Yesterday I drove 120 mph.

Okay, if you note the time of this posting YES I am home on Friday night at 11 PMish which is very nerdy. But I swear I am going to a huge party tomorrow and have to save my energy! Plus I am secure in my coolness, and what I am about to share will redeem me anyway.
Yesterday (courtesy of one of our magazine's advertisers) I took Mid-Ohio Speedway's driving class. For ten glorious hours I drove the heck out of an Acura RSX/S-series! And I was strapped in my rockstar car with an uber-cool five-point seatbelt! (Photographic proof is forthcoming.) And I even wore a helmet with numbers on it!
So in the first excercise I slolomed orange cones at high speed with a rev/slide/brake technique. (Just like in car commercials!) In the next excercise I learned how to pull out of skids with steering alone. Aw yeah. Then in another excercise I honed a dangerously fun techique for slowing a car without using the brakes. (In fact, I think I have been using this technique for some years in my street driving, which just proves I am an undiscovered Speed Racer.) Then I drove a mini course and perfected my straightening of turns (for maximum speed) and proceeded to get a damn good time. Finally, I drove the Mid-Ohio race track (where Bobby Rahal once drove!) at extreme speed while high on adreneline and giggling gleefully.
What can we all learn from my day?
1) When in doubt, the feet stay out. If while driving your car starts sliding and becomes out of control, braking or accelerating usually makes matters worse. (That is, unless the front of your car has lost contact with the ground. Then braking is good, because inertia swings to the nose of the car and sticks you back down to the road.) But usually it's the tail of your car that's fishtailing. So steering into the skid and then whipping the steering wheel back to your intended direction when your car pauses is better.
2) For the timed drives, I was in the fastest quartile of the class. As the only woman in the class, I basically showed those dudes what was what. This is proof that girls are cool. Further proof of girl savvy behind the wheel can be found on our family tree. Please refer to footnotes under Sue Greer/crash derby.
3) Cars used in these driving schools cannot be legally resold when they're retired. (I asked, because I took a shining to mine.) So they are smooshed flat after about four years or so.
4) Driving at high speeds is addictive.
5) Driving at high speeds is a good strength workout. My legs and arms are sore today.

Oh my gosh, it was so damn fun.