Stick shift

I know. I get busy. I'll try to post more, OK?
What is it about driving and shifting your own gears. Bear with me, come on. Why does one find so much fun in that. Clutch in, start, reverse, clutch out, clutch in, 1st gear, clutch out, clutch in, second gear, clutch out, over and over. Then you have to stop. Then go and repeat. Plus if you're on a slope, you gotta hold the emergency brake with your right hand, WHILE doing the pedal dance when the light turns green. Naturally, we're lazy, so one would speculate that an automatic transmission would be choice, but there's something about to be said for stick. This all started when I borrowed my parents car for a day and a half, and it's a stick. That stick had a magic power to it. It transformed a boring old Saturn sedan into fun.
I was in heaven shifting gears, working the clutch, driving in traffic, etc. I haven't driven a stick since we sold the Honda almost two years ago. It all comes back though. I reminisce about the Jeep(s) I've had. They where sticks. The older one was a three speed to boot. So maybe I'm just a car geek, but I'd love it if the Disco was a stick. Maybe it's the control. Raw man emotion as I CONTROL this beastly machine. Maybe it's the sound of the engine singing at 3000 rpm in third or fourth on a long sweeping turn. Maybe it's the sporty feeling, like a race car. I don't know, it's hard to explain. What I do know is that I would speed and get tickets if I drive a stick. It's too tempting to rev the engine, and feel it pull against you. The slush box, while advanced and fancy, just doesn't feel that way. It's like a grown up. proper and mature. A stick, it's a hoodlum begging you to act up...