I Pinned Your Ear!

Celebrating the New Year in NoCal is a bit different than celebrating it in Maine. First of all, there is no snow here. This means that you can go outside in a sweater and enjoy the day. And at night, you can stand outside for a long time trying to get a great picture of the Blue Moon without a coat and not freezing to death in a VERY deep snow bank. So that is a nice change. But in NoCal, I spent New Year's Eve trying to become a Californian. I am about to confess my illegal actions, so any law enforcement people reading this...... well... be kind. I have lived in CA for about 2.5 months now and have not obtained a California driver's license and have not registered my car. I really like my SQR PEG plates and hear that vanity plates in CA are VERY expensive. So, I decided to FINALLY do the the deed on New Year's Eve. Why then, you might ask. Well, Natalie (stepdaughter) needed a CA driver's license so I said I would get mine too. We arrived at the DMV at 2:11pm. I know this because I was given a ticket with a number on it and the time stamped too. We knew we would have to wait, so we were prepared with books and iPods and other forms of entertainment..... like people watching. And we had studied so we were ready. Did you know that the legal limit for drinking is .08% and that you cannot talk on a cell phone while driving unless you have a hands free set? I DID! When my number was called, I took my stack of papers to the nice lady and she asked me some questions.... hair color (Good question!), eye color (easier) and weight......I figured since I was all ready breaking the law by NOT registering my car within the required time of arrival in the state AND I did not have a CA driver's license within 10 days of moving here, I could tell another small lie about the weight....Well, maybe not too small. After all, it HAS been a tough fall and we DID just celebrate the holidays. The Nice Lady never batted an eyelash and just finished my paperwork. I gave her money - of course - and she sent me to take the test. I got in ANOTHER line for the test, got my form (#5) and proceeded to complete it...... good thing I studied. The alcohol level was on there. I got BACK in line to have my test corrected. I could miss 6 and still pass. I thought that if I had missed 6, I didn't deserve a license. Now, I have to tell you.... Mark took the test in September (HE didn't break the law!) and he got 100%. I was hoping to do as well. AND Natalie took the test and only missed one. So the pressure was on. He scanned the form..... correct.....correct.....oops. Missed one. MISSED ONE? Let me see..... it was a question about a blind person with a white stick who is trying to cross the street in a cross walk. They stick their stick into the cross walk and then pull it back to the sidewalk. Do you stop to let them cross or continue? I chose to stop. I figured that if they were confused or had stick issues, better to be safe than sorry. But the CORRECT answer is to continue because they took their stick OUT of the cross walk. I stood there as the Nice Man finished grading my paper and envisioned hundreds of blind people with white sticks playing games with traffic - stick in..... stick out.....stick in....stick out HA HA! So when I took my stack of papers BACK to the Nice Lady and waited while she finished with the person she was helping, I was in a bit of a cynical mood. She took my papers and asked if I thought the test was hard. I said no not really. But I DID miss one. At least, I reassured her, I didn't pick the option of driving UP ONTO THE CURB and HITTING THE GUY WITH THE STICK. I'm not sure she thought it was as funny as I did. I still had to register my car which I cannot do until I have a smog test which means going to a gas station and having something stuck up my exhaust pipe and a measurement taken. It sounds uncomfortable. And anyway, it had now been 2.5 hours since we arrived to start this whole mess. It was time to go home. I will receive my license in the mail. Probably delivered by a blind mailman with a white stick.
You may have wondered why I titled this blog the way I did. Well, there is a short story behind it. I only hear in my left ear. And Mark sleeps on my right side. So when he whispers sweet nothings or anything else for that matter, I don't always hear what he is saying. And on New Year's Day, Mark whispered tenderly, "I pinned your ear". I looked at him and said, "YOU DID WHAT?" He smiled and said (now in my GOOD ear) "Happy New Year". So whether you are pinning an ear or just happy, I send warm wishes for short lines and lots of smiles for your year.