain a little. I'm not really your most optimistic person, but I'm really not your least, either. I've a penchant for trying new cuisines and skipping around from industry to industry, yet sometimes I feel like I'm too practical that I don't think certain things can be done. (I like to call it being realistic!) But really, I'm just depriving myself and others by being a Debbie Downer.

Anyway. I think I can do more, and I think I should do more. I figure that giving myself an optimistic-sounding URL will in turn be a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts. I am Little Miss Possible! I can install that AC unit by myself (with my roomie helping me lift it first)! I can move that fridge by myself in order to clean the coils! I can make sopes! I can make chicken hearts appetizing!

So when Mike, my neighbor downstairs, suggested we switch car keys so that we can move each other's cars when needed (we have tandem parking), I said sure. But then he asked, "Do you know how to drive standard [manual]?" Uh. My boyfriend taught me some? When in doubt, press the clutch, right? Apparently, my minimal experience was enough for him. We switched keys, and I was secretly happy at the prospect of practicing a bit of manual on his car.

Fast forward to today. I wanted to switch the cars because I might need to pick up an easily-inebriated "friend" and his licence-less roommate tonight, and Mike's car was parked behind mine. I was hoping one of the neighbors would be home to help me move around the cars, but alas ... there was no one home. I was hoping to have a roomie or two help me look out for pedestrians just for safety ... but again, the entire HOUSE was empty. I was totally on my own for this! And here's how it all went down ...

I couldn't shift into reverse for some reason. It's right next to the 1st gear, so when I thought I had it, I ended up going forward and (lightly) hitting my car. I was kinda embarrassed at this point. If I left the car like this, then Mike would see that I totally failed. I decided that if I still couldn't find reverse, then I would put the car in neutral and TRY to push the car back to its original position.

So I ran into the apartment to Google "volkswagen golf manual rear" to look up tips, and I found that I had to slightly depress the clutch to get it into gear. I tried shifting in this way, succeeded(!), then accelerated out of the driveway ... but a little faster than I wanted. Okay, make that a LOT faster than I wanted. It really would've been nice to have extra eyes to make sure no one was in the way ...

However, it was worse getting the car back into the driveway. After I moved my own car out of the way, I had to put Mike's car back at the end of the driveway. I must have stalled FOUR TIMES in a distance of 10-15 feet. I'm so glad that no one was there, 'cause I think I've totally embarrassed myself.

But I finally got the job done, and I now know how to put the car in reverse.

Sigh.

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