Posts Tagged ‘pictures’

DMVentures! Also, some pictures!

This morning I celebrated my mom’s birthday by spending three hours at the DMV to get a North Carolina Driver’s License. This DMVodyssey actually began two days ago, when I realized that we would have to retake the tests before getting a license. I spent the day feverishly reading the handbook and trying to remember the exact distance you should be from the curb when parallel parking. Then yesterday when we started off on this intrepid task, we realized quickly that we had no idea where we were going, having forgotten to look up the address. We decided that we’d definitely seen signs for it around, so got comfortably lost for about an hour, when we finally realized that the signs we’d seen were for “License Plate Agency” not “Driver’s License Agency”. Apparently to increase productivity and frustration, North Carolina splits up their DMV services amongst several smaller offices, all in strip malls of varying sketchiness. At that point, we gave up and bought baked potatoes instead.

Then, this morning, I knew success was at our fingertips! We got there at 9am, with all appropriate paperwork, armed with library books (yeah, library card before driver’s license, that’s how I roll). Unfortunately, fifty-three other people had arrived before it even opened and only two people were working. Since there was no room to wait inside, Steven and I spent the majority of the three hours sitting on the concrete curb outside. Luckily, lots of people gave up! And, finally, our perseverance was rewarded:

Yay!!!! It's like a Biblical fable, really. If you just wait long enough in the smell of cigarettes and desperation, you too can have a piece of plastic with your picture and organ donor status.

Yay!!!! It's like a Biblical fable, really. If you just wait long enough in the smell of cigarettes and desperation, you too can have a piece of plastic with your picture and organ donor status.

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Dewey Decimalogy: A Guide to Predicting Your Future

Little known fact: Patricia’s Dream Job #37= Fortune Teller. It’s entirely made up of aspects I enjoy: ridiculous costumes/accents, lying to people, and saying absolutely everything as dramatically as possible. I’ve often considered giving up my dreams of librarian glory to lead a fulfilling and nomadic existence following America’s carnivals and RenFests to touch sweaty people’s hands and pretend to see the future in them. Today, however, I had an epiphany. Why choose when I could just combine the two? This plan has the added benefit of basing my new branch of fortune telling off of something I’m already familiar with, which is great because I wasn’t about to memorize anything. And, once again, I prove that a simple knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System will get you anything you want in life. Or, at least, anything you want in the library. Except Twilight, natch.
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Random Scenes from My Future

This week I had dinner with Laura Campo, Wiess ’08 and Tabletop Producer my freshman year. It was great, but also kind of surreal. Beforehand I was worried that it would be somehow awkward: how do you have a real conversation with someone with whom you’ve only exchanged pleasantries and facebook banter? Apparently, really easily. It made me hope that other random people who have seemingly dropped out of the story of my life will appear unexpectedly in my future. I can’t wait to see what that will be like! But now, thanks to the power of MS Paint, I don’t have to! Huzzah!

Ben Skerritt (my 2nd grade crush) and I Meet at a Concert

I assume he will still look just like this yearbook picture I found

I assume he will still look just like this yearbook picture I found

He recognizes me by… my Pippi Longstocking hair.
I recognize him by… the way he gives people the finger without really knowing what it means.
All I really remember about Ben Skerritt are some vague sledding memories on Snow Days and, when saying goodbye because I was moving to Florida, he flicked me off and then said “Shhhhh! It means something dirty!” before running into the bushes behind the basketball court. Ah, young love. Naturally, this will make coming up with topics of conversation difficult after the “So… how have the last 15 years of your life been?”
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Things That Spell Our Doom: The Ocean

As far as Florida Vacation Destinations go, Seminole is probably not high on your list (unless the Historic Patricia Tour is a must see). A fairly small patch of suburbia and laid back beach communities, it’s only a ten to twenty minute drive to the water in any direction but north:

Pinellas County: Florida's gimpy right arm, or maybe just some weird growth

Pinellas County: Florida's gimpy right arm, or maybe just some weird growth

But don’t be fooled by the palm trees and Village Inn’s. Death can still stalk me here.
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Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus: A Modern Classic

Just like every other time my brother has forced me to watch something on youtube, the first time I saw this, I was skeptical:

However, the second I saw a giant–nay, MEGA shark attacking a plane while it was FLYING IN THE AIR, I knew this movie would not only be a masterpiece of artistic subtlety, but also an eyeopening account of important global events that the media and Hollywood often ignore. Namely, when prehistoric, giantass sea creatures are unleashed on a totally unprepared modern society. Oh, the Valuable Life Lessons I learned!
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Roadtrip: The Debriefing

Now that The Road Trip has officially been over for about a week I decided it would be a good time to reflect on it as a whole, since enough time has passed that Steven is no longer complaining about lack of Sonic and Trixie has had a bath. Also, I just remembered I’m bound by capital letters to update every Tuesday and Friday.
The Road Trip
8000 Miles
21 Days
14 States
5 Romance Novels
and Way Too Much fast food
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Times I’ve Almost Died: Uncle T

So my dad’s oldest brother is actually named Thomas (after my grandfather, not my brother), but no one calls him that because it would besmirch a good family name. He mostly spends his time drinking, flying to Asia to pick up girls, and writing angry Letters to the Editor correcting grammar. You’d think at least he’d have some good stories to tell about all the times he’s been in Chinese prison or run out of the state of Alabama, but mostly he just tells bad jokes about flatulence. Fortunately, we don’t have to be nice to him. Unfortunately, we do have to have breakfast with him:
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Misguided Travel Guides: Minneapolis

I’m guessing that North Dakota and Minnesota run together in your heads as one expanse of Godless frozen tundra. Again, this is mostly true, but not as much in the summer. I’ve been to Minneapolis plenty of times because the Bismarck airport is so freaking small (3-4 gates) that often the best way to get there is to fly to Minneapolis and rent a car. We stayed in my uncle’s basement, which includes the prime attraction of his dog, a sheltie collie that can leap up to slam doors and gets unaccountably angry every time anyone unloads the dishwasher.

Since I have so much Minneapolis experience, I was expecting it to be a mere stop over instead of what it turned out to be: THE GREATEST STOP ON OUR ROADTRIP EVER!!! Seriously, Anna Baron has been holding out on us. Minneapolis may be the REAL Land of Enchantment. Yeah, New Mexico, I said it. Or maybe my low expectations only made it seem that much more amazing. The first order of business was to see Natalie, my erstwhile illustrator of The Knight, the wizard, and the Lady Pig fame:

That's my "Meeting a Famous Illustrator" face

That's my Meeting a Famous Illustrator Face

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