Death Trap w/ Headlights.....

Two Words:

Stress. Headache.

As in, that's what I have right now. Really, two grad school classes and a full time job? Really, I'm about to just take a toaster into the bathtub with me and take my chances.

Regardless, listening to Sarah talk about her first kiss made me think of something. Guys rarely remember their first kiss. At least, I certainly don't remember mine. Guys remember other stuff, like their first car. This is primarily because the car provides multiple memories, and the means to a lot of other firsts that probably end up far outdoing the first kiss. (We don't need to discuss that here) Also, we are the least sentimental group of people, as a collective, on the entire planet.

My first car was the completely amazing 1985 Pontiac Fiero. Please bear in mind, that I was 16, had almost zero dollars to my name, and was ecstatic to have a car of any kind. Then feel free to laugh at this car, because everyone else did too. However, this car held several advantages for both myself, and for my parents, which I still believe is the ONLY reason I got the car.

The reasons I enjoyed it are as follows......

-It was a car.
-It ran 90% of the time.
-It allowed me to leave the house at my leisure.
-The head lights were the kind that flipped up out of the hood when you pushed a switch inside the car.
-Did I mention that it was a car?

My parents had their own set of motivators......

-It was a two seater, therefore I wasn't going to be able to go out joyriding with a large group of people at one time. (Mom, seriously, it's not like I was the only kid with a car)
-It was paid for, therefore, there was no collision insurance on it, meaning, if I wrecked it, I was SOL.
- The car wouldn't go faster than 85 miles an hour (at least that's where the redline was) so my odds of killing myself via speeding were reduced.

Of course, the car had it's own set of shortcomings, which did not thrill me.

-The engine was actually in the back of the car. In the same place as the gas tank. Meaning, if I got hit in the back, there was a high probability that I was turning into a 4th of July fireworks display.
-The car was about 1.5 feet off the ground, which when you live in Erie, PA, where snow can accumulate to the tune of 2 feet at a time, can be a problem.
-It's cold 10 months out of the year in Erie, and this would freeze the headlights, and prevent them from coming up out of the hood.
-It was built in 1985, and only had a tape deck. Lame.
-It would run out of gas at the quarter tank mark on the meter, thereby stranding me in random places. This happened far too many times.

All in all though, the vehicle was still awesome, as it was my first....I give it a solid 6.5 out of 10.