• Life Advice & Visual Arts Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    🌌 Share Your Dreams! 🌌
    📸 15 Years of Photo Contests 📸
  • LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

I hate driving.

Driving was something I put off a long time for a number of reasons. #1 was that I was overly anxious about it to be honest. I think it had to do with underlying self esteem issues and possibly some OCD type of fears but #2 which was perfectly valid was the cost. We were really hard pressed on money and there simply wasn't reason for me to get a license and then have to pay for insurance and all of the other costs for a 1 year span before going to college where I wouldn't have been able to use a car anyway.

Eventually after leaving college it became obvious that my life was going to be unacceptably difficult if I didn't buckle down, learn to drive, get over my fears, and burden the costs. Now I see driving as a means to an end. I simply require it in my life based on where I live and what I do. I drive very little but I don't fear it anymore and actually enjoy it.

Like others have said, you have plenty of options and you can always live a life without driving. You simply have to weigh the costs and benefits and figure it out for yourself. I don't see anything wrong with the choice to not drive but I know that in US culture it is frowned upon by many, particularly in the 16-mid 20s age range and it could be a big self esteem issue because of that.
 
Simply_Live said:
I laughed and stopped reading here.
Click to expand...

In context, you were referring to my 1995 Toyota. No, it's not a luxury automobile. I know. I don't need one. My needs are met by my well-maintained, fuel-efficient car. I'm a bit surprised that a staff member would respond to a Crew member in such a pejorative manner. If you'd like to purchase a car for me and give it as a gift with nothing expected in return aside from my thanks, I'd suggest you give the same sum to keep Bluelight or whatever cause is important to you. I'm not exactly a charity case; and there are many people who cannot afford anything to drive in this economy.

I like my car. We've made the 150,000 mile mark, so I will be giving my car a bath today. It's already had its maintenance. I still don't like driving all that well. I'm more concerned about other a-holes on the road and I don't like the bad kind of surprises. When necessary, I let trusted, licensed and insured drivers drive my car. I drive mostly in hills, freeways, and on road trips.

Truly knowing the rules of the road has served me well. I've driven faster and fancier cars than the one I presently have. I don't need a bunch of flashiness to attract the 5-0. I know how to drive just finely. No fancy maneuvers necessary. So far, so good - and that's been the case since I got my permit at age 15. I'm 31 now.

socko - yeah, that train that runs along I-95? What a useless piece of crap that is. I am lucky to have good airport drive karma, so if you need to grab a ride out of PDX or SFO/SJC, I'd gladly and safely meet up with you and your luggage to get you to the airport! You can attest to the haters that my little silver car and me get around effectively.
 
Mariposa said:
In context, you were referring to my 1995 Toyota. No, it's not a luxury automobile. I know. I don't need one. My needs are met by my well-maintained, fuel-efficient car. I'm a bit surprised that a staff member would respond to a Crew member in such a pejorative manner. If you'd like to purchase a car for me and give it as a gift with nothing expected in return aside from my thanks, I'd suggest you give the same sum to keep Bluelight or whatever cause is important to you. I'm not exactly a charity case; and there are many people who cannot afford anything to drive in this economy.

I like my car. We've made the 150,000 mile mark, so I will be giving my car a bath today. It's already had its maintenance. I still don't like driving all that well. I'm more concerned about other a-holes on the road and I don't like the bad kind of surprises. When necessary, I let trusted, licensed and insured drivers drive my car. I drive mostly in hills, freeways, and on road trips.

