Thursday, March 25, 2010

Torn

I would like to buy a car.

Wait... let me back up.

I would like the relative freedom to go wherever I want or need to go at any time of the day or night. I would like to not "depend" on others (those who I am expressly appreciative of) when it is too late or too wet to attempt to get home. For you, I gladly shower you with gas money, buy you drinks and/or do your dishes. You're simply the best.

In contrast, I don't want to be fighting in rush hour traffic with other drivers who are trying to inch into the tiniest of spaces. I don't want to come out to my car and find a dent that was obviously not there when I went into the store. I don't want to deal with tail-gaters, I don't want to pay for parking, exorbitant insurance rates, and seemingly never-ending car notes.

I do want a car one of these days, and I intend on purchasing one next year (I've been saying this for five years, by the way). I only anticipate that one day the job description might call for one; until then, I am making do and am actually in love with Los Angeles as a weird result. I think I'd just be very interested one day to see what attitude change this bustling city would undergo if, say, turning 16 didn't necessarily mean "let's go get my permit and look at cars" along the lines of "look Ma, I'm on my way to being a grown-up".

Just an observation.

3 comments:

  1. I vacillate over this same topic every now and then. One day, I want a car, another day I hate them. One minute I imagine how wonderful my life would be with a car, the next I'm imagining how fast the size of my ass will grow. I rent a car every now and then, but it is still a huge pain in the ass to do it that I usually simply avoid doing that when I can.

    P.S. I found you through bikingla and am so excited to read another bike blogger's POV from SoCal. So yay!

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  2. Totally the same way; for instance, today I'm super tired and am enjoying that I didn't have to drive myself around today. If I'm on the bus, someone else is doing the driving, and if I'm on my bicycle I automatically get energized. It's a weird back and forth, and I'm glad that someone else can empathize. And seriously, I could do without the slowing of my metabolism were I to jump into driving all the time (which unfortunately I know I would - at least at first), so -- I'll stick with being car-free for now.

    I'm glad to have been found! I hope you don't mind that I add you to my recommended reading list. :)

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