My self-esteem has taken a beating!

Well.....I flunked my driving test. It was horrible. I was so nervous this morning I thought I would throw up. I managed to keep it together and started the test. Everything was going well. I was signaling, checking my mirrors. My lane changes were perfect. I was just starting to calm down and relax when the driving instructor asked me to pull onto a deserted side street. I did so and she asked me park on the side of the road. Which I did with no problems. But then she asked me to back up the car straight along side the curb about three car lengths. I tried and my back wheel went up on the curb. That's an automatic fail. If I strike any object, even a curb that's it. I FAIL. It was terrible. I thought I would cry but I managed to keep it together. Rick took me out for breakfast and even managed to make me laugh a little bit. And I guess next time I take the test I won't be as nervous because I'll know what to expect. But I wish I had passed. Now I have to make another appointment and it could take forever! My mom sent me a nice email telling me she is proud of me anyway and not to give up. Then she said she always goes up on the curb which made me laugh but it also made me wonder how she ever got her license because she is the worst driver I've ever seen. haha

Onto better things... the BBBC question of the day is about SL weather and RL extreme weather experiences. I think I'll talk about my RL adventure with weather because it's more interesting for me.

In 1998, Quebec and Ontario experienced the Ice Storm. It was a freak storm that brought over 80 hours of steady freezing rain to these areas. I was in Montreal at the time. It started off like a normal winter storm. Nobody thought anything of it until the freak storm system collided with the small storm front. It was just insane. The power went out region after region. The ice was so thick it was destroying all the power lines. Some people had generators but most people had to go to emergency shelters. Some people died because they either froze to death in their houses or they died of carbon monxide inhalation from poorly ventilated fireplaces. The city was declared a state of emergency and the military came in to evacuate neighborhoods and make sure nobody was looting or staying in their houses without power. I was working at a bar and going to school at the time. My school was closed and I just lived at the bar. They had a generator and we just became a shelter. The cook made lots of soup and sandwiches and we had sleeping bags everywhere and it was actually quite fun. It wasn't fun for everyone though. The entire power grid had to be rebuilt and there were some places in the rural areas that didn't regain power for two or three months. The main city was up again in a few days but my apartment didn't have power for two weeks. It was crazy. But really beautiful too. The ice was everywhere. It destroyed a lot of trees but they still looked amazing all outlined with ice. I've never seen anything like it. I probably won't be seeing much ice now that I live in Southern California but I've already seen the wildfires here which were very exciting but scary too. I'm glad I don't have to drive in the snow or ice. Not that I have my driver's license yet. Oh nuts. Now I'm all depressed again. I'm going to go pout for a little while.