Learning to Drive - Memories of Me Monday

"Tell about how, when and where you learned to drive. Any memorable experiences?"

I took Driver's Ed in high school. In those days, the mid-1970's, it was part of the public school curriculum. We had classroom instruction, learned the basics of behind-the-wheel technique in simulators (which we called "stimulators") then, finally, piled into white sedans in groups of 3 or 4 plus an instructor to practice in the school parking lot and surrounding neighborhood.

We also got to watch really gory movies of car crashes. I guess those were to scare us into behaving once we got our licenses and were out on our own!

My mom and dad both let me practice in the family station wagon, while they sat nervously in the passenger seat. From the start I was a pretty crappy driver. I just didn't get the big picture. I understood the driving laws, from the classroom instruction, but the simulators had done nothing to prepare me for a real car, and my behind-the-wheel time at school was limited to about 15 minutes a couple of times a week for only a few weeks.

The simulators were in a small trailer parked on the school property. We sat in chairs with a steering wheel in front of us and gas and brake pedals at our feet. Projected onto a large screen at the front of the room was a movie of an empty road as seen through the windshield of a moving car. We all pretended we were steering our "cars" along the road, pressing the gas or brake pedals as instructed. I suppose the point of the exercise was just to get the feel of putting our hands and feet on the the wheel and pedals.

I passed the class and a few months before my 16th birthday my mom took me to the DMV to get my learner's permit.

During the driving test, I was so nervous I made a left turn in front of oncoming traffic.

Automatic fail; the test was aborted immediately.

More practice with mom and dad and, as soon as I could I went back at the DMV. I had some additional motivation this time because I had invited a boy to the Sadie Hawkins Dance and I wanted to be able to pick him up.

Nervous again, I was unable to properly execute the 3-point parallel parking maneuver.

Fail!

My dad was incredulous. The next time he took me out driving he noticed that I wasn't looking ahead, but down at the ground in front of the car. He asked me what I was looking at and I told him the line in the middle of the road. I was following it! He told me to keep my eyes on the road ahead. That helped me stay more in the middle of my lane, but I still had trouble negotiating turns and parking. Finally, my dad realized I was having trouble judging distances. A trip to the eye doctor revealed I had very weak vision in my left eye leaving me with virtually no depth perception.

No wonder I'd totally bombed when I took tennis in P.E.! Not to mention the two failed driving tests.

I got glasses and I got my license.


FOR NEXT WEEK! "What tradition at Christmas is your very favorite?"

Father's Day Digital Card

This is the front of the card I made for my dad for Father's Day. It's a modified version of a layout I made recently featuring my dad and me and using one of my Father's Day digital photo masks (which you can still get, free, right here at the Webajeb blog). The black-and-white photo is from 1969. I modified the mask by simply changing the landscape-oriented rectangle to a one in portrait format. I popped in a piece of digital paper by Vinnie Pearce, which I also modified a bit in order to fit the square paper onto the rectangle-shaped card without losing much of the fun pattern in the opposing corners.

I really like how it turned out, and my dad was very pleased when it arrived in the mail. I'm going to print a copy for myself and frame it.

Just another reason why I love digital scrapbooking! I've sent off the card I made and my dad has it now. But I still have the digital file, and can print more copies, use it in a digital layout, change the background paper, if I want, add some fun digital elements, and even journaling. In fact, I think I'll do just that. Then I'll have the perfect layout of that day in 1969 to put into My Book of Me!

Now go and have a great day!

Deb

Goats R Us

An Orinda, California, company called Goats R Us is wintering its herd here in Benicia. The goats roam and feed in the open spaces and Benicia gets free weed abatement. This is the second winter that we have "hosted" the goats.

I took the above photo a couple of weeks ago. I was driving down 2nd street toward Rose Drive when I spotted the goats; of course, I had to pull over and take pictures! I sat and watched them for a long time. Finally, a dog came running over the hill and began rounding them up! I was surprised that just one dog could get them all herded together so fast, and no human in sight either, the dog was working alone. It was really amazing. You can see the dog in the second photo, on the left; he's black with a white ruff.

Update on my dad-in-law: Good news; Art is doing great! I talked to Mike a couple hours ago. He and Betty brought Art home from the hospital yesterday. Today he's gleefully and soundly beating Mike and Betty in cards!

I'm tellin' ya, the guy's a rascal.

Attending Class in China

Michael took me to his classes as a special guest. He has over 220 students! I think I went to class 4 0r 5 times before I met everyone. Each time when I walked in the door at the beginning of class the students applauded and were all smiles. Everyone wanted to meet "Michael's mom."

In each class we showed pictures of Michael as a little boy, his family and friends, and places in America. I had also scanned a lot of Michael's elementary schoolwork and the class enjoyed seeing the mistakes he made when he was learning to read and write. After the picture show we opened up the session to any questions the students had that they wanted to ask either me or Michael. I can't tell you how often, over the course of all the classes, I was asked whether Michael had been naughty as a little boy! Everyone wanted to know what he was like when he was small.

They were also very interested in my impressions of China, the Chinese people, and life in China. I also got questions about, of all things, women's liberation, and which presidential candidate I favored.
At the end of the classes we passed out the hand-made cards I had brought, and which had been made and donated by a lot of my scrapbooking friends. Beaded bracelets made by California girl scouts, and crisp new dollar bills, were given to the students brave enough to ask me a question. Suddenly I got TONS of questions!
A room full of very attentive students.
At the end of class the students posed with their cards and bracelets. I'm in this photo, too, but you probably can't see me. Let's just say I'm up to my nose in Chinese students!

Chihuly Glass in Tacoma, WA.

We spent all last week in Washington state visiting Mike's family. They live in Lacey, near Olympia, but we stayed at a hotel in Tacoma (about 28 miles away) because I had Marriott Rewards points to use up. It was kind of a pain to drive back and forth every day but worth it to get a hotel room for only the $10/day parking charge!

The photo above is of a bridge in downtown Tacoma. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it (anyone know?). I'm fond of bridges and thought this was pretty enough to rival our new Carquinez Bridge between Vallejo and Crockett, CA. (or, as it is officially called, the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge).

While we were in Tacoma we got a chance to see some of the sights there. We were in the City Center area and within walking distance are quite a few museums as well as the waterfront. The Tacoma Museum of Art had, among other things, Chihuly glass on display plus an exhibit of Renoir etchings both of which I found fascinating. (I hadn't even known Renoir did etchings and lithographs.)

The museum prohibited photography of any kind which was disappointing since I'd wanted photos of Chihuly glass. However, the nearby Union Station, which is now a Federal Court Building, had some that we photographed to our heart's content (after we showed photo ID just to get into the lobby)!

We found out that Dale Chihuly grew up in Tacoma so that is why there is so much of his work around the city. I believe he may still live and work there.

This impressive sculpture hangs from the domed ceiling of the Union Station. It's huge! I can't fathom having an imagintaion that dreams up this type of art and then the talent to execute it.

If you look back at the picture of the Union Station and make note of the domed window, you'll have a better idea where these poppies are situated. They are giant flowers that catch the sun at certain times of the day. A challenge to photograph and I didn't do too well, but they were gorgeous to see in person.

This is a pedestrian bridge crossing over the freeway from behind the Union Station to the Museum of Glass. We didn't end up going into that museum because we had chosen to go to the Art Museum, but we wanted to walk over the bridge. Aren't the blue glass creations interesting? The woman at the tourist bureau said they look like giant blue trash bags. I think they look like rock candy or giant blue sugar crystals.

One part of the bridge had a kind of tunnel with a glass ceiling. Inside the ceiling were hundreds of glass creations of all shapes and sizes. Looks like tropical sea creatures at rush hour!

Something we did a lot of: played cards. Mike's dad and step-mom taught us their latest favorite card game. They call it "Golf" but I think it's more like Baseball because you play 9 innings, or hands per game. It was a simple enough game that I caught on pretty fast and even won a couple of times. Of course, other times I got trounced royally and both Mike and his Dad are the type that totally smirk and gloat when they win!

Told ya! Smirky little brat!