Mechanical Knowledge

(My car is missing all but one hubcap. I think it looked like this when I first got it.)

I learned to drive on my mother's automatic; I think it was a Mazda. For my 17th birthday, I was give an adorable and old little Toyota. It was grey and homely, and the radio worked only intermittently until one day it didn't work at all. I rubber banded a shower radio to the dash and life was good again. On the coldest winter mornings, the car would shudder for ten minutes on the road, no matter how long it had been idling in the driveway. It was my first standard shift.

It died a slow death. The muffler fell off right before I left college to head home for Thanksgiving. A friend and I, in what I still consider to be a move that straddles the line between lame-brained and genius, duct taped the muffler back to the car. You may know something we honor students didn't: cars get really hot. Tape melts. I made it back to Middletown around 1 am, and promptly got pulled over. Apparently, you can get a ticket when your car is too loud. Who knew? I cried my way out of it.

My next car was a brand spankin' new Ford Focus. Also a standard shift; I insisted on it. I never grew as attached to the Focus, but she was, or is, still reliable. You see, when my mom went to renew the registration a month or so ago, some old tickets surfaced. As a college student, I had been a little reckless with everything. Those tickets are probably cemented to the bottom of the passenger seat with melted jelly beans.

Anyhow, the tickets amount to a sum that I consider a little crazy. Parking tickets from 2004 must be paying the pensions of all NYC employees. So now my mode of transportation is parked at my mom's house, unmovable until these things get taken care of.

I miss my car. I miss having a car and not depending on BF for rides everywhere. I miss driving a standard shift; his car's automatic had me all confused. I miss coming home early on Fridays and heading out on the open road, singing as loud as I want to the songs I want to hear over and over again. You can't do that so much on the train.

Today's post is in honor of my precious little Focus, and all the things I used to see whilst driving it.




Four Strand Carnelian Necklace, $48





Ruby ring in silver, with 24K gold wrap by Nava Zahavi, £640.00

Citrine and Diamond Ring, $1750

Harry Winston Paraiba Ring, $75,000 (!!)






Faceted Carnelian Necklace, $123





Concrete Dash Earrings, $65



(All road pictures from google.)