We drive to the nearest driving center with the sealed letter in hand. It was an ordeal just getting the letter sent; IL required a self-addressed stamped envelope with a money order to pay the paperwork handling fee. Included in what we send them was a Driving Record Abstract Request Form. Basically, a copy of my drivers record to show when I was first licensed and any tickets/accidents/etc on my record. Pretty straightforward stuff, you would think.

The very nice lady opened the letter and scanned it for the information she needed. My heart sunk when she looked back up and shook her head. Illinois, as it turns out, listed the date I was originally licensed as July, 2009, when I last renewed my license, not July 1992 as I was expecting. Because Illinois showed I was licensed less than two years, no license for me (without having to retake all the tests).

When we started this little adventure, I called the Illinois DMV to try to get them to fax the paperwork. No go; it’s against their policy unless requested by another state’s DMV, on their letterhead, and Ontario has a policy against that. My choices were given as visit a DMV office in Illinois or mail the requested form, which I did. Tomorrow, I get to start the phone calls all over again to try straightening this out. One day, we’ll be able to get a car again, but not today.

While we were in town, I stopped by the used book stores. There’s this article on NPR about The Stars My Destination that was mentioned on Twitter yesterday, which reminded me that I’ve meant to read it. I picked up that and The Demolished Man, both by Alfred Bester, Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home, a short story collection by James Tiptree, Jr., and a prize that I will cherish forever — a first edition UK printing, hard cover with a dustcover jacket, of one of my favorite novels, Weaveworld by Clive Barker, for $2.00.

That almost makes up for the pain of being from the state of corn, corruption and unbalanced budgets.

It’s really too early to tell how things are going to work out long-term but so far I feel good. Not overwhelmed by keeping my spreadsheets updated or gut checking my short-term goals. I’m right where I want to be. I hope I can say the same thing a week and a month from now.

I’m writing a little bit every day. I’ve surpassed my 250 words/day goal. It may not seem like many but that’s a novel-worth of words a year. I write longhand — my moleskin and fountain pen are never far from my side. Usually I’m a slow writer, bogged down by my internal editor. Not so much lately. The words are coming out fairly smoothly.

Travel

Today, there was some conversation on twitter about air travel that caught my eye. I’ve done a fair amount of travel for the day job over the years and know the pains of (in)security checkpoints, TSA ineptitude and airport delays. I really wish the train were a viable option for business travel, but 5 hours of flying, plus a day on either side to catch up on sleep, beats the 3-4 days the train would take. Still, I think it’s something Andrea and I will do when we can afford to take a vacation in a couple of years. A trip through the Canadian Rockies, then down the west coast to visit Seattle, Portland and parts of California sounds about right.

Reading

I’m probably a quarter of the way through Jeff VanderMeer‘s Finch. It’s weird. It’s noir. It’s awesome. I’ve read some of his short fiction and enjoyed it. Obviously, I’ve read Booklife and City of Saints and Madmen is sitting on my side table. This is apparently my winter of VanderMeer. I’ve fallen behind on reading in the last few years. Coming back to it feels a bit like rediscovering and old friend moved in next door.