xylia

[Aerin]

I got my P's today!!! Yay for Lindsey! I thought I would've failed coz I stalled the car twice (right at the beginning of the test, stupid nerves) and I stuffed my reverse park a little but i passed! Now I can drive, but........neither of my parents cars are insured for an under 25 driver yet coz my brothers are younger than me so I'm the first they need the extra for, and they both use their cars everyday, so I'd never be able to drive one home when i get off school eraly and stuff, and i don;t have the money too buy my own but....................

I can drive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hell yeah!

[Hagar]

Yay! Congrats!
I have the same problems young people have everywhere- they can drive but on what??? I have a car now- but I share it with my twin brother... be glad you are the oldest!
I bet they will let you take a car in the weekends. Do you have to drive with someone experienced? In Israel you have to drive with someone for a couple of months. My parents drove me nuts- my dad kept told me to go faster, & mom told me to slow down... But I learned a lot that way. Ask them to be with you, ask for their advises, consult. Know your limits & practise. I bet you'll be a great driver! Good luck!

[Skarface]

Congrats Aerin! Drive is so cool!

well i get my driving license when i was 18 (min age here) and don't get a car until 23.
These years i served as my parent's driver as soon as they pass the firsts days of fear, they get more and more lazy to the point that my father leave the car in front of the door when came from work and throw me the keys sayin' "park it, boy" (lived in the inner city in a 9 floors building with heavy traffic).
My father car neither has insurance for age under 25, but him didn't mind so much. Anyway if i have crashed he'd probably killed me. Luckyly i didn't have any problem.

So i bet you dont have to wait too much to be bored of driving, and more driving with autostick wich is one of the most boring way to drive a vehicle as soon as you can learn to drive a real 5 or 6 gears car and all autostickers will only see your rear ligths.
Autostick=bump car, real cars have 3 pedals.

[Krozam]

Lol. I've never understood what's so awesome in driving or motor vechiles. Sure, they're convenient means of transportation if you need one, but they're still just means of transportation. So far I've never needed a car, and I don't see the need in my immediate future either, so I haven't bothered to get a license.

Well, congratulations anyway. I'm glad if you can get some joy out of it.

[canterrain]

In the states public transportation isn't a viable option in the vast majority of places and the things you need to get to (grocery store, work, and fun) are built far out of walking distance. Soooo... it tends to be a bigger deal. Plus it's a measure of freedom to the youngins at 16, being able to go out (especially for the later two in my list) without parent along for the ride.

[KEZ]

Congrats Aerin! Now your parents can send you to grocery store to run all their little errands they don't want to do!

[Elle]

Wooo, a ticket of freedom! Congrats!


Hahaha, public transportation. HAHAHAHAHA. Public transportation. Detroit. HA. Never. I'll take my own car instead.


Though the weather is making me leery..

[Coldfire]

Yay being able to drive is awesome. Like Skarface, I got my full license when I turned 18, which was only 4 months ago - so I'm definitely still in the "yes I have some freedom and driving is awesome" stage.

I'm actually going on my first long drive by myself next week - driving up to see my cousin in Massachusetts at college - it's a 3 hour drive from New York City. I've never done it before, even with someone else! I'm most worried about dealing with the navigation by myself, actually. Crazy excited though - I was sure my parents wouldn't let me. (The bus ride is 5 hours - the 2 hours less if you can drive really make a difference.)

NYC is the ruler of mass transit (I'm unbiased, right? ), so most people I know don't drive or have any plans to. A whole lot of people I know families' don't even own cars. I'm very proud of New York's subway system

Yeah, so congrats Aerin!

