Today I got up to see if I could get my Georgia state license tag for my car. First I had to take my car to an emissions-inspection station and get it certified. Since I was there, I decided to get the oil changed while I was at it, since it was only a couple of hundred miles short of its due mileage. After that, I found the license place, but it was closed on Saturday, as I had feared. It was an extremely out-of-the-way place, though, which made it worthwhile to spend the time finding it.

Since that was a bust, I decided to see if I could get my Georgia driver’s license, since I knew they were open on Saturdays until 5 p.m. I went to the driver’s license bureau (which was a good 20 minutes from the license tag bureau), and got in line. The driver’s license bureau was overwhelming. They had 18 teller windows, with a red LED readout above each one that listed the number of the next person. A synthetic woman’s voice announced “Now serving number XXXX at window XX” about every 30 seconds.

I got in the (first) line to get my number. I explained to the teller that I had just moved here from Kansas City, and had my emissions certificate, etc. She asked me, “Have you ever had a Georgia driver’s license before?” “Well, yes,” I said, “About two or two and a half years ago.” She hit a few keys on her computer, and raised her eyebrows when all my old records showed up, including my last driver’s license picture, a horrid ugly one with a massive goatee and huge glasses. She gave me a number, and I went and sat down.

When my number was called I went to the next teller and gave her my number. She made pleasant conversation as I was filling out a form, and I told her I was a computer tech. Wouldn’t you know it, she had a computer problem, and needed me to diagnose and fix the problem right there at the teller window while I was filling out my form. Which I did. I really like being able to help people; it makes me feel – well, helpful, I guess. Which is just a sort of self-referential tautology. “I like helping people because it makes me feel like I’m helping them.” Right.

After I filled out the form, I went and sat down again and waited for my number to be called for the third station I had to visit. There, they took a new picture of me (thankfully) and asked me if I wanted to be an organ donor. I remembered that Georgia used to give a sort of price break for being an organ donor, but Missouri didn’t and I wasn’t sure Georgia still did, so I asked them. “The license costs $15 normally, but if you’re an organ donor, it only costs $8.” Woohoo! There go my eyeballs! I signed up immediately.

So, they made my new license and gave it to me right there, laminated and everything, with my new picture on it. I noticed it had my old Georgia’s driver’s license number on it. It was like they were saying, “Welcome back.”