T Minus 73: Unofficial Business

I know you won't be surprised to hear that I slept in a bit and then had a wonderful breakfast featuring pineapple as the center of attention. Pineapple will not get boring to me!

A fishing boat head out of
the harbor in Lahaina

I texted with The Hubby, as usual. I planned a very light day - one job interview and a visit to the DMV. Today would be a walk in the park, right? Cue the foreboding music.

I wheeled the pink cruiser out of the apartment and started riding towards the wharf. I feel so awkward and nervous riding it still. I seem to struggle taking off from a stop but I don't know why. Maybe my response time is slow.

I rode the mile to the Banyan tree and looked for a place to lock up my bike. I struggled a bit, this being my first time actually locking it up, but I finally got it locked. I still had about an hour to kill before my interview so I wandered around a bit. I started checkout out how other people locked up their bikes - everyone uses worthless cable locks. Maybe bicycle theft isn't a big thing here. I know, however, that all of those bikes will get stolen before mine.

The pink cruiser, all safely locked up

After cooling off under the canopy of the Banyan tree, I walked in a shop to browse. Stocked in the cooler was this Marley branded line of drinks. I made a mental note to pick one up after my interview.

Marley branded "dietary supplement"

I spent some time on the docks snapping pictures of boats and fishermen. A gentleman saw me taking pictures and asked if I would like him to take some pictures of me. I took up a pose in front of the sailboats and he snapped a closeup and a wide angle shot for me. I thought that was very nice of him.

Sailboats in the Lahaina harbor

After taking my snapshots, I found a bench in the shade and watched the birds dance around the docks until 11:00 drew near. At 11:00, I checked in at the ticket sales hut for the Lahaina Cruise Company to let them know I was there for my interview. The interviewer hadn't arrived yet, so I returned to my shaded bench to wait. Soon after, a lady approached and conducted a very short, to the point, interview. She gave off no vibes, good or bad, so I have no feeling for how the interview went in her eyes.

After the interview, I unlocked the pink cruiser. There seemed to be a lot of vehicular traffic, which made me a little nervous, so I walked it to a slower area before riding the rest of the way home. As I got home, I realized I had forgotten to pick up a bottle of the Marley drink. Oh well, another time.

Fishermen in Lahaina harbor

I changed into more casual clothes and headed to - can you hear the drums of doom? - the DMV. I took my number and sat down. The Lahaina DMV is only a small satellite branch with 2 or 3 employees, yet I still waited nearly an hour to hear my number called. I walked up to the counter, presented all of my documentation that I thought I needed to be able to get a Hawaii drivers license, and felt my blood pressure spike when I was told my documentation wasn't acceptable.

It seems that, while I have a copy of my original marriage license along with a miniature laminated copy of the same to carry in my wallet, the state of Hawaii requires a marriage certificate. The lady helping me - I should rephrase that because she wasn't very helpful at all - told me to check Vitalchek for a copy of the certificate. The problem is, I tried to explain to her, that the state I got married in doesn't issue marriage certificates. They simply certify the license after the ceremony. Granted, we never actually went back down to the recorder's office to have that done, but trust me when I say that I am very happily married and have been for many years!

I explained that everywhere we've ever been, the marriage license has been good enough. Hell, if the health insurance companies don't mind covering me as a spouse, I don't see why the state of Hawaii doesn't recognize the marriage. Ms. Unhelpful only shrugged.

"Are you telling me I'm not even officially married?!?" Another shrug.

I returned home and called The Hubby in a panic. When he eventually called me back, his first response was, "Sounds like you're [d]ucked." I begged him to so some research. Sure enough, he found that going to the Vitalchek website and trying to search for marriage certificates from the state of Ohio resulted in a message that basically said they don't offer that service. Checking various state websites, he found that you could get a certified copy of the marriage license if you showed up to the recorder's office, in person, in the county in which you got married. A marriage certificate? Forget about it!

The Hubby did finally find an envelope with a rubber-stamped "Certificate of Marriage" on the outside of it. In it was a form that was completed by the pastor the day we got married but nowhere on that form does it have the words "Marriage Certificate." Still, after receiving a photo of it from The Hubby, I returned to the DMV and walked right up to the supervisor, though based on watching the way things worked in that office I honestly believe there is no supervisor and one of the staff just assumes that role for the day.

I presented my case and showed her the photo from The Hubby, asking her if I physically had that particular document would I be able to get a license. "Well," she hesitated, "I can't tell from the picture and I can't say it would be worth it to have it sent overnight or anything without knowing the officiality of it." Officiality isn't even a word, I wanted to scream.

She finally took copies of my marriage license and wrote my phone number on it, promising she would make some calls tomorrow and get back to me. I have serious doubts she was sincere since she walked over to a desk, lifted about two-thirds of a tall stack of papers, and shoved my information beneath it all. I held my tongue and left, blood boiling.

Poke bowl for lunch

Irritated, still panicky, after 3:00pm, and I hadn't even had lunch! I stopped at the market I mentioned the other day and picked up a poke bowl, half spicy ahi and half shoyu ahi, served over sushi rice. I made an impulse buy, grabbing a small tub of ice cream on my way out as well - comfort food! I drove home and started planning out my day for tomorrow while I enjoyed my poke.

Tomorrow starts at the car rental desk. They expect my rental car back by 9:00am - no sleeping in tomorrow! After that, I will be completely without a car until the Jeep gets here. I haven't decided what I think about that yet. Yes, I plan to get a bus pass and make good use of it, but I've never used public transportation before...unless the bus from Epcot Center to Downtown Disney counts.

After dropping off the car, I plan to take the bus over to the main Maui DMV branch and see if I can find someone there who is a little more helpful and can at least give me some suggestions as to how I might solve my documentation problem. Keep your fingers, toes, and appendages crossed for me!

After that, I get to have lunch with a local I met online. For now, though, TV shows and ice cream.

Aloha!