It’s not new. It’s not old either, but it’s the first major thing I’ve bought in a long time. Over 18 years to be exact. It’s freedom. I’m sure anyone who has had a car will know what I mean. I can come and go as I please, I can do whatever I want when I want and pretty much am where I want when I want.

Of course, this doesn’t come without limitations because how would we know the nature of our freedoms without a context of them by someone telling us what we can and cannot do? I have to find parking, which means either the alternate-side mambo twice a week or pay for off-street parking. I do both on a regular basis based on my tolerance level and what I can handle. I’ve made friends in the neighborhood such as supers of buildings and other car owners. They’re a funny lot in Brooklyn. We commiserate about alternate side and how badly everyone else parks relative to our perfect ideal. We talk about how often the meter maids (even though I’m finding that a lot are men we still refer to them in the collective “maids” terminology) come around and that it’s a sort of Russian roulette as to whether we want to gamble with ignoring the alternate side rules and whether we’ll get a ticket or not. I did get one (stupidly) for not putting the registration sticker on the car. I paid that because it was my stupidity and oversight.

Then there’s gas and tolls which seems not so bad since I’m driving the car when I want and not on a daily basis. The car is an indulgence, not a necessity. I think I’ve come to the part of my life where I can have indulgences and not feel guilty about them. This is totally for me. Finally a part of life where “totally for me” means something. The stages of sanyasi and all I’m at the latter stages and not the earlier ones. So, this is all for me. I don’t feel like I need to do much explaining to anyone as to why I’ve got a car. I’ve got a car and that’s it. The tolls and gas thing well, the car is really efficient so gas is only really a very minor affair. Tolls are an another thing entirely. How do tolls cost so much and keep going us (seemingly) when nothing really improves? This isn’t going to be a rant on infrastructure or social ills, just a simple observation that if you expect people to pay for a service, at least make sure the service works as expected.

Otherwise, the car is fun. I revel in driving with the radio on playing what I want and going places I want to go, when I want to go to them. I hope to have lots and lots of travel stories in the future. Until then, this is a start.