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.