the rix mix

Yesterday I went to the Motor Vehicle Agency in Elizabeth. I went late afternoon because MV has night hours on Tuesday but downtown here is open late on Thursday, so I figured most people who needed MV wouldn't know it. The office was not crowded, the workers were polite, they had a system for pre-checking documents, & I was finished in 20 minutes. Amazing. All through the process of renewing my license I was waiting to be told,"There seems to be a problem." Didn't happen. I got my very first photo license. Up to now I'd always renewed by mail, but it was suspended thanks to an unpaid parking ticket, & then expired. Always was a hassle not having a photo license. I had an old county photo ID, & an official-looking card issued by WFMU that Jersey City police are supposed to accept if Montgomery Street is closed & I have to get to the radio station to maintain transmission (FCC requirement) as an "announcer/engineer of an Emergency Alert Systems Broadcast Radio Station," but which has no more legality than a press pass. So without a photo license I felt kind of like a non-person, fumbling around for alternative IDs to establish my corporeality whenever requested to do so. When it expired, I wasn't even able to rent a car over the summer for a scenic route drive to the Jersey shore with my camera. The photo on my new license is less goofy than most people have; I wore a collared shirt & forced myself to smile enigmatically.