Got My G2

On Tuesday, October 27, I finally got my G2 driver's license.

For those that don't know the Ontario licensing system, earning the G1 is based on a written test and succeeding allows you to drive, but only with someone experienced in the front passenger's seat. The G2 is earned through a drivetest and allows you to operate a vehicle unsupervised. This is where I've been stuck. There is also a full G license but we don't need to get into that right now.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll know that this has been a project long in the making. 

I got my G1 at the age of 19 after breaking up with my first girlfriend. At that time, I was despairing and feeling that I needed