Procrastination

When it comes to procrastinating, I'm a pro! How about you? I know from past discussions that many of you are motivated by deadlines, but in the face of a deadline, do you chose to wait until the very last moment?

I think that somewhere in the back of my mind I must think that maybe if I wait long enough, I'll never have to do whatever it is I'm avoiding. Like maybe I'll be struck by lightening and I'll be sitting on a cloud somewhere thinking, "Darn it! Why did I go to the dentist last week? If I'd just waited a little longer, I could have spent that time quilting instead!" Or maybe "they" will change the rules and whatever it is will no longer be necessary.

I've done the same thing in the past with health issues. Eventually, though, I'll convince myself I'm dying, so I'll finally go to the doctor. Invariably I'll be told something like the bump I was sure was a tumor or skin cancer is just a cyst--you know, that kind of thing.

So, here it is, 26 hours until my driver's license expires and I still haven't made it down to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew it. Why? Because it's not something I look forward to doing, and maybe if I wait long enough, I won't have to. Maybe I'll get struck by lightening. Maybe gas will go up to $10 a gallon and I'll quit driving. Maybe I'll win the lottery and get myself a personal chauffer and a limo. Maybe Japan will buy the State of California, and everyone who drives a Nissan will be excused from driver's license requirements. But, yeah, I'll admit--at this point, it's not looking good.

Here in California, the DMV will renew our licenses a couple times, and that's good for--I think--four years each time. At some point, though, they make you come in and have your photo taken and they give you an eye test. The eye test isn't a problem as long as they aren't going to want me to read anything close up without reading glasses. The photo thing though--well, you may have noticed I'm a little adverse to photos. They rarely seem to come out well. Although, I have to say, the photo on my current driver's license isn't too bad--at least I looked a lot younger then!

Driver's license photos are notoriously bad, aren't they? That's probably why every time I've had my photo taken at the DMV, I've first spent a couple hours on hair and make up. You'd think I was a super model or something! But even I have qualms when it comes to fibbing that much about my weight to the DMV. Which raises another little issue. How much can you stretch the truth when it comes to weight? And will the clerks confront you if they think you're lying? Do they get together at lunch and tell stories and laugh about that kind of thing?

See, for the last month and a half, since I got the notice from the DMV, I've been pondering these things and I have no answers. Tomorrow morning I'm heading down to the DMV where I'll probably sit on a hard chair for awhile and then get up and pace around for awhile, until about two hours have passed and they finally take my photo and test my eyesight. By then, my lipstick will have worn off and my hair will be getting limp. My driver's license photo will likely show two red spots on either side of my nose where my reading glasses sat. And I'll probably have the world's largest pimple on my chin where I plucked one of those chin hairs--because with all the high def stuff around these days, I'm figuring they may have high def DMV photos, and I don't want everyone who checks my ID over the course of the next 12 years to see dark chin hairs, so tonight I plucked. Please pray for me that I don't get a chin pimple tonight, okay?

I think I'll take my camera with me. Maybe I'll bargain with the DMV camera person--If he takes a good photo of me for my license, I'll take a good photo of him for my blog. And I'll bargain with the DMV clerk too--I won't post a photo of her and guess her weight on my blog if she doesn't laugh at whatever I decide to put down for my weight. And, gosh darn it! With all the talk about governmental budget crises, why don't they offer to air brush DMV photos for an additional charge? I'd pay, and I bet a lot of other people would too!

And maybe I'd better stop procrastinating and get some sleep. After all, I want to look good for my photo shoot tomorrow. Oh, and I still need to wrap myself in Saran Wrap tonight so I'll be thinner in the morning and the clerk won't laugh. At least not as much. That DOES work, right?