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May262009
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DMV Adventures |
After getting a proper night’s sleep, I got up early this morning with Mom to go get my driver’s license. It’s something I should have done years ago but it was never a priority. Mom had me drive to the DMV office in Gretna for a little practice before the road test. It was my most circumstantial bit of driving since taking the 36 hour course back in 2004.
When we arrived I got in line and after a few minutes I spoke to the woman up front who said I had the wrong copy of my driving course certificate. I brought the pink one and she wanted the original white one. More than somewhat miffed, Mom and I went back home. I found the appropriate copy and returned to the DMV, arriving back sometime after nine. The line was a lot shorter this time. In about 15 minutes my number was called. After presenting some paperwork, answering a few questions and taking a quick eye exam I was directed to a computer to take the “written” portion of the test.
I did well enough on the test. However, after question 37, three from the end, the test failed to load. I made the staff aware of the problem and they had me sit and wait while they sorted it out. I had missed too many for them to just mark the last three wrong and pass me so I was asked a couple questions orally. The lady who administered the question disappeared for about 15 after asking the second one. By the time I actually “passed” the written exam it was 10:50. As there is no road testing between 11 and one, I would have to wait a couple hours to finish the process. I was instructed to return as close to one o’clock as possible.
With two hours to kill, I offered to buy lunch someplace. Mom and I ended up at Zea Rotisserie & Grill on Manhattan. I was not particularly hungry but I skipped breakfast so it was nice to get something to eat. I had the shrimp etoufee which was decent and Mom had a chicken sandwich of some sort. Lunch only killed 40 minutes so Mom and I went to Barnes and Noble and Best Buy respectively. We left at 12:30 to be sure to be early.
One o’clock came and went and I didn’t notice people getting called for road tests. I wasn’t called until 1:50. I took the road tent in Mom’s Taurus with a pleasant woman of about 50 years. She had me drive through a couple of the surrounding residential streets and across the expressway around West Jefferson High School. After the road test I had to wait a little while longer to pay and have the license printed.
By about three, I finally had my first driver’s license in hand. Mom dropped me off at the office for the remainder of the work day in which I didn’t do all that much in the two hours I was there. Dad and I left the office for the day at 5:15. We stopped at the uptown post office on the way home. That evening we had red beans and rice for dinner. Later I watched Sunset Blvd. with my parents as I didn’t have anything better to do.