[ryaldin]

The day I was prepared to take my driving exam, my mother's car broke down...big time. The transmission (an automatic, of course) gave up the ghost, so I was a bit stranded. We called up my grandparents and borrowed and old (1984-ish) Chevy Nova, but the Nova's of the 80's wern't Chevy's, they were Toyota's with chevy emblems on them (seriously, Chevrolet purchased an older model of toyota and put it into production as the compact car for chevrolet). I believe the power steering pump went out on it, so it was actually more difficult that driving without power steering to begin with. I had NEVER driven this car in my life, and I was...15? at the time, and hardly what I would call an experienced driver. Competent, maybe. Lastly, the car was stiff, and slow, and it handled like a brick on a rollerskate, because for some reason, when senior citizens own a car for a long time, they really don't seem to push it too hard, and the car pretty much gets used to going slow...really really slow, and really really gently. Of course it didn't help that I was nervous, and pretty much shaking during the whole test. I passed with a 95 or a 97. Whew.