Twilight mania

Jennifer isn't much of a fan of Twilight, the movies, but her friends are.

So that explains alot on why she's staying up until midnight tonight and going down to Kent Station, near our home, to watch the new part of the series - Eclipse - when it starts showing at 12:01 tomorrow.

At first I had planned to take her to a showing up at the Pacific Science Center tonight, but no dice, that was for adults only, with cocktails.

Then Kent offered a 3-movie package, with treats, and she was intrigued. Began calling her friends, but couldn't find a ride home. And her dad said "no way" to his daughter driving home at 3 am, alone, after the movie, even tho it was only a 2 minute hop to our home.

So what to do. Gary said no, but I figured out if Jennifer met her friends there, and then went home with them on an overnighter, it might just work. And it did. So one lucky mom (not me) gets to welcome home four tired teens at 4 am tomorrow and let 'em sleep it off and talk about whether they are Team Edward or Team Jacob.

What was that crunching sound?

Jennifer decided to go down to Jamba Juice tonight, and so decided to back out the car from the garage. She'd parked it with no problem the night before.

Unfortunately when I said yes to this jaunt, I'd forgotten my hubby parked it in the garage tonight, and he always parks it catywampus.

So a few heartbeats and crunch. Gary bursts out and yells, and Jennifer goes into her room in tears. They've struck up a peace now, but argh. It won't be the last scratch in the car either.

Giving the daughter the car keys for the day, part 2

Rather than deal with a 3-hour commute, in total, I'm just going to work from home and give Jennifer the keys for the day. It's easier that way, and I spend more time working and less time on planes, trains and automobiles.

OK, how long does it take to get to Target and back?

Longer than you think, when you're a nervous mom, waiting for your daughter to return from her first solo flight to Target.

She left to go pick up a gift for a friend. Ten minutes later, I'm waiting for her to come back.

"She's only been gone for 10 minutes," Gary says, as he beats a pot roast into submission.

"Seems like it's longer," I said, still staring out the window, willing her to return.

"It hasnt' been, so calm down. Go out and weed," he said.

So , I did, and soon enough, she showed up again, wanting me to go driving with her down to Kinkos. She's already angling for another solo flight.

Can I have the car keys please?

Just for a trip to Target,or a trip to her boyfriend's home,which is about 10 minute away.

So far, we've said no, but eventually, probably tomorrow, we'll have to give in. OK, new worries now that she has her license and is insured. So no excluses left.

No more visits to the DOL

She passed.

The minute she got out of the car with the obviously nice tester (he had a good vibe them minute we met him in the Renton DOL parking lot) I could tell she'd passed. They were joking with each other, rather than walking stiffly away or grabbing for handkerchiefs.

However, when we first pulled into the parking lot, we had our doubts.

"Mom, we could get mugged in this lot before we even reach the door," Jennifer said.

Was inclined to agree, but since we weren't switching this appointment,so be it.

Now the wait, first for the driver, then the test (all of 15 minutes, tho it seemed longer) and then a 2 hour wait for a picture for a driver's license (one last torture from DOL) and out we go.

"Now, I have my license, I need a car," J grinned.

Yeah, well, not quite yet. First we have to figure out how to pay for insurance.

Portal of Hell, The Final Chapter

Well, at least I hope so.

Tomorrow, J and I are racing up to mom's, getting her automatic civic, coming back down to practice and showing up at the DOL's Renton office with the hopes of three times will be a charm. It worked on the written, so why not with the driving portion?

And hopefully, we won't get a Nazi for a driving instructor.

At least Jennifer knows she's not alone, thanks to the support of my helpful friends and their own "autofail" stories.

The examples so far include:

Turning the windshield wipers on and off too many times.

Bumping up against the corner on the backing-around-the-corner part of the test.

Failing before getting out the parking lot of the DOL. (no explaination on what this was about)

Going too slowly.

Going too fast.

But I think the all-time autofail came from my friend Steve, who was done with his test, and parked the car via parallel parking perfectly, and then when pulling out, took the back bumper off the car in front of him. Didn't help that the car belonged to the instructor.

You guessed it: autofail. And ahem, could I see your insurance card again?

Another hell portal visit in our future.

OK, officially annoyed here with the DOL.

We set the alarm for 7 am, drove around and practices the strange requirement of backing around a corner (has anyone done this in the last 20 years..or ever?) and the hand signals for right, left and speeding up (again, has anyone ever used this?)

