On the Road Again

Today marked my return to driving practice. I'm going to try again to get my license. It took a long time to recover from the failed road test, but I'm back at it.

My sister came up this morning to be my designated passenger. I did alright, although I still have several things to work on, such as: picking out landmarks for deceleration; maintaining speed while changing lanes; watching out for old ladies who come to a complete stop before turning off the main highway; and negotiating the Walmart parking lot.

I managed to find my way around town alright. I found the church, Walmart, and Taco Johns. Then I found my way home again without getting lost. I consider that an accomplishment. That and not being nearly as nervous as I had previously when behind the wheel. Other drivers still make me nervous, but not so much as before.

I think the next time I drive, I'll cruise the residential neighborhoods for places to practice parallel parking and y turns. I got pretty good at the former, but I haven't done it since I failed the road test and stopped driving in town.

All in all, it was a good driving experience, and should make the next excursion that much better.

Year of Reading

Dear Reader, this year, I intend to do a ridiculous amount of reading. I'm off to a fairly good start, having finished the Bible in less than two months. But since I started that back in December, not all of it counts toward this year, I suppose. Still, I've got two more Bibles to read, which will make three within a year. I'm saving the King James Version for last. So far, I much prefer the New American Bible to the New Jerusalem. It's easy to read, yet still somewhat poetic.

I have five fiction books to read, two of which I've already started, and a couple of borrowed nonfiction that I really need to read and get back to my sister. If I get those read in good time, I'm going to attempt to read my old Business Law textbook. I'm already planning to buy some books from Amazon, so it's doubtful I'll get the textbook read.

In the middle of all of this, I'll continue to write, and perhaps find some inspiration in the gazillions of words I'll be taking in over the course of the year.