Truly knowing the rules of the road has served me well. I've driven faster and fancier cars than the one I presently have. I don't need a bunch of flashiness to attract the 5-0. I know how to drive just finely. No fancy maneuvers necessary. So far, so good - and that's been the case since I got my permit at age 15. I'm 31 now.

socko - yeah, that train that runs along I-95? What a useless piece of crap that is. I am lucky to have good airport drive karma, so if you need to grab a ride out of PDX or SFO/SJC, I'd gladly and safely meet up with you and your luggage to get you to the airport! You can attest to the haters that my little silver car and me get around effectively.
Click to expand...
Unlike that one guy, I appreciate your sticking with an older reliable car and not giving in to the urge to buy something new and fancy. If I ever end up having to commute by car again (as much as I hate the thought of it, I realize that it may be unavoidable for me as it is for many people), no matter what I can afford, I will still get a something older and reliable as well. It turns out that a lot of people do this, just to avoid the wastefulness of junking something that works fine if nothing else.


Ft. Lauderdale: Not only does that train run along I95 but you have to take a shuttle bus from the Ft. Lauderdale airport to get to the train station somewhere on the other side of the airport. From the map, it looks like it's by a swamp. I coudln't find it and ended up having to take a taxi to my hotel. The cabbie said a large colony of monkeys (he showed me pictures on his iphone) have taken up residence in the trees in that swamp near where I think the train stop was, it is so out of the way.

Thanks for the offer for a ride. I will be needing one soon. I have tried everything else and car is the best option. Even here, the usefulness of the train for much of the Portland area is still questionable if your not near a line. For the Portland airport, the train (Red Line) stops directly at baggage claim which is really great. You get off the plane and the train is right there. Unfortunately for me getting to the train is hard. I live in the Multnamah Village area of Portland, and the train does not go there. The closest place to get on the Red Line is Pioneer Square, downtown. That's about 10 miles from me. The first time to the airport, I took the bus to Pioneer square. That was a nightmare that took 2 hours and made me car sick. That was the bus part of the trip. Then the train and the waiting for the train at Pioneer square was at least another hour. In contrast, the flight (to SFO) is only about an hour.

So, the next time I needed to go to the airport, I decided I could get there faster if I ran. I ended up jogging the entire distance with a couple weeks of luggage (in a back pack) and got there faster than when I took the bus the previous time.

And forget about riding an expensive bike and taking the risk of having it stolen from the spot where you locked it and left it at the airport for 2 weeks.
 
Last edited:
Mariposa said:
In context, you were referring to my 1995 Toyota. No, it's not a luxury automobile. I know. I don't need one. My needs are met by my well-maintained, fuel-efficient car. I'm a bit surprised that a staff member would respond to a Crew member in such a pejorative manner. If you'd like to purchase a car for me and give it as a gift with nothing expected in return aside from my thanks, I'd suggest you give the same sum to keep Bluelight or whatever cause is important to you. I'm not exactly a charity case; and there are many people who cannot afford anything to drive in this economy.

I like my car. We've made the 150,000 mile mark, so I will be giving my car a bath today. It's already had its maintenance. I still don't like driving all that well. I'm more concerned about other a-holes on the road and I don't like the bad kind of surprises. When necessary, I let trusted, licensed and insured drivers drive my car. I drive mostly in hills, freeways, and on road trips.

Truly knowing the rules of the road has served me well. I've driven faster and fancier cars than the one I presently have. I don't need a bunch of flashiness to attract the 5-0. I know how to drive just finely. No fancy maneuvers necessary. So far, so good - and that's been the case since I got my permit at age 15. I'm 31 now.

socko - yeah, that train that runs along I-95? What a useless piece of crap that is. I am lucky to have good airport drive karma, so if you need to grab a ride out of PDX or SFO/SJC, I'd gladly and safely meet up with you and your luggage to get you to the airport! You can attest to the haters that my little silver car and me get around effectively.
Click to expand...

I don't drive anything fancy, either. I don't refer to my car as being awesome though. Might be my dislike of the fast roads to a more slow paced, more controllable and less thunkering bicycle. I'm losing patience (generally, you seem to be an exception) with drivers and choose to take my time whether driving or bicycling. I'm sorry if that was offensive; it's simply how I feel about cars. They're not awesome, no matter how expensive they are or how long they last. Who am I to proclaim what "awesome" is, though?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top