I am become Death, destroyer of worlds

Today I finally got my driver's license. Yeah, no really! I was worried I might not get the opportunity, because both the examination stations in Cincinnati were booked until September. But then Dad told me I ought to try the station in Preble County, where he used to live. And he was on the money - it's such a small county, they had an opening for today even though I scheduled it yesterday. Today I drove the car up there, and we found the station, and we waited around for my test. There were a few other people taking their tests, and we talked a little. The examiner was a nice lady. I made it right through the maneuvering - which is what I was most worried about, given the potential for immediate failure by touching a cone - and we moved onto the road. I only had a couple mistakes: one where I took a right turn too sharp and brushed a curb, and one where I forgot to look down the railroad before I crossed it. All told, minor stuff, and when we got back she said, "Well, you can tell you've had three learner's permits, because you're a very good driver." Ha! You all said I couldn't do it.
-We would've had them anyhow, but I'm going to call it a celebration for my success that we had ribs at Grandma & Grandpa's house afterwards. And then I narrowly won a game of Scrabble. I head back to Grinnell on Tuesday. Tomorrow I'll be practicing on Dad's Mustang, which he's loaning to me because he doesn't use it much anymore. It's a stick-shift, and for the longest time I couldn't get a stick-shift to work, but over the last few days I've started getting the hang of it. I have to practice more before I "peak out on my learning curve," in Dad's words. Now, though, I can do it alone.
-I did name the snake, a couple days after I got him. His name is Tenzing, after Sir Edmund Hillary's Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. I sat on my bed watching him climb around the cage for like half an hour one night. He's already really good at it (and apparently pretty enthusiastic). He can ascend about nine inches and then pull himself up from the space between the top of the cage and the screen lid. Which is pretty impressive, since he's only about a foot long. Maybe a little more.