i found a few more things:

the slipping only happens in the first 5 minutes or so of driving. after warming up a bit there's no shift problems whatsoever. i had a bit of trouble even getting the car to move in first gear which scared the crap out of me. this sucks.

so i drove all the way to honda and picked up 4 quarts of ATF. i had to fill TWO QUARTS just to get the dipstick to read the minimum level.

i think i'm seeing a pretty visible oil leak since i am seeing spots when i leave the driveway (they are not huge puddles or anything like that).

i am hoping the slipping goes away for now after filling up the ATF and that i might get the leaking seal patched up later on. i'm waiting for my car to cool down so that i might see if the slipping still happens.

any ideas what i should try to do now?