Gripe

I loaded my scooter into my van last night, and this morning I drove up to Corte Madera to take my motorcycle skills test. I got to the DMV a half hour before it opened, unloaded my scooter, got in line, and waited for the doors to open. When they did I walked up to a counter and announced that I would like someone to watch me ride in a little circle and pronounce me motorcycle safe. They asked if I had an appointment and I allowed as to how I did not. They told me to wait at another desk to make one.

Apparently people who have jobs and are not psychic are not allowed to get the motorcycle endorsement in a timely fashion. All the Saturday appointments for all the DMVs in my area are booked up next month, and the earliest morning weekday appointments are at 9am, requiring me to take time off work. My other option was to take a motorcycle safety course, thereby relieving myself of $200, a Thursday night, and a whole weekend, but also thereby avoiding the DMV. However, it turns out you have to camp out for a spot in one of those things. All the classes for the next month and a half are full, and the ones that aren't full haven't started registration yet. It looks like I'll have to take a half day eventually for the privilege of riding at night and/or with a lady/passenger.

The DMV hassle was followed by a whole day of work, which is neither here nor there, except that my scooter kept asking politely for me to ride it someplace. Turns out that I would much rather scoot than work, but the scooter will wait and the job will not.

My Friday still held hope though, for my plan was to pack up my scooter, drive home, and meet my roommate and his friends at Molly Magee's in Mountain View at 9pm, then see a 10:30pm showing of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I tried to wait as long as I could to avoid sitting around at my roommate's job for an hour while he "finished up." But being compulsively on time (or early) I could wait no longer, and at 7:45pm I called to see if he wanted to get some food before going to the bar. He said, "Oh, we're meeting at an Indian place here at 8:30pm if you can make it in time."

I'm never sure when I'm being purposefully not invited to things, but in this case it struck me that I had stumbled into secret dinner plans and was only being offered a spot at the table because I had found them out. None the less, I said I would get gas (as my roommate knew I would have to do, I was driving his car down) and call when I got close. I called at 8:35pm which was, as it turns out, right as they had been seated at a table for 4. I, being the 5th person of the group, astutely caught hint number 2, and ate a container of fruit salad alone in the parking lot of Safeway, then had an Oreo cookie shake for desert. Because the Indian food thing happened, the bar thing didn't, and I went to the movie theater to read my book in the car and wait for the rest of the group to show up.

On the bright side I liked the movie. On the dark side, tonight had to be the most accidentally non-social night ever.*

*It must be said that I've spend many an anti-social** Friday night in my apartment watching TV. I've also spent non-social*** nights in my apartment watching TV. However, hoping for dinner, planning on hanging out for an hour in a bar, and then going to a movie should have netted me more than my accumulated 10 minutes of face-to-face social interaction tonight. Hence the title of accidentally non-social: I had made an effort and made plans.

**Anti-social - Staying at home when there are people to hang out with.
***Non-social - Staying at home when there are no people to hang out with.