* So Friday night my mom and I were talking on the phone, and she was talking about how Illinois makes everyone over a certain age take the road-test for driving EVERY YEAR to renew their license.
which is perhaps mostly a good thing, but for folks with a good driving record? You'd think they'd cut them a little slack.
But anyway, I thought: "wait. I last renewed my license right before the pandemic started...." and I checked it.
Yup, it expired on February 28.
So I worried ALL WEEKEND. I am one of those people who NEVER expects any slack to be cut for them; I am the person that the rules get applied to extra hard in order to prove to other people that the rules matter.
So I thought: well, maybe they have a grace period? Or maybe I could make vague noises about my injured leg and "not being able to drive for a while" (Granted, that was less than a week).
In truth, I mostly just forgot. I forget a lot of things now. Perhaps it's partly pain at the moment, perhaps it's I'm trying to do too much, perhaps I'm trusting my formerly-good memory too much.
But at any rate: they didn't bat an eye. I brought in all my paperwork for the Real ID version (Oklahoma is slowly joining the 21st century on this) and she processed it and took a bad photo of me and had me scan my thumbprints. And then she asked me: do you want to renew for four years or for eight?
It's a couple dollars less than double the cost for eight years, and it's cutting out the hassle. The problem is now I'll have to remember in 2032 (if I even still live here). No, my state doesn't send out reminders - I complained to one of the church ladies yesterday about "mine must have gotten lost" and she said "oh no, they don't send them out any more" (Though oddly? I got the reminder to renew my car tag, which I did at the same time as the license).
But anyway, it's done, and everything worked out better than I expected. (My new license is coming by mail; I have a printout I am to carry until it arrives. The woman also gave me back my old license with a punch-hole in it to show it was invalid. I don't know whether to keep it or see if I can shred the plastic somehow (for security purposes)
***
Tomorrow I have to take my tax stuff in.
I might make tomorrow a little bit of an errand day. One of the church ladies told me a local store had "cute" orthopedic shoes (she had a pair; they basically looked like tennis shoes with rhinestones on them, but I think I could wear them with some of my dresses) and I want to see if they still have them in stock, and if they do, maybe get a pair.
I am STILL having knee pain and I wonder if some of it is that I don't have any really good supportive shoes other than tennis shoes, and I can't wear those with a dress. I did try putting the compression sleeve on for my afternoon lab and my knee does hurt slightly less tonight, so maybe I have to just wear that when I'm going to be on my feet a while.
The pain is LESS, but if I walk very far, especially on a concrete or sidewalk surface, the knee starts to hurt - sort of a burning pain. It gets better when I sit for a bit, but gets bad again with walking on hard surfaces.
Ice does help, and after the Tag Office, I ran to walgreens and got another gel pack to take over to school (my colleague the MD/PhD has a freezer in his research lab that he doesn't keep anything hazardous in, and he actually suggested I get one and keep it in there - it's just a few steps from my office). I have two for at home - one to use and one to keep frozen. I will just leave this one over there when (if?) my leg gets better; one of my other colleagues is prone to migraines and she might find it helpful.
I am just very tired of this though, and it's frustrating at how slowly it gets better. I healed a broken elbow in less time than this! (Granted, it was a very simple break and I was 21, but still, by this point in that injury I had the cast off and was doing pt and whirlpool treatments to get my strength back, and I had no pain at all)
***
I started the first sleeve on Chalcedony. I will probably get some more done tomorrow; I give an exam in one of my classes. The sleeves of this are knit directly onto the body; I don't think there's actually any seaming on this because the front bands are knit on at the end (and there are no buttons, this is a sweater designed to hang open)
I also pulled Orchard and Vine back out but didn't add very many more rows to it; I still need to do about 30 more before the next pattern change (adding in another color).
I also want to start another pair of socks but am trying to hold off on that; I have a lot of projects going.
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