Driver's license (or not)

Well, last Friday I got out of school for spring break, so that was really awesome. My spring break has been pretty good. I haven't done a whole lot, but it's been nice not having to worry about school. And the weather has also finally gotten warm! On Wednesday I went and played mini golf with my friend and her family. It was a lot of fun! But sadly, I can't say that today was so much fun! It's yet another really long story for me to write, so brace yourselves, this is going to be long. ;-P

Well, let's just say my mom and I basically spent our entire day at the DMV today to get my driver's license. And I certainly hoped that after all that waiting, I'd pass the road test. We got there at 8:00 in the morning so that we'd be able to get an appointment. Luckily, we got there early enough and they gave us an appointment. However, they were already full for road tests so they told us to come back at 1:00 for the next batch. But, they went ahead and took my papers and wrote some stuff down, and also gave me a vision test. Unfortunately, the older lady giving the vision test wasn't exactly that friendly. As I sat down she immediately said, a bit intensely, "Have you taken the test before?" So I answered no. She then told me to look through this weird little machine and read the 6th line of numbers to her. For the first part, I could see it with both eyes, so I did fine. Then I had to just look through my right eye, and again I did okay. Then came the left eye. Uh-oh. Back when I was in 3rd grade, they had told me that my left eye was a bit weaker than my right, but since I could still see fine with both eyes they decided I didn't need glasses. But somehow these driving people think that I'm going to be driving around with one eye open. Perhaps they're afraid that I might be dressed up as a pirate on my way to a Halloween party and have an eyepatch over one eye? Really, that's the only valid reason I can think of. But anyway, as I looked through again with just my left eye, I started to panic. I couldn't see one single number. It was so blurry. I tried to read them the best I could, and Mean Vision Lady didn't make things much better by saying things like, "Just try!" and "You have to be able to read these to take your road test!" Eventually she led me over to a different machine. I'm not sure what the purpose of this was, but luckily I was able to read at least most of the numbers, so she finally said, "Okay, that's good enough."

