Thing Twelve: Manual Dexterity

I was out with friends this St Patrick's Day, and we were going to a concert. I don't really drink beer (It's so bitter! I just do not understand it. As I think I made clear yesterday, I make up for it in other ways.), and the arena didn't sell wine, so I was planning to be the designated driver. But then the headlight in my car went out, and there wasn't time to replace it, and driving with one headlight out on St Patrick's Day is like ASKING for a DUI, so we had to switch cars. And my friend's car is a stick-shift. And I don't know how to drive stick.

It's one of those things that has just...never really come up. I keep meaning to, and once I had another friend whose car is stick try to teach me, but I never really got there. And I do (and want to continue to do) a lot of traveling, and, outside the US, cars with standard transmissions are like, half as expensive to rent. Heck, a standard car costs less to buy new, even in the US! 

I'm not exactly sure what my plan is for this one - nobody I know who's local drives a standard (Even my stepdad's porsche is, weirdly, an automatic.), so I have no idea where I think I'm going to find one to practice on. But, again, it's one of those things like riding a bike where, in an emergency, I do not want to be incapable. (I am not sure what kind of bike emergency I think I'm going to encounter, but you never know.)