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Wtf is that thing

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Wow, that question really bought back a lot of memories #triggered 🤣🤣 but I have been on the other side of that question where those words were spoken but what they REALLY wanted to ask was "why don't you have a driver licence? What is wrong with you?"

Probably will always hit a nerve for me, because I have been on both sides.

I probably will regret oversharing, but what else is new, it anyone reads this & is dealing with increasing anxiety around getting their license (or getting it 'at the right age')... maybe it will bring you some comfort?

I got my 'learners permit' in high school, as part of my school's curriculum, I would have been 16 turning 17.

That piece of paper is the starting point, but it does require follow up to actually DO the learning to drive part.

Personal context: my dad is not great with patience and even being a passenger would give me anxiety, so he was not an option to train me. My mum agreed to teach me but had zero interest in us driving. I won't get into it, but basically she was always happy to drive us around and here is the most important part -

MY MOTIVATION levels were basically non-existent.

At that age, I had plenty of friends with cars who were happy to drive me around & I had been taking public transport to school/work for years at that point.

People would say "you don't understand how much freedom you get when you get your license" and it would be sooooo easy to dismiss because in my mind - I WAS already an independent teen/young adult.

I made plans with friends who would pick me up & I would feel very mature & free. I could leave home & catch a bus to the train line from which I could go anywhere. I worked part time. I HAD freedom, what was the rush?

Age 17, I fell in mutual love for the first time, they were two years older than me (as most of my friends/partners are).

By the time I was 19, me not having my license was no longer cute. It started internalizing the guilt I had for not getting onto it sooner/having it already. At this point, almost everyone my life (except my sister), had their license. I was comfortable & complacent relying on partner to drive.

Public transport is available but the flip side is the time it takes 20 min drive vs 45-60 mins via public transport. There were taxis too of course, with uber & ridesharing right on the horizon. The reality was even though these "independent options" existed for me, I rarely used them, instead I basically abused the goodwill of my loved ones.

At age 20, I decided to bite the bullet & buy myself lessons with a real driving instructor. I was proud of myself. I had only had my best friend take me out once and my mum a couple of times at that point.

This would be my second time driving a manual car. I really wanted my manual license. The cars I wanted to buy were cheaper in manual, but basically - people don't give you shit about it like they do with an auto license (in Australia anyways).

The down side - this driving instructor I picked was the fucking worst. We only had three lessons, the third license she made me turn out into peak hour traffic and my anxiety went into overdrive. I will never forget her making me pull over to whip out her phone to show me very graphic images of what happens to people who crash with their hands in the wrong position on the steering wheel. Aka she traumatized me something wicked.

I remember this vividly as I had my first international trip ever to Indonesia and whilst over there, I lost my phone. When I got back to Aus, I had to buy a new one, eventually got my number changed over and then started getting all these messages through from the driving instructor - asking about when our next scheduled lesson is that escalated to her threatening to charge me for being non responsive. It was insane as actually, I had to respond "really sorry I just got back from a trip where I lost my phone" & she apologised but I was like "yeah I don't plan to do anymore"

This set me back from driving for another few years. I decided to go for my automatic license, so I could at least drive something, I could always go for my manual drivers licence after the fact. I was sick of waiting.

So I found a driving instructor who specialised in teaching people with special needs. She was amazing. Where I am from you need to complete 50 hrs of supervised driving and I completely my log book hours with just driving lessons. It cost me a lot of money, it took A LOT OF TIME.

My first practical driving exam, I failed within a few minutes because I took a turn too early, having to rebook that was so humiliating (& of course they make you pay the full fee again). However I knew it was a stupid error and something that in Non-test conditions, would not have been an issue.

My second practical driving exam, I passed with flying colours. I had only 1 mark deducted because during my reverse parking, we could feel the back tyres bump the back car park block ever so slightly. I still considered it a massive win.

Unfortunately, by the time I actually got my P plates at age 24, and could drive unsupervised, the person I owed the MOST drives to, my first love, was no longer with us.

The statement: "you get so much freedom when you can drive yourself around" is unfortunately true. It's not just control of your destination that you get, but also better control of your time.

I will tell the story about how I lost my license for a year another time. It's not a fun story either BUT I have a lot to say about having taken so long to get my license, only for it to be taken away during a time when I really needed it.

