Annoying shifting problem

[ratherbon2]

hello all, i have a 99 328is. recently i notice that my car gives me a lil problem when shifting from 2nd to 3rd. it feels like the "resister" that gives some resistance from going into 5th stays open so when i normally just push forward and right to go to 3rd the shifter jumps all the way over to 5th. when i have the shifter in the neutral position it stays leaning towards the right in front of 5th when it usually sits in the middle in front of 3rd. i know i know it sounds like i just dont know how to drive stick but i promise i do. it only does it sometimes but when it does it annoys the dickens out of me. the only thing i have found that seems to fix the problem is that once im at a stop if i push the shifter into reverse (past the reverse resister) a couple times it seems to make the shifter go back to its normal neutral position, right in front of 3rd. if anyone has any advice that would be greatly appreciated.
thanks so much
Ross