Yesterday Jen and I stopped in at our local DMV to apply for New York driver licenses. Part of the deal with getting a New York license (if you want to skip the behind-the-wheel and written tests) is that you have to surrender your out-of-state license. So for the first time since I was 16, I am without a California driver license. Even while at college in New York, I kept my California license.
It may seem silly, but there was something pretty emotional about this letting go for me. A Californian all my life, it’s going to be odd having a New York license in my wallet.
Despite this emotional letting go, I was shocked and pleasantly amazed by how easy the process of getting the new license was. First of all, you can just walk into the local DMV with the paperwork (as opposed to making an appointment weeks in advance and waiting in line for an hour once you get there, as one must do in California); the wait wasn’t more than ten minutes. Once at the counter, it was incredibly easy to process all the paperwork, take the eye test (which I actually passed without my glasses), and have a new photo taken. Jen and I were both in and out in less than half an hour.
I wasn’t able to register my car yet since the lienholder is my bank in California. They’ve first got to fax a copy of my title to the DMV before I can get NY registration. This is just as well since my California registration is good through May, so I might as well get my money’s worth.
Last night my mother-in-law came over for dinner. Jen made her delicious eggplant parm. After dinner, Jen and I did some work on the 100 Faces production and watched the maddening State of the Union address.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Jordan // Jan 21, 2004 at 3:07 pm
Out of curiosity… do you think you should drive without glasses. The California DMV is under the impression that I don’t need glasses to drive. Good thing I’m not legally blind in one eye… oh wait, I totally am! I’m always concern by the fact that my total lack of depth perception without glasses does not show up when I take the test.
2 Dave Reed // Jan 22, 2004 at 12:42 am
After hunting down a recipe for eggplant parm (since I didn’t know what it was), it sounds good. It’d probably be great with some good Italian sausage. Yum!
I can relate to the relinquishing of license on some level. Even my first license was a little difficult to give up when DMV sent me a new one. I rather liked the picture on my old one. That’s lying around somewhere, detached from its original home of my old license.