We've had Elene, our 1986 Hyundai Excel, in our family for close to a year now, and it has taken me a while to get used to her. She has a standard transmission, so that was a chore to learn. However, last Friday, one of my co-workers told me something about a standard transmission that I knew previously, but had forgotten. This was the simple matter of how to do a power shift or proper shift. The clutch is only used to drop the car into first gear, and from first to second. After that, you don't need the clutch to change gears, and you're better off not using the clutch. That being said, that reminds me of 'Little Miss Sunshine,' where a repairman tells them the exact same thing that I just wrote! This is because their clutch burns out, and they have to push the vehicle to get some speed, then the dad puts the car into third, turns on the ignition, and then everyone jumps into the van. Rather funny to watch actually!
But in the past few days, I have been trying to power shift. Sometimes to lesser success. Caitlin has become rather irritated with my endevour, and it reminds me of when I was attempting to master a certain maneuver in Super Mario Bros. My siblings would get annoyed with me as I tried again and again, telling me that I could just jump over the obstacle instead of trying to slide under it. I kept trying and trying, and eventually I was able to pull it off quite easily. I think the only purpose of that was a lesson in perseverance. Then again, I learned lessons in adversity while on my mission, and while training for the triathlons I ran back in 2002. Getting my engineering degree, despite the fact that I was diagnosed with a mental disorder, was another matter of perseverance. And now, I'm a daddy. Father. Papa... I like daddy best. Maybe dad, but father sounds a bit austere.
Like any type of new lesson, it requires hard work, and sticking at it. Of course it does help if you get pointers from people who know what the heck they are doing! If it wasn't for Eric's bit on how he was very slow on the clutch when he was on hills, I probably never would have figured out how to do a smooth start. I'm still slow on the clutch release on the start, but it works better if you go slower than faster. The car likes you better for it. As for power shifting, I think it would be a little bit easier if the car had a tachometer. As it is, and how it's always been, I have to listen to the engine to know when it's time to shift. The speedometer helps too, but for the more part, I have to listen to the engine to know when she's ready to climb to another gear. On a bicycle, it's easy to know when the gear you're in is the proper one, or if you have to shift higher or lower. You're legs tend to communicate rather well with your brain. But with a car, you don't quite have that kind of connection. It's more of a sensation of how fast you're going, and you need to be able to sense that you've plateaued. The only way to go faster is if you gear up. When you're slowing down, you need to be able to sense if the engine is working to hard, and you need to gear down to prevent the engine from blowing itself apart. Listening to the engine is a big part of it, especially without the tach, but it's also a certain bit of driver intuition. I'm still working on that.
I have a feeling that parenting is going to be a lot like that as well. When I'm in neighbourhoods, you have to go a little bit slower, and by so doing, there's not much point to bring her higher than third. On the thoroughfare roads, I can pop her into fourth, and she motors along well. On the highway, she needs fifth, or else we are not going to get very far very quickly. Pulling into the alley, she needs to be in second to accommodate for the low speed. There will be times when Rini needs to take things slow, so she can get used to things, and then she can jump into the higher gears. But I can't control this little girl like I can a car. She's going to grow up, live her own life, and I hope that I'll still have a part in it. It might not be a very big part, but I'll still be there.
Somewhere.
As long as I remember that my wife is still the most important person in my life, aside from God, I'm sure I'll do well. Next to my own family, she's the only person I've spent this much time with, and been this honest with. I do look forward to spending the rest of my life and beyond with her, but we will have to go through numerous changes as time goes by.
I just started reading "The Celestial City," by Chad Daybell, the second book in a series of five that follows the story of three couples in the final days. Call me a sucker for doomsday stories, but this one has a different tone to it. The author has a disclaimer at the beginning of both books stressing that this is a work of fiction. Although he does use some parts from scriptures and prophecies, the books are still works of fiction, and should not be treated as any type of prophetic diction. It still makes you question what is really important in your life. It makes you wonder, if you were told to leave immediately with minimal amounts of food and clothing, and flee for your life, would you do it? Would you get on board the ark? Would you help build an ark in a time of plenty? Would you build a food storage against the storms to come? At what point do you draw the line in the sand of morality? Would you kill someone in defense, or pleasure? If you were part of an ethnic cleansing, how would you feel if you were the hunter? Or the hunted?
It's frightening to think about, and a lot of people don't think about it, because they prefer to not imagine the horror attributed to the decisions, or the circumstances that would require such choices to be made. I am quite sure that there are a number of people who think the doom sayers are full of it, but there will come a day when you will stand before your maker to account for what you did in your life. I call him Jesus Christ. You can call him Buddha, or Jehovah, or Yahweh, or whatever name you like, but there will come a day when you will realize that Jesus is the Christ. At that point, you may still not choose to accept him, and I am quite sure he will not pressure you otherwise. We all have our agency to choose to be who we will be, and by making that choice, we also choose the consequences. If you push something, it will push back, Newton's third law.
Perhaps I've said too much.
I'm going to sleep now. I have work tomorrow.
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