The Price of Me

I hate it when I have to question who I really am, although in this case, the issue at hand is one everyone probably has to face today: gas prices.

I've generally considered myself an environmentally-conscious person. I certainly love the outdoors, and would love to see them stay clean and healthy, thus I've always been moderately thrifty when it comes to my "impact" on the environment. One major thing, however, that I find it hard to avoid in my life is filling my car up with gasoline. It has to be done. I need to drive to get things done; to work, to play, to stay alive, really.

When I began driving six year and a half years ago, gas prices were about $0.95 per gallon. Less than a dollar; which meant that I filled my tank for $13 on a bad day, $10 on a good day. Ten dollars today barely gets me more than two gallons.

So in a world of $4.00-plus per gallon gasoline, I'm finding myself having to cut back in ways I'm not used to. I just don't want to drive all over the place if it's not necessary. Five years ago it wasn't unheard of for me to put 120 or so miles on my car per day, blowing through a third of a tank of gas without even blinking. Now those same 120 miles should last me four or so days, on average.

What really stinks is that although I'm the one who wants to be thrifty with gas, seldom few other people do. I see my parents putting miles on their cars like gas is free. I have friends who push themselves around the county without hesitation. And of course, I'm expected to be in certain places at certain times regardless of what I think about my gas usage.

Despite all this, I still do what I can when I can to cut my costs. I've changed my driving habits considerably (drive slower, coast more often, etc.), which has netted me an extra 80 or so miles per tank, which is a nice benefit, but it doesn't quite cover that gap left between 95 cent gas and $4.15 gas.

Sucks.

B3 out.