There are few things I would not wish on my worst enemy: death, blindness, and being driven by me. I hate driving. Please do not ask me to drive you because I do not even want to drive myself. 

   For me, driving is like hitting a volleyball. Although I have won games, got kills, and passed my driving test, I still cannot control where the ball goes or how well I drive. I do not know whether I am going to get an ace, graze the antenna, or back into an unsuspecting family of three. But why? Why can I not control what happens? Am I just that bad at driving? The answer is very simple: I do not have a backup camera.

   My very privileged hatred of driving lies within the two most crucial inventions of our time: car sensors and the Pinewood parking lot. Legalized car steroids (car sensors) allow drivers to back in and out of parking spots with ease, see blind spots around the car when merging, and prevent a human flesh lasagna on the sidewalk. Most importantly, they prevent drivers from hitting pillars in the underground parking lots in Palo Alto. Like a good setter, these devices help smoothen the driving experience.

   Unfortunately, my car does not have these advanced systems, so I have naturally scratched my car trying to park in Palo Alto. I see how not having sensors could be a good learning opportunity, as some people argue that surviving without sensors helps you understand 

the roads better; however, this was not the case for me. This is a disadvantage for any driver. I am not a bad driver; I am just not cheating. 

   There is no training or experience that could ever prepare the driver of a steroidless car for the intense trauma-farming Pinewood parking lot. This parking lot is a Pinewood sanctioned weapon of mass destruction, embarrassment, and anxiety that lays waste to all students without new cars. It seems as if at 8:15 a.m., the entire Pinewood population forgets how to drive. To add onto that chaos, Pinewood adopted the two-cars-per-spot system, which leaves each driver at risk of being parked in. If you get parked in, you have to pray that it’s a Pinewood student or faculty member with a sticker that is easily identifiable. If not, you have to maneuver around the car that is behind you, which is beyond the realm of possibility without car sensors. Last year, I was so terrified of this happening that I would come to school 30 minutes early to find one of the three single person parking spots. The experiences that I had in this parking lot gave me anxiety for all future parking or driving experiences.

   Now, you will never catch me driving anywhere that could be potentially crowded or stressful for me. If this means I will never go on the freeway or to Los Altos at 3 p.m. for the rest of my life, so be it. I need a backup camera.