You bring up a good point about awareness -- sticks certainly keep your mind on the job -- It is also true there's an incongruence between modern day technology and manually controlled gears - whether you like auto or manual - I think it's imperative to understand the stick shift, which few do -- especially one would imagine, women! -- so it is a feather in your cap Henya that your individualism allows your love of the stick shift -- I suspect you're in a class south of 2.4% regarding that!