Obtaining one’s license is a fundamental part of young adulthood. Many of us seniors have begun to enjoy the luxury of driving ourselves to school in the morning and driving friends around in the afternoon. Personally, I earned my license over winter break, so I’ve been driving myself every day this semester. Since then, I have experienced an influx of horrendous car stories.
Parking Lot Horrors Pt. One
While I don’t make any mistakes during my commute to school, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot park. Both of my wheels being within the lines has since become a rarity.
Marissa Carbajal ‘24 stops by my car every morning and comments on my parking, “Every day I am amazed by the way Marci aggressively hits her car into the parking curb. I wonder if one day the bumper or the tires are going to give up and then there goes Marci into the brick wall.”
Gabby Thompson ‘24 was much nicer than Marissa in her review of my driving skills, “She is absolutely the worst at driving and parking. The worst I have ever seen. (She parks within the lines and goes the speed limit). I don’t even know how she has her license! (I don’t even have mine…). Please watch out for her in the parking lot, she is a danger to society! (She has never caused problems and is all in her head about parking).”
Parking Lot Horrors Pt. Two
Speaking of parking, however, my first serious car incident was surprisingly not brought on by my lackluster parking/driving skills. During the final Club Rush of my time at Rosary, I got called down to the parking lot. Once there, I was informed that a student from a nearby school kicked a soccer ball directly at my windshield, resulting in a horrendous crack. Thanks to a tiny Messi, I got a brand-new windshield installed that afternoon.
Curb-Fil-A
One fateful evening, I was left home alone so I decided to take my first night drive to retrieve some Chick-fil-A nuggets. I made the mistake of trying to turn into the drive-thru line instead of going in straight. I had to attempt an outrageously sharp turn that my relatively large SUV could not handle. Consequently, the entire left side of my car went right up and over the curb. While the car ended up being fine, my ego was definitely bruised. Since then, this has happened two more times at the same Chick-fil-A. Some may call this frequency of driving over curbs dangerous, but I like to call it “taking the scenic route.” Dad, if you’re reading this, please don’t take away my keys.
A Comedic Afternoon
Who doesn’t love Comedy Sportz? Additionally, who doesn’t love earning Red and Gold points? That’s why Izzy Walker ‘24, Brooke Skipton ‘24, and I all hopped into senior Mal Mojica-Ye’s car on a Friday afternoon, hanging out before the Red and Gold Comedy Sportz match. We bought a card game from Target, and we got back in the car, excited to start the game. Several hours later, the Comedy Sportz match was about to begin, so we all buckled up and Mal attempted to start her car.
Mal recalls, “Friday, February 16 was one of the freakiest days of my life. I was having what one would call a blast. Then all of a sudden, my car just would not start. At first, I was calm because my dad told me he put a battery in my car to jump it, but it was nowhere to be found. My parents had to come and jump my car. Later on in the night, I lost my wallet and it is yet to be found. The freakiest part of it all is that the night before, I got a video on my feed saying, ‘Tomorrow will be the worst day of your life.’ The video was in fact correct.”
Self-Driving Scaries
Marissa explains where her irrational fear of self-driving car drivers began, “I fear for my life every time I am around Teslas. I almost got hit because this guy was using the autopilot feature and then just decided that my car wasn’t there and swerved into my lane. I was in shock for a solid thirty seconds. I then gave him the stink eye when we were stopped at a light and he weakly avoided eye contact. Best believe I was staring hard.”
Senior Mandy Puga’s car also has some robotic abilities, “My car has the autopilot feature and I have yet to figure out how to turn the darn thing off. The car basically senses when it sees an upcoming turn in the road ahead and it will turn the wheel to help with the curve. HOWEVER, when I was driving to school one day, there was no turn in sight yet the wheel started to turn left. So I had to quite literally fight with my wheel to keep it straight in order not to crash into a tree. I am a survivor.”
It’s safe to say that some of these Royals might not be the best at making wise car-related choices. As long as our cars, us, and other drivers are safe, though, we just do it for the plot.