So anyway, we drove all the way back home and then all the way back out. We arrived at the huge line of cars waiting to test. I'd say when we got there about 10 or more cars were already in front of us, and then a few more pulled in behind us. Then, one lady regulating everything went around to all the cars and told us she wanted us to move out a little bit more to make a wider space so that more people could get in line. The poor guy driving a truck in front of me was in a really weird position and had to do all kinds of backing up and moving forward, and he nearly hit some cones. He had a crazy hysterical mother in the front seat yelling at him. Gosh, I felt bad for him. But anyway we all finally got situated. You know, you'd think it'd be a little easier for them to just put up a sign telling people where to stop, rather than have the lady go around to every single car and tell them. But whatever, I guess I'm crazy. What was even better was that there were only two people giving road tests, making things even slower. So we sat in the line of cars, occasionally moving up a few feet. An hour passed. Then another hour. Then about 45 more minutes. My mom and I always rejoiced at the sound of someone's horn honking, because that meant that they were going. For some reason the first thing they asked you was to honk your horn. But anyway, we finally got close to the front of the line. Truck Boy with the Crazy Mother was still in front of me, and then there was just one more person in front of him. We were happy to be this close to the front, only to have our hopes crushed when it looked like the two women giving tests were now getting their "break." We saw them both walk off in different directions and they didn't come back for at least 15 minutes. But finally, they came back. I had been extremely nervous when we first arrived, but after sitting in the hot car for awhile and baking in the sun to the point that I was getting sunburned, I pretty much just wanted to get the test over with and get out of there. But, as we approached the front of the line that sick feeling returned to my stomach. Finally, it came to be my turn. The woman came up to my window, and she at least greeted me and asked how I was. Okay, good, I thought, at least I'm not stuck with someone like Mean Vision Lady. THAT would be a nightmare. My mom got out of the passenger seat, wished me luck, and said, "Don't be too nervous!" Oh, how I wish I could have followed her advice, but I couldn't seem to stop myself from shaking. First, the lady of course told me to honk my horn, which I did with no problem. Then she told me to put on my left turn signal, then right, and then push the brake after she walked around to the back of the car. So I did. Then she walked back around and went and stood a little ways over to the right. She was pretty far away from the car so I started to worry about not being able to hear what she told me to do next. So sure enough, she said something and I had a bit of trouble making out what she said. I thought she said something like, "Go to the left". So I moved the car forward to the left a little. It kind of made sense to me since that was the way we had to go out of the parking lot, plus the lady was standing over to the right. Maybe she wanted me to come forward and she would get in the passenger seat. Boy, was I wrong. The lady's eyes went wide and she said, "I didn't tell you to move the car!" I just stopped and sat there dumbfounded, my face turning bright red. It seemed like she knew that I couldn't hear her, because she came back up to the car and told me again. Apparently she was telling me to put on my left turn signal again. So, sheepishly, I put on the signals and pressed the brake again, and then she got in the passenger seat. Luckily she wasn't too mad about what happened, and she even made a joke of it and said, "Were you just going to run me over?" Well good, at least she wouldn't hold an eternal grudge against me for supposedly nearly running her over. I just managed a sheepish smile and said, "I'm sorry, I misheard you." I was still so embarrassed though, and wanted to sink into the floor of my car. So we drove a bit and she asked me to do a few things and make a few stops and turns. Most of that went okay. I was worried about the three-point turn, which I had just practiced for the first time last weekend, but luckily I actually did okay on that. I did end up having a problem on a few parts though, which is what apparently made this turn out to be fatal (don't worry, I'm not speaking literally here). She asked me to pull up right next to the curb and park as if I was parking on a hill. Okay, this scared me. I hadn't practiced this before, and my mom and I had only briefly talked about it before I left, because they never gave us a paper telling us what they'd be evaluating us on until we got there. You'd think maybe they'd want to post that on their website so that maybe people could actually know what they're looking for and practice, but naw. That would make things waaaay to easy. So I just did what I could remember. I knew I had to turn the wheels a certain way, but I wasn't sure which way. So I just kind of turned them in a random direction, and then put my parking brake up, which I knew I was supposed to do. Well, I later found out that I hadn't turned the wheels the right way. We finished the 15-minute drive and parked back at the DMV. The lady finished writing a few things, and my heart sank when she said, "Well, you'll have to come back another time and take it again." Then she started rattling off all of the things I needed to work on. Basically, it was just the parking on a hill, and she also said that my left turns were a bit too wide. She also said that I had to work on stopping at stop signs. I didn't understand this since I always stop at them. She then said that I don't always come to a complete stop and that sometimes I do a rolling stop. Then I kind of realized what she meant. Well, I really do stop at stop signs. But usually what I do is stop, and then inch up a little bit more so that I can see better if anyone is coming. I don't really see what's wrong with that, especially since I never inch past the stop sign or all the way out into the traffic. It's better to actually be able to see if people are coming! But anyway, somehow that counts as a "rolling stop", so that was another fatal mistake I had made. I had to go back in the building and get my mom, and I won't lie, I was pretty upset. Not so much upset that I didn't have my license, but more upset about the fact that we had sat in that stupid parking lot for the whole flipping day for nothing. My mom assured me that it was okay, and that a lot of people don't pass on their first try, especially since no one knows what to expect since we don't know what they're going to ask us to do. Well, I suppose she was right, but still. I wanted to just have it all over with! Now I either have to wait until the summer to go back, or I'll have to miss a day of school, because they aren't even open on weekends. My mom says she thinks we'll just go back on a school day, but we'll just have to pick a day where I don't have any tests or anything. And luckily, my mom found out that instead of going over there and sitting for hours, we can just call them ahead of time and set up an appointment, so at least we probably won't have to go through all that again. Ahhh. I'm just glad now to have the whole thing over with, even if I didn't end up getting my license and I'll have to take the test again. At least now I know exactly what they'll ask me to do. And at least we're going to go get ice cream tonight, so maybe that'll cheer me up a bit. :-) So yeah, I know this was an extremely long post, but I at least tried to make it somewhat entertaining, partly for your sake and partly because I always like to be able to at least find a little humor in a frustrating/embarrassing situation. So yeah, I guess that's it for now! Later. :)