DMV

I suppose the DMV is probably as effective a place as any to embody the differences between Seattle and New York. In New York I believe I spent nearly three hours there to get a photo ID, at the end of which I was handed a piece of paper with no picture, and told that my ID card would arrive in the mail in around three weeks. I honestly would've preferred punching myself in the face on a crowded sidewalk.

Today I showed up at the downtown Seattle department of licensing at 2:30. I was seventeenth in line, but the general competency of everyone on both sides of the counter meant that I was back outside, with a temporary driver's license (photo included), by 3:00.

On an unrelated note, I just recalled that the highlight of my somewhat limited year in music thus far has been Bradford Cox (and bassist) doing a short and hilarious cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" at the Atlas Sound show last month.