recent tracks:

I now know how some of my classmates felt in Calculus class.

DE:
Problem: unsure whether gift or purchase for $1 consideration will be cheaper.
Solution: ask clerk.

Problem: clerk won't tell.
Solution: guess.

Problem: title missing former lienholder's signature.
Solution: clerk willing to take my mother's word, shockingly!

Problem: no proof of insurance.
Solution: get proof of insurance faxed to DMV.

Problem: RI, not DE insurance => can't complete transfer in DE.
Solution: effect transfer in RI. It's probably about time I got an RI license and registered to vote here, especially after dining at the mayor's the other day.

RI:
Problem: no VIN check.
Problem: title missing former lienholder's signature.
Problem: can't get license transfer without social security card. Passport insufficient.

Solution: get VIN check.
Solution: have mother send former lienholder's release.
Solution: reapply for social security card.

Problem: PD closes VIN check early.
Solution: come back another day.

Problem: PD closes VIN check early.
Solution: come back another day.

Problem: can't get VIN check because one place on the title is missing my address, which must be written in my mother's handwriting, in the same color ink as everything else she wrote.
Solution: avoid eye contact while saying though clenched teeth, "thank you, officer," drive away. Go to DE after finals?

As it turns out, though, the whole situation underlying these concerns has abated. The person I was going to buy from seems to have disappeared completely, and 3/4 interested buyers have disappeared as well, with one potential one I'll have to turn away if he doesn't disappear. Oh, the joy. Probably next week I'll try for the social security card again. Today I had to leave before my number had been called because I was about to reach my parking time limit. Next time I'll just find a garage and suck it up and pay $75 or whatever it is they want from me. Either that or I'll just remain a stressed out, identityless law student with a car that's not mine and has about 75 things scrawled out in various colors of ink on the title. Time to study for Torts, though I'd rather read some Kafka. And maybe Rachel Carson, while dreaming of the car that might have been, with its potential for 40 mpg.