i took it to work and had the service department look at it.. and they drove it and told me that my clutch is in bad shape (the car starts in 3rd gear, lol).. so i need a new clutch, and he said the noise is prolly the throwout bearing (the noise was gone when it was there of course!!) so i'm gonna have to get a clutch in the next few months. i'm glad it wasn't anything major though!!