Learning to drive a manual

I've been driving a 6 speed manual car for 1500 miles now. Besides spending time to understand how a manual transmission works, I've never driven a manual. Well, there was that one time, where my BIL was trying to teach me and I almost drove his little Ford Ranger into a pool. But, that's for another time... Why I started itching to drive a manual still remains unclear to me, and is worth its own…