Only 

decouvrir

Lesson 1 with my mother:

First of all, I am having what seems like exceeding difficulty with standard. Of course, this is my first few lessons, but jesus! I stalled a lot. My mum didn't want to give me lessons before because she was so sure that she would get really angry and snappy and said my dad would be far more patient, and she didn't want me to kill the engine on her car. But she was SO patient, moreso than my dad! I stalled so many times, and she didn't even huff or sigh and just kept saying "You can do it. You're a smart girl." "Don't panic, this isn't about the car." "Don't worry, we're going to keep trying until you can get this." I kept nearly-bursting-into-tears because the first few times I stalled were TERRIBLE. Not just stalling, but it sounded like I was breaking the engine. We would discover in the second lesson exactly -why- I was stalling so badly. Finally, I got it a few times, but then freaked out and stalled some more, and then we went home.

Lesson 2 with my mother:

I think I started off worse this time because I remember how terrible I was last time. The stalling was terrible and I was freaking out and my mum was starting to get impatient with my teary-panicness, which is understandable, but like I said, the sounds coming from the engine were terrible. She switched with me and then tried to figure out what I was doing wrong, so she clutched in on first gear and then sloooowly clutched out without accelerating and discovered something amazing that would help me - if she clutched out and only accelerated at the very last moment, the car would already start to move forward slightly. She then stalled out like I had been doing before (violently) and figured out that I would start to clutch out properly, but once I found the "biting point" (her words) and started to accelerate, I would completely let the clutch go, and thus stalling violently. So I practiced smooth leg movements, and tried the "only accelerating at the last moment, waiting for the car to move a little bit" thing - and it worked. And then it worked again. I haven't stalled since. 

I am very pleased with myself. After a few more times practicing that, we're going to try to find an area where I can practice switching from first to second gear. I am excited/very, very worried. Coordination is very necessary when learning standard (since you need to be gracefully manipulating two feet at once in different ways) and my coordination has never been very good.

On the bright side, I'm not learning in Japan. Thankyou lord!

Tonight (a school night) I watched the Grudge 2 with my mom. 


BAD IDEA.

The plot sucked and all, but it gets 5 stars for freaky ways of filming and creating fear.

I want to buy the Bottle Fairy DVD's even moreso now. 

(If I 'disappear' or something...blame the Grudge! SO...ARRR. I can't look at shadows, or mirrors in the same way now.)

But for anyone who has seen it...what was with that ending? It sucked so hard!

Anyway, I'm finished because it's midnight. I should be in bed. ;)