chRisto

This goal for me is complex.

I’ve made 1 movie already, it is a 1-hour travel documentary of footage (video + photos) of a trip I took to Africa in 2009.

The story I aspire to make needs to either be written or found. I want to create a
(non-documentary) movie because inserting subtle elements within pictures in motion in intriguing to me. I think I have a good mind + eye to create and capture what I envision into a video format.

I enjoy photography, and this medium greatly expands upon my photographic skills and enjoyment.

The time has passed quickly, and I love it here as much as when I first set foot here. I still think it’s an excellent city. I plan to live here in San Diego for the rest of my life.

Good people; the weather is usually near-perfect, and interesting to me when it’s not-so-perfect; a wide variety of things to do here, with numerous street-festivals, art shows, parks, The Ocean, nearby mountains, a good variety of neighborhoods, good restaurants, near the international border… this list can go on.

Being here (only) 2 years, I’ve made some really good friends here. I really can’t see myself living anywhere else (previously I’ve lived in Ohio, Chicago, and Miami). Living in San Diego, in my opinion, rates far higher than Ohio and Miami, and even better than Chicago (the weather factors in on this one).

I’m grateful to live in America’s Finest City.

I was casually telling a friend of mine that •••before I die•••, that I want to learn how to drive a stick shift. He told me, well I can teach you with my pickup truck.

I’m not a new driver, so I already had that advantage—learning to drive a stick simultaneously while learning to operate a motor vehicle has got to be much more challenging.

He drove us to a low-traffic residential neighborhood •with a minimal amount of big hills• I took to the drivers seat and he patiently instructed me what to do.

I’ve used my left foot for braking on automatic transmission vehicles for some time, so my left foot touch has some well-needed sensitivity, which proves helpful when letting out the clutch. My friend specifically told me to use my right foot for the gas pedal and the brake; and my left foot to only operate the clutch.

I stalled it a few times, had numerous erratic/jerky starts, as well as squealing the tires a few times. THAT was definitely the fun part!!! Remembering to move the stick shift back into first gear is paramount—I learned that after numerous times of forgetting.

By listening to the engine, I intuitively knew when it was time to shift into the next higher gear. We went into a parking lot and I got to practice Reverse. Pretty simple.

Towards the end of our lesson, I drove up a decent sized hill that had a stop sign at the top of it. I came to a complete stop, made sure it was safe to proceed, and I drove though, with pretty much no problem.

The most important suggestion::: to approach this learning without being too hard on oneself. The learning curve varies for everybody, but the idea is to have fun in learning this new skill, not to take it (the numerous attempts at the same task) too seriously.

Now I can be “at one” with the vehicle as well as the road I’m on. =)