[Aerin]

Hagar: In Australia you can get your learners licence at 16, and you can go for a driving test after you turn 17 to get your red P licence, which means you can drive by yourself.
Skarface: Yeah, I learnt in a manual (5 speed + reverse ) automatic is lazy driving (no offence to anyone who drives an auto)!!!
Krozam: Public transport is alright, but most of my friends live nowhere near train stations, and it's so cool to be able to drive myself places!!!
Canterrain: definitely a freedom thing. Now if only i had my own car...
Kez: If they did i'd probably forget to get the right things, or not come home for a couple of hours.....
Elle: Yeah!!!!
Coldfire:

I'm definitely still in the "yes I have some freedom and driving is awesome" stage.

I'll be in that for a lot of years, i don't get over that kind of thing quickly!!!!

I tried to convince my parents to buy me a car but the insurance is hell expensive and I'm broke and i don't have a job so i wouldn't be able to pay for petrol anyway.....plus i have 3 younger brothers who would want the same thing. Its okay though, coz we're getting one of the cars insured for me soon, and i'll just drive the other carefully . But I don't htink I'll get myself a car anytime soon, coz I want to go overseas in just over a year for 6 or more months, after my HSC, then i'll go to uni which is so far away fo rthe course i want ot do that its cheaper to get domestic flights home every weekend than to drive 100s of kilometers and pay for all the petrol!!!

[Strange Ian]

Hey, congratulations! Getting your drivers license is a bit of a rite of passage, like a certificate of adulthood...
Needless to say, I don't have one yet.
Just you wait, though, soon you'll be driving all over the place, picking people up and running errants for people...

[Aerin]

Don't know really about hte whole 'welcome to adulthood' scenario, although having my ps does make me feel cool . I think I'll still be an idiot, driving cain't change that folks

[Krozam]

Hey, congratulations! Getting your drivers license is a bit of a rite of passage, like a certificate of adulthood...
Needless to say, I don't have one yet.
Just you wait, though, soon you'll be driving all over the place, picking people up and running errants for people...

This is exactly what I meant. If it makes your life easier because you live in an area without good public connections, fine - but considering driver's license a "certificate of adulthood" is just ridiculous. Also, the running errands -part is very probable.

[Skarface]

Yeah, Aerin so you're in the 5 gears team. Nice, i thogth you were from the states, but now that i know youre Aussie... you have the Steering Wheel in the rigth side! So you change gears with the left hand, looks like a thing i must try!

Coldfire, wait for the "yes i have my own car and can take it whenever i want" stage. Or the "yes i've pimped my car with a reprogramed ECU, a quick shift transmision and cool lookin black tinted windows" stage.

Go for that 3 hours trip, you'll find navigation is easyer without your father/mather yellin, turn left!, now take that way! all the time. I'd find directions wasn't too terrible, and if you get lost only have to drive back to the point you get lost, when someone tell me the way or i use the GPS drive in zombie mode and have no idea where i am.

Krozam, yeah ppl have fun with weird things, someones like me only needs a empty highway and a coke can to be happy, i've never understood what's so fun on whachin 22 boys in short pants kickin a ball but many ppl seems to like it.

[Krozam]

Krozam, yeah ppl have fun with weird things, someones like me only needs a empty highway and a coke can to be happy, i've never understood what's so fun on whachin 22 boys in short pants kickin a ball but many ppl seems to like it.

Hmm... Are you talking about "soccer" or the American version of football? I don't know how many players there are in the field in the latter... Anyway, I find football ("soccer") fairly interesting when it's a high-level league. I rarely watch, though, since I rarely watch TV at all.

I see your point, though, sport fanatics are silly. And there are much less interesting sports that football, yet they all have their fanatics.

[Aerin]

Come on, sitting around watching sport like the soccer and stuff is heaps fun, especially when it's something you can have a good yell at. When the soccer world cup was on my whole family was sitting in the lounge room yelling at the italian team and the ref and the stupid people and stuff at 2 in the morning coz that's when it was on TV over here! So much fun! Plus some of the guys look nice in short pants... I suppose its better if you understand the sport, but if you go somewhere where there are people who do, just yell along with them and you'll get the general idea. Now sports like tennis and cricket are boring to watch, but the intense stuff is mad.