Official New Yorker

Well it's official, on October 6, 2005, I went into Manhattan to the DMV Express or whatever it is called near Madison Square Garden to obtain my official New York State Driver's License.
It was a sad day because I knew that by the end of my trip to the DMV, I would no longer possess a Connecticut State Driver's License, which I have held in different versions since I was 16 years old. Now to some, it may seem a bit odd to lament about the turning over of a license, and all of the other events of my life in the last nine years.

Now originally, I had intended to make this voyage into the Big City early in the morning of the day after my birthday. However, I soon realized after I woke massively hungover and with a very puffy face that the trip was probably best taken at some point in the afternoon so that I did not look like I had just been released from Central Booking. Anyway, I finally made my way over there around 2:30 in the afternoon still a little groggy but figuring that any sense of numbness I was experiencing would simply serve to lessen the pain that I would experience once I turned over my old friend.

Now, even though most DMV stories are true tales of woe that involve long lines, the loss of hours off of one's life, and much cursing, my experience was relatively painless probably because I was there on a Thursday during the middle of the day. Anyway, I filled out a form, passed an eye test, and then got my picture taken... all within thirty minutes of stepping in the door. After which I was given a number and told to wait until called... Soon I figured my old license would be a thing of the past and my new license would be in hand...

When was my number was called, I jumped from my seat immediately proceeding to the counter. Once there, I paid my money and forfeited my old license... and in return, I was handed a slip of paper... I looked at the paper, and then at the woman behind the counter, and then back at the paper. Clearly realizing my confusion, the woman informed me that this was my temporary license and a new one would be mailed to me within two weeks. AND clearly, she had to be joking I thought to myself as I had just surrendered something near and dear to my heart and now was being told that in its place, I would have a piece of paper that looked like the registration for the car that I no longer owned. Unable to defend myself and simply stunned, I walked out of the DMV, head hanging, and grasping the piece of paper that would serve as my means of identification for the next two weeks... wishing that I was back in the Nutmeg state where I would have left with my friend that very day... a man without a photo identity...

Thankfully, I am happy to report that today I received my new license in the mail....and not a day too soon as I was getting very tired of trucking my passport around with me in order to serve as my means of access to all thing 21 and older... While this multi-color style license with my picture that makes me look more like a member of the population of Riker's Island than a resident of Eastern Strong Island (Brooklyn) will never replace my old one from the glorious Constitution State, I can now officially and unequivocally state that I am a New Yorker...