But again, she didn't pass because the instructor had to tell her to stop on pulling out from a parallel parking slot. She did the parking perfectly, but the instructor thought she was getting too near the other car (close, but she didn't hit it) so she automatically failed her. OK, exactly what law did she break? And aside from startling the tester, what happened here?

So we're trying again in April, at other location and see if three is a charm this time.

Back to the portal of hell

One look as she walked in the door at the Kent DOL and I knew the answer. She didn't pass. So we'll try again on the 20th.

But as to why she didn't pass, that still leaves me fuming. Apparently she didn't slow down to a complete stop in a right hand turn lane before turning right. It was a 1 mph turn, but still, it counted as "going through a red light," in his book -literally, that's what he wrote down. Yes, the light was red, but then dock her, don't simply fail her! Or if you must fail her, don't be rude about it,please.

That was the real burn for me. The tester was rude on the way back and shouted at her when she had trouble parking the car. So, if said grumpy guy walks out next Saturday, I'm asking for another instructor. If they won't accommodate me, we're going to another site.

Grrr.

So to cheer her up, we went shopping at Target, bought her fav. roast chicken dish and watched Zombieland. Nothing quite cheers the heart as a good zombie movie.

Working the automatic

Mom has graciously driven down her car so Jennifer can take the test tomorrow in an automatic. Actually, the kid's a better parallel parker than I am at this point. Fingers crossed.

Do you get credit for chutzpah ?

Here's crossing fingers, and toes that this is so.

Day after tomorrow, Jennifer is getting her hands on grandma's automatic, and taking it to the Kent DOL for her driving test. Hopefully it will be the first and last time we spend time at this glorious place.

And snow is in the forecast.

"I wonder if they'd just let her take a short test and give her her license if she showed up during a snowstorm?" my hubby wondered.

"And if she showed up in a stick to boot, maybe they'd just give her the license w/o the test," I added.

One can dream.

And no, she won't be taking her test in a Toyota, of any make.For that, the tester would probably flunk her for being stupid.

Bye, bye portal to hell

At least until March 11, when she'll take her written test.

We rolled out of bed at 7:30 am this morning to get to the Kent DOL and hopefully shorten our wait. Well, we waited 90 minute vs. 2.5 hours, so I guess it was a bit shorter. Jennifer actually studied this time, and her bf who is a boy helped her last night, and I helped her. But when we got to the check in (and carting every bit of paper work she need...just in case) the guy behind the counter stopped for a second when he realized she'd taken the test twice before.

"You know how to drive, right?" he asked. At first J and I thought he was dissing us.

"Because studying that book is only going to confuse you. Make the decision on the test based on what you'd do if you were driving. Don't try to remember the answer in the book."

Whether it was his sage advice, last night's study session (for which I allowed coffee beans) or the fact that Jennifer took the test seriously and slooowed down in taking it, it worked. She passed, only getting one wrong. Which is a good thing, since four of her friends were in the wings to take their test today. Not a good time to fail again and lose face.

Over a celebratory breakfast, she turned to me and said "I guess it's in our genes, that we all fail about three times."

Oh, I'd forgetten about that lie. I think I'll just let this one stand.

Back to the portal, round three

We got at the DOL offices in KEnt about a half hour before the doors opened, and good thing we did.

By the time we did, at 8:30 am, the line stretched down the block.

It was then that it struck me that I hadn't bought the birth certificate, ss ## and all the rest that the DOL required to make sure I didn't abduct her as a baby.

But fate smiled on us, and the lady who checked us in last time, recognized us this time. Unf. that joy was short-lived as Jennifer emerged from the second try, again missing a pass by one point. And again it was a headlights question. So much nashing of teeth and wailing started up at the DOL offices again.

I lied and told her I'd flunked it 2x too (not true, but what are parents for if you don't lie to your kid to make them feel better once and awhile)

I think it's finally sunk in that in fact, she's going to need to study for this test. Not text all night, watch the Olympics or take naps, but study.

Because the test isn't that hard, but they will grill you on minuetia that most people will never need to know again (like when should you flip off the high beams with approaching a car (it's 300 feet, and yes she got that wrong). But you will need to know it for this test. So back we go, at 8:30 am Saturday morning.

Gateway to hell

I now know why they chose the local DOL office as the gateway to hell in the now-cancelled series "Reaper."

I've just spent 3.5 hours there as my daughter signed up for the written test. Alas, she failed by one point, and since the office is closed now, I either take time off on Tuesday or we're back at it, with the rest of South King County it seems, to try again. This time, we're there at 8 a.m., when the wait should only be about 20 minutes, versus 2.5 hours.

Both her dad and I told her we had to take various portions of the test twice, but alas, that is poor consolation for a 16 year old who bragged to all her friends she was taking the test today. Ouch.

Wrestling or South Pacific

In this case, Jennifer chose a state wrestling match at the Tacoma Dome over going out to South Pacific with mom and I.

If it had been West Side Story, she would have been there no question. But not for this play. Most of the audience frankly looked like they could have been in the South Pacific during WWII.

Tomorrow, she's getting up early for her driver's test. I told her to study between lulls in the wrestling action. Like that happened.

DOL or wrestling. Looks like wrestling will win out

Can't quite believe I'm writing this, but Jennifer is opting for going to watch wrestling, since her friend Adam is at a meet in the t-dome tomorrow, rather than go to the local DOL and take the written. She says Saturday will work just fine. I think what she doesn't realize is that dad will have to take her.

Why not!!

Because the rental car (when Gary got rear ended last week) is not ours and you're not supposed to be driving it.

Insert sulk here.

Unf. Gary got an automatic and J's practically drooling over the fact she might be able to drive it. Not today, and certainly not in the dark on wet roads.

They just to go to jamba juice and she's still sulking.

Mom, stop grabbing the door!

Okay, I was actually steadying myself as Jennifer insisted taking the corner in 3rd gear again.

The concept of shifting down seems to be beyond her right now. But at least she isn't killing the car as much anymore. We went through the intersection from hell (read the earlier post) without a pause. Although she did try to park in the Target parking lot tonight (I told her I'd buy her a latte), sort of catywampus, taking up 2 slots near handicapped parking. (Ok NOT in the handicapped stall).

I straightened out the car, and into Target we went. We then inched our way out of the parking lot and onto the road. I realized why her driver's ed teacher wanted to have her practice backing up around corners, as she's lurching backwards out of the stall.

I think she's got it

After last time's stressful drive, we ventured out again on Sunday, and then again last night. On Sunday, I learned the way to get Jennifer to drive, without killing the car, through an intersection, was to give her a goal.

In this case, TJ Maxx. If she made it there, without intervention, I'd buy her something. If not, do deal. We made it through 2 of the most heavily travelled intersections in Kent with nary a murmur (or popped clutch). She drove back too.

Last night was freeway driving. She was going to do a drive, today, so she wanted to practice last night. She made it through the intersections without killing the car as long as the station was tuned to 106.1 (KISS FM). The music seemed to make her forget about focusing on that damn clutch so much.

Once we got to 167, she started to panic. I told her to let the traffic go around her, get to 4th gear and then 5th (she tried to put it in 3rd, poor Honda didn't like that) and away we went, at 54 mph. Okay, not quite 60, but fortunately we were behind a van that was poking along, so we just stayed at that grandma speed and got used to the freeway. We went home on the west valley highway, 2-lane narrow road.

Made it home without a hitch. Thank gawd.

Driving lessons, part XV

After my hubby and daughter got into a row over the last driving lesson. Jennifer declared it was my turn to take her out.

Which I did last night. I was wondering what possessed me as we inched our way, one lurch at a time, through an intersection on the Kent-Auburn border. Not fun. She kept popping the clutch and not giving the car enough gas, so inch by lurch, we worked through a left turn on S. 277th. She started to cry. I had to sit on my hands.

"Someone is going to hit us!" she screamed.

It was light enough so that no one was going to hit us (we were now about 2/3 through the intersection). I kept calmly telling her that just let it catch, give it enough gas. Pretend we were on the roads near our home, and breath.

And I resisted the temptation to get out of the car and take over. She had to, for her own confidence, get herself out of this.

About 5 lurching minutes later, the car's gears caught and off we went. In stony silence. Then we reached the intersection on Auburn W. North and Gowe. And again, we were turning in inches. I looked up to see another mom smiling at me. She winked, and just about then, the clutch caught,and off we went.

Ms. perfection parked the car on the curb in front of our house and stalked into our house. Driving lesson over for today. More tomorrow.