The DMV Visit

Lucky me, my driver's license expires this year. That means a roadtrip to the DMV. I made the appointment over the Internet. That was pretty cool and modern. Since I work in Valencia I went to the Santa Clarita office. Thanks to Brenda, she gave me some heads up as to the facilities and its location.

Good thing too. It was a tiny building with virtually no signage. The parking lot was full but again, thanks to Brenda's advance warnings I had parked around the corner at a small strip mall. I walked in the door about tenth in line. The line moved fairly quickly and I was given the magic number, F0019, and told to wait in the never ending group of chairs.

There were about 40 people at the chairs and they all seem in a stupor as they were waiting for their number to be called. I was hopeful that since I had a "reservation" my number would come up real fast. Everyone seemed aloof and to themselves, almost as though they were about to walk the green mile. A voice kept calling out the numbers, sounding as if it was from the movie Logan's Run. A soft, soothing voice which got everyone hopeful they would be next. Surprisingly, my number came up after about 5 minutes. F0019 to window four. I screamed BINGO and went to the window for my prize. To my suregrin the prize was I had to fork over $28 bucks.

She took my papers and gave me an eye test. How appauling, she accused me of not covering my eye completely. Little did she know I was just as blind with both eyes as I was one at a time. But I did not cheat, it was covered sufficiently. I passed the test and was told to go wait in the line all the way on the other side of the building for my photograph.

That was interesting too. Nobody would talk to anyone else. This line was about a ten minute wait. At one point a security guard came out of the bathroom and told us how to stand in a line. He move one lady up a foot, told me to stand behind her, and another lady to stand behind me; as if we had never stood in a line before. Our state's money put to good use. Then I saw one guy there for his driving test. Duh, he parked his car in an illegal spot painted red. I wonder if he passed his test.

Soon I was "next". Everyone else was envious. My turn came and the thumb print reader had about 5 snap shots before they got a good print. I was asked my name, as if the paperwork was not accurate. He took my picture and I was done. Now I get to anxiously wait and see how horrible my picture turns out. That worst part was having to add 30 pounds to my weight from 12 years ago.