Changes

[note: originally posted on annmi.efx2.com]

It’s funny how people change. Here I sit and type as I try to peel this DAMN GREEN PAPER (GRRR!!!) off my sandwich where 20 years ago I would have been eating the paper without the sandwich.

I’ve just had my first two driving lessons. The first one went alright.. the car stalled twice or so and I drove in circles in an industrial area. It was truly not exciting and I felt disheartened. How long would I suck this badly and how the hell can I learn to do this when it is so unenjoyable to suck so badly?
Then came today. I got to go on these little bumpy roads that didn’t even have properly paved roads everywhere - half of it was loose gravel. There were two cats - one sat under an umbrella and licked himself, keeping an eye on me, and the other dashed under the bushes and didn’t get run over. There were people to look out for. There was a girl on a bicycle to worry about. There were a couple cars. There were even a few T-junctions. I enjoyed this challenge, although trying to get the car moving after stopping (deliberately) uphill without letting it roll back down or stalling did take me some time.
Finally, I even got to drive out of this weird little suburban/country area to the shopping center where I also got to park the car.
At one point, I had to reverse because the road ahead of us was blocked off for construction.

20 years ago, did I ever think I’d be driving through traffic? I think I sort of assumed I would stay at that age forever, or that this was an eternity away. Strange how it’s caught up with me.

I went off and got my blood sampled last week too. I figured it’s about time to figure out WTF my blood type is. Am I A or O and rh+ or -? I’m actually excited to find out. I want to know which of my parents I’ve inherited my blööööd from.

I also got my driving license photos taken. Unfortunately, this was after a long long day where just about everything in the evening had gone wrong and I had just missed a bus. I looked totally dead in the photo and to make things better, I had a pimple on my chin. WOOHOO. Perfect timing for it to pop up, and excellent location. At least it wasn’t on my nose…

I bought some interesting colored pencils today. If you’ve ever heard about the type that turn into watercolors when you add water on top of the pencil drawing, then these will be slightly familiar. These turn into ink. When it dries, it won’t come off, even when exposed to water. This is perfect. This is what I’ve been looking for all my life, or so it feels when I test them. It’s great. I can combine it with other mediums or just work in lots of thin layers without it destroying the previous one.

In a couple weeks, I fly to Hungary to meet Eyal. Incidentally, Eyal recently started a blog here at efx and while he’s still trying to figure out what exactly to blog about, I’m sure he’d still appreciate people popping over to say hi. He’s posted a couple cool links that anyone who likes music and uses the internet could have use of.

I’ll try to post some drawings soon, as I have been working on a few.

Oh, and for those Finnish people concerned for their health - don’t worry, I won’t have another driving lesson for a while. STAY SAFE .. AND VIGILANT until then.