driving rights

it's a good thing i like soda water, because by the time i got to the supermarket they were all out of anything else. the water on the island may or may not have been contaminated, so everyone's being extra careful...

---those health issues which i'm still struggling with seemed to have abated, only they haven't. yesterday morning i woke up with difficulties; on the way to the dmv i had to wait a while for a bus and i was in major discomfort. not cool, biological shell, not cool at all.

---i arrived at the dmv on time, and they sent me through to wait for about half an hour. still uncomfortable, not as bad. the dmv was a mixed bag of humanity, and shared that same sense of bureaucratic strangeness as does every other one i've entered.

when my number flashed i went to the desk, where a very pleasant woman was impressed by how organized i was and responded in kind with efficiency. i was surprised when she told me that my israeli license is valid for use for six months from my relevant entry! i was surprised when she told me that i shouldn't take any lessons that require a learner's license, because once i have a learner's it will render my israeli license unusable here. i was also surprised when she told me that she didn't have a "hazel" option for my eye colour, and would have to choose between green and brown. i told her that my eye colour changes depending on my mood.
"well, they look green to me."
"then today's a good day."

i hope my license is never examined on a bad day.

the final surprise came after she handed me a medical declaration form. in israel i can drive a car without restriction but i do have to wear glasses for a motorcycle. when i asked her, she took me for the eye test.
"you've got truck driver's eyes," she informed me, "you don't need glasses even for a motorcycle."
i don't know if that first part was a compliment or not.

after all that (which didn't take very long), i was sent to be photographed and to apply for the theory test. that was all handled very quickly with almost no waiting. i took the test, which was much easier for my having practiced with the online sample, and only failed a couple of questions because they were frustratingly tricky and without context. anyway, it was quick and painless.

the only thing left to do was sign two documents and get out of there! that's when they caught me for forty five minutes of sitting and waiting for my number to come up again. what the hell? is there an approximate amount of time that each person must be in the building, and they stretch out the waiting to make sure that nobody messes with the statistics?!

---google maps sent me the long way around to the metro station, so i got to work much later than planned. so i haven't been to muay thai yet... i was going to leave early for it but then felt bad about a three hour workday. as it was i wasn't very productive, because i spent ages going over moonlighter's code and commenting / fixing some really amateur stuff... only to discover that i was working in the wrong place. when i found the right place, i discovered that he still doesn't get how to use the svn... and i had to junk all my changes.

*facepalm*

...

how is it that the (physically) heaviest shopping i've done is the lightest on my wallet?

training was good, the best part being at the end: last night was the first conditioning in which i took a few good punches like a man! i use the word "man" in as gender-neutral a sense as possible, though, because one of the girls in our class is half my size and takes shots twice as hard without even flinching.

not being able to use tap water is very limiting, so dinner was even simpler than usual. i ate it watching bill burr - you people are all the same, and he's funny and has a few really good points.

---i went to bed early and woke up slowly; it was a good night's sleep, but i'm still not feeling amazing...