cars: not just a heartwarming pixar movie

No doubt, Los Angeles is a car city.  "Traffic in Los Angeles is what weather is to the rest of the country," one of my profs said on the first day of class.  It's a crafty one--they tease you with just enough public transportation to make you think that maybe, just maybe, not having a car is a feasible option--but it's a car city nonetheless.

Several random events lately have made me think about my attitude toward cars.  The first was when I was planning my schedule for next semester and realized that I had automatically ruled out a class that met at night because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of figuring out how to get home after 7 pm.  Why?  Because taking the bus at any time other than rush hour (7:30 to 9 in the morning; 4:30-7 at night) pretty much blows.  At any other time of day, waiting 40 minutes for a bus to mosey on by on my route is not unusual.  In 40 minutes I can walk to campus.  I've done this a few times and it's not a terrible option--except of course if it's the middle of the day and hot, or it's late at night--which are the exact times when bus service sucks the most.

The second was at the first meeting for First Pitch, where a guy told a story that involved agents asking him what kind of car he wanted to drive, which was supposed to be some indication of his career ambitions.  I found myself asking myself the question.  "Um, a hybrid...I guess?"  I couldn't really come up with a good answer, because, frankly, I didn't care.

Then today at work, I was scanning lots and lots of pictures of cars and car racing for someone's Powerpoint presentation on historical somethingorother, and I came to a realization: I would be perfectly happy living the rest of my life never owning a car.

I realize that the possibility of me getting through a minimum of two years in Los Angeles without ever driving is somewhere between "low" and "nil."  I must admit, the idea of re-learning how to drive terrifies me, which is of course why I've worked so hard to avoid it.  I only like learning new things when they only involve the brain.  Motor skills, not so much--as the few witnesses to a disastrous early-semester roller skating event can attest.  This is the same fear that has kept me from learning to ride a bike, which would doubtless solve some of my problems here.

But aside from the actual act of driving (and parking!  don't get me started on parking!) there just seem to be so many arduous and unpleasant things that come along with owning a car.

First is buying a car.  I hate the feeling that someone may be taking advantage of me because of my own ignorance, which seems to be hard to avoid when buying a car--particularly in the world of buying a cheap car, which is certainly the world I would be in.  I've thought of the idea of taking my dad on a car-buying expedition with me, but then I'd be a girl buying a car with her dad.  (Of course, I could just go the route my parents went when the faithful white minivan we called the Millennium Falcon refused to go above 40 miles an hour: a cash-only, no-questions-asked transaction with the dude who runs the body shop that backs up to our house.  We now have a lovely Malibu, thank you.)

Once you purchase the car, there is the matter of insuring the car (expensive), putting gas in the car (even more expensive), parking the car, worrying the car will get stolen or broken into, worrying that something will break on the car and will cost you thousands of dollars, worrying you'll get in an accident, worrying about parking tickets, speeding tickets, drunk driving, and on and on.  All this seems like altogether too much worrying to me.

I realize that I'm probably in the minority here with my opinion on cars.  I know that to many people, cars represent freedom, independence from parents, even fun.  Well, I guess you can find someone who thinks just about anything's fun.

/end rant

P.S. I probably will try to learn to drive again over winter break, if the weather in Baltimore, where cars are available for said practice, isn't too shitty.  My hope is to learn enough to use Zipcar when I absolutely have to drive somewhere.  But I'm not saying I'll be happy about it.