I’m finally legal. I have IL plates and an IL license. Now it’s time to start driving like an idiot.
I woke up really early (for me) yesterday and trekked up to the Waukegan Sec. of State’s Office (you know, DMV sounds so much better). I got there about 30 minutes after it opened, but the line was to the door already. I got my new car title pretty quickly (and much cheaper than the vultures at the currency exchange charged, so bam, I was already in a good mood). Then I hunkered down for the long wait for my driver’s license. Pulled out a book and my iPod and the time went pretty quickly.
Except for the people around me, who were all in some state of pissed off ness or another. They audibly complained about the line, the fact that the express line was filled w/ able bodied people, etc etc. Really I think all this negative nervous energy fed itself until the building was ready to burst. Books, people. They pass the time.
Anyway, took my test (only 1 wrong: I misidentified the “Do Not Pass” sign). Got my license and I was gone. I’d been there 2 hours. Eh.
Being there reminded me of 2 episodes…
A couple years ago, when I was a junior in college, my friend Akiko needed to get a non driver’s license. State ID. So I drove her to the DMV on Golf to get it. I wasn’t allowed to stand in line w/ her, so I sat in the waiting area with a book alongside all these parents waiting for their offspring to hurtle around the parking lot on their road test, observer observing. I watched a couple tests. The parents got to talking (the atmosphere was a lot less tense than at the Waukegan DMV) and got pretty chummy so I put my book down and we all talked. Then one of the ladies turned to me and asked what I was doing there.
“My friend’s getting a new license,” I said.
“Oh, that’s nice. And when is your turn?” she said, nodding to the parking lot.
Ga! how young do I look!?!?! I told her I was 20 and she sort of squinted at me. “I guess you could be 20,” she said.
I went back to my book. Thinking about my own road test. Which I think I’ll make into a story. To be posted later…