So, today I finally became a resident of Arizona. It was pointed out to me on Friday that my license was going to expire on Monday, so off to the Motor Vehicle Department I trotted.
I was wearing approximately three pounds of make-up when I left, because I have learned that the key to a good picture is wearing a mask. A mask with loads of color. It keeps you from developing strange red spots, or blushing all over, or looking like a zombie.
The other really important thing is to part the hair on the side. It helps in my case at least. So, I pinned some of the curls off to the side under my ear. Then I took a couple of preparatory pictures, just to make sure I was looking photogenic and off I went.
I called my sister once I found out that the line stretching outside and around the building was actually just to get inside and get a number. Oddly enough, she was also headed to the DMV, just, you know, in Oregon.
So, it's like a million thousand degrees outside. (it will be a couple frillion in a few short weeks.) So, I stood in the line outside for more than forty minutes, the people ahead of and behind me didn't want to bond. I talked to my sister in Oregon on the cell phone for forty minutes.
Needless to say, by the time I got inside, my cell phone was wearing most of my blush. I got a number and a form... I filled that out and took my eye test... Then I was finally instructed to take a seat in the giant atrium-type space while I waited for one of the twenty counters to want me. So, I called ydelek.
Eventually, my number (B115) was called. I sat quietly, handed over $25 and was told to take these forms and stand in the corner and wait for my name to be called for a picture. I was also informed that my new license would expire on my 65th birthday. March 25, 2045. I'll go ahead and mark my calendar for that one now.
I called my sister back and we chatted while I waited to be called. The man finally yelled out my name (Shelly: "Mary Ann! Woo!"). I signed a scrap of paper.
"Go all the way back." "Here?" "Great. Go stand over there and we'll call you when it's ready." "Wait, that's it? You're finished? With the picture that I am supposed to carry around with me everywhere I go until my sixty-fifth birthday?" "We'll call you when it's ready, ma'am."
I called my sister back. Then I got the new license. I look, uh, like I'm on a serious bender, and when the serious bender started three weeks ago, I was wearing approximately one ton of eye make-up. My eyes are ENORMOUS. Also, I seem to be biting my bottom lip. And in dire need of a hair cut.
But, it's not nearly as bad as the one I got when I was sixteen. It's gorgeous when compared with either my old or new passport photos. The whole process took about two hours and now I am a resident of Arizona. (They did let me keep the old KY one where I look like a slightly overweight realtor.)
Real quick, let me just whine that a month ago, I got an e mail letting me know that my hairdresser is no longer with that salon. It took me six months to meet someone with really good hair here and get a referral. And since my last haircut (in January), my hair has lost all of its shape. So, if anyone in the Phoenix Metro Area is reading this and knows where a girl with curly hair can get a great hair cut for $100 or less, please leave me a comment.
