All Things Profane and Sacred

So, J is trying to teach me how to drive stick. He tells me not to worry too much about the clutch-he expects to have to put a new one in after I've mangled this one. Still, I'm having problems with the car either pooping out or charging forward all out of control and crazy like. I also forget which gear I'm in, and have to look down at the gearshift and try to figure out where to go from there, which means I'm not looking at the road. Oh, and yesterday, as I tried to shift from second to third, I accidently shifted into first, which the car did not like at all. The whole thing just makes me really nervous-I don't want the transmission to drop out of the car onto the road, but it sounded really close yesterday. If anyone sees an Orange VW Super Beetle driving up and down Old Blodgett Road making a hidous noise and smelling like burning clutch, give me a wide berth, would you?