(no subject)

[felicula]

I'm doing a whole lot better with things today.

I started out trying to relax as much as I could, since I've been having problems with that. Then I went to the parallel parking section in the Manual. I'm getting a chunk of use from that these days. I took notes. Then I went through my notes and rewrote them in my own words. I did the same thing with a driving website that had a slightly different method. That way the little voices in my head could be spouting the things I really needed to keep in mind.

Then I went and walked around noting where the wheels are on the outside and how that relates to the inside of the vehicle. That way I could have a better sense of interior versus exterior space. I took my time before starting the car and heading out.

I'd decided that I wanted to get more comfortable with the car in general. The old Sutherland building at Kings Park has a massive parking lot, so that's where I went. I practiced driving backwards and in all sorts of directions. We weren't the only ones practicing driving there either. There were two other cars, but both of them seemed to be sticking with the basics. Even so, I had a whole section of lot to myself to practice various maneuvering until I was comfortable enough to try "parking lot" parallel parking with one of the two actually parked cars there.

At first, I wasn't getting it, but this time I stayed calm and kept trying until I could consistently pull behind lined up nicely with the car in front of me. Then I went over to the parked truck and practiced parallel parking behind it. I kept going at that until I could do that with consistancy.

Since we were over in that area already, I headed up to Durand Eastman Park. We stopped there as something nice to do before going out and practicing in real-world situations. We walked a little down the beach, just relaxing more. I figured it would be more of a test of what I'd just learned if I gave it enough time to slip out of mind if it was going to.

After the refresher, I drove over the parking lot for Ontario Beach Park. I knew that had lots of parallel parking spaces and that it would be one of the busiest times of the day there, just after sunset. It was. The place was teeming with people and vehicles. The first spot I tried for, I ended up too far from the curb, so I calmly moved on to another. The second one was almost textbook after adjustments. I was further than 12" from the curb, but the up side was that I was perfectly aligned with the cars in front and behind. There had also been a gaggle of cops looking on and surrounding traffic. If anything could have shattered the confidence that the Kings Park lot had afforded me, it was the Ontario Beach Park lot.

I decided that after that we deserved a little treat, so we went into the LDR char pit and split french fries and a drink. Not lots of money, but it gave us a touch of a recharge. Then I drove us to the area I'd practiced in with the friend-of-a-friend who'd taken me parallel parking practicing a few years ago. It was a neighborhood similar enough where I grew up to be comfortable, with plenty of cars on the side of the road to practice near. It was dark by then, but I practiced until I'd had more sucesses than times it needed redoing.

In short, after today's work I think I can do it without a lesson. I'm going to practice again tomorrow once mechanchaos gets out of work. I'm going to practice Tuesday morning after grocery shopping as well. I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight and tomorrow, and I'm going to take time before the test to practice in the car I'll be using then.

I'm not perfect at it, but no one is. I'm reasonably confident that I'm consistently passible. More practice in the next few days will help, but I don't think I need to do the same sort of intensive self-intervention as I've done today to maintain what I've gained.