Sigh.

So this is the big week. Kat's competing in Virginia Beach for cheering Nationals. It's pretty damn big deal, and I mean we've been planning this trip since February when they qualified. You'd think that'd be plenty of time to get the basic details taken care, plane tickets, hotel, fucking state issued identification. It's pretty much common knowledge that you need a picture ID to board a plane, and for most people that wouldn't be a problem, except that I got my license suspended and figured a state ID was a waste of money. Yeah, not so much.

See, in July I was in an accident. Some jackass rammed into the side of my Jeep, totaling it. Well, my insurance had lapsed, only by a few days, and even though the accident wasn't my fault, I got a ticket for not having insurance. About a month later, I got a letter from the State saying that I needed to have this special insurance (an SR-22) on my license for at risk drivers. So I got it, no big deal. Well, when my insurance renewed on December 31, I got a bill. For $600... JUST for the renewal. It was going to be another $200 for the first month of coverage because of the stupid SR-22. I was like well screw that, I'm not paying that.Chris and I decided we'd cut down to 1 car, he'd be the official chauffeur, etc. We haven't had any problems at all with it. We've saved money, it's been great, until this morning when it really sucked. On the way to work, I was thinking about how people lie on their licenses, you know they weigh like 500 lbs, but they put 120 lbs? Well, it was going to be a great blog post, then I realized 1. I totally do that on my license, and 2. isn't it strange I have long hair on my license. It was kind of a slow progression to reality: hey, I have long hair in my license picture, I haven't had long hair in like 7 years, that's weird, I wonder when this expires... OH MY GOD MY LICENSE IS EXPIRED! Now you're probably thinking, you already knew it was suspended, what's the big deal? Well, I don't have a state ID. Meaning, I have no valid identification to board the plane. On Friday morning. No big deal, just go get a state ID, right? Wrong. Because of the new federal laws, you have to prove that you're not a terrorist or something and show your birth certificate and a copy of your taxes or something before you can get an ID. Just get a copy of your birth certificate, right? Wrong. The Office of Vital Statistics takes 24-48 hours to expedite a birth certificate request, and since it has to be an "official copy", it just makes it harder. I have a copy, it's just not an "official" copy. Ok so, can't get one from Vital Statistics, not enough time. So I called the town where I was born, they can make me an official copy TODAY (huge sigh of relief). So they're an hour away, we have to drive there and get the "official" copy. Then we have to drive back an hour and a half in the other direction to get the actual ID. Then I have to give the State a copy of my travel plans so they'll release my ID today and not in 2-3 weeks, which is standard turn around time on IDs. Of course if all of this fails, we'll be driving the 13 hours to Virginia Beach. 13 hours, me, Chris and Kat stuck in a car together? Good Christ that would suck.

So lesson learned? I don't know that I really learned anything...except that getting a license or ID is a pain in the ass. I refuse to take responsibility for the accident (the cops and the other driver's insurance company said he was 100% at fault) or for trying to save $200 a month on stupid insurance about a stupid law that punished me for some jackass hitting MY car.

Ok it's kinda my fault for not taking care of this sooner. SIGH.