Also the juxtaposition of my OLDER sister, still not having her license (but making weird meandering progress nonetheless).

The moral of this story is: yes, if you live somewhere that isn't a walkable paradise, I highly recommend you take a step towards getting your licence!

Just say "fuck it" to all the pressure /norms that tell you you have to do things a certain way. The only way is safely. The most important quality you can have with driving is confidence and that takes time!

So I guess this is telling you to give yourself permission to take your time, as much time as you need, to learn to feel comfortable with it. You just have to keep going.

since this is the "no drivers license" website i wanna see everybodys reasons

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The older I get, the harder this song hits @wookieeoftheyear 😭😭

“𝐼𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 “

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GET READY FOR...TITAN TAKEDOWN! ⚡💪🏔️

Premiering April 2nd on Dropout, the ultimate 4-episode THROWDOWN is happening on Dimension 20 with Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan and WWE Superstars Xavier Woods, Bayley, Kofi Kingston, and Chelsea Green!

The pantheon is about to get SLAM-theon'd by these righteous wrestlers! (All illustrations by @justinhallcomics)

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A new species of the genus Amolops (Anura, Ranidae) from the Gaoligong Mountains, China

Yun-He Wu, Zhong-Bin Yu, Felista Kasyoka Kilunda, Chen-Qi Lu, Jia-Hua Li, Yun-Peng Li, Yi-Juan Shi, Jing Che

Abstract

The Gaoligong Mountains lie at the intersection of three global biodiversity hotspots. In recent years, with the continuous deepening of fieldwork in the region, studies have increasingly indicated that the amphibian diversity of this region remains poorly understood. During herpetological surveys in 2023, a series of Amolops specimens were collected from the Gaoligong Mountains of Yunnan Province, China. The integrated results of morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate the presence of a separate and previously unknown lineage in the A. viridimaculatus group, which we herein confirm as a new species, Amolops gudao Yu, Wu, Lu & Che, sp. nov. Our discovery increases the number of Amolops species recorded in China to 59, and the total number of Amolops species to 86. The discovery of a new species in the Gaoligong Mountains further highlights the underestimated amphibian diversity in the region, emphasizing the need for continued fieldwork and research. Furthermore, Amolops gudao Yu, Wu, Lu & Che, sp. nov. exhibits obvious intraspecific variation in color patterns, a phenomenon also reported in several species within the  A. viridimaculatus group, such as A. viridimaculatus and A. kaulbacki. Future studies on the taxonomy of A. viridimaculatus group should be careful with the use of color patterns as a diagnostic characteristic.

Read the paper here:

A new species of the genus Amolops (Anura, Ranidae) from the Gaoligong Mountains, China

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Remind me later.

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I usually fucking loathe anyone who references 1984 on social media but I do feel like actually Microsoft deciding to underline every use of an intensifier as an error is some Newspeak bullshit. no you can't replace "very nervous" with "nervous" to make a sentence "more concise" actually, because the word "very" has an actual fuckdamn meaning that I am deliberately conveying, you soulless corporate horseshit shovelling cartoon paperclip ass motherfucker

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I’m curious about all my gaming followers: first Pokémon game, first Zelda game, and first Mario game in the tags?

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unfortunately if you are an old friend of mine i will always care about you no matter what even if we haven't seen each other in forever because i still remember what you were like 7 years ago and i still remember how it felt to be young with you and i still have a lot of love for you in the back of my mind

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literally obsessed with the design of blobjects

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Okay I absolutely love these

I will erase the first 10 words from the first pic & the rest is gold (unnecessary imo)

Gold that any whimsical and big hearted human can enjoy as they white knuckle through this life

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It recently became department policy to purchase all our animal care supplies online and have them shipped, but my work location (public park) doesn't have a mailbox, so we've been getting things shipped directly to the post office. Today I went to pick up a shipment of several hundred superworms but the postal workers are insisting that it's not possible to have packages shipped directly to the post office. I gave them a tracking number which revealed they were delivered a couple days ago and now they're looking for them. Somewhere in the post office are 500 lost worms.

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In summer, the Hitokotonushi Shrine in Ibaraki sets up on oasis for bees where they can safely collect water