Immeasurably More

An hour, 50 multiple choice questions and 14 video clips later, yours truly has passed the British driving theory test and has the right to schedule her practical test. My sole observation is that grainy video filmed from a moving vehicle is nausea inducing, but not so nausea inducing that it stopped me from buying celebratory Irish Cream Chocolate Tart. With spoon in hand, I remain Faithfully yours, ~~~LeAn

When you're on the river and your boat is on a collision course with some obstacle, your coach or cox or bowman may say "Hold it up." or in an emergency, "Hold it hard!" Everyone in the boat will put their oars vertically into the water to stop the boat's progress. If the boat is moving very fast, it actually takes some strength to hold the oar in this position of highest resistance. Today was my second week testing the waters at a new club and circumstances dictated that it would also be my first week trying to single scull. While bigger boats are typically steered with a rudder by a cox who sits at the front or back of the boat, single scullers have to steer for themselves by looking over their shoulders then changing trajectory by their rowing. At some point during the morning, I looked over my shoulder and saw my life in terms of rivers, currents, over-steering and oncoming yachts, and I decided to hold it up literally and figuratively. I'm worki...

1996 was the last time I parallel parked a car unaided. (And when I refer to "aid" here, what I mean is "You're too close. Now you're too far away. You turned too soon. Watch the curb! Do you want me to do it?") But tonight my driving teacher and I spent an hour and a half terrorizing the owner of a blue hatchback by repeatedly pulling up next to it and then cutting hard to the left and then back to the right. Conclusion? Test standard! (In other words, sufficiently good to pass the driving test.) 1 out of 5 required maneuvers mastered. Here's hoping it was just beginner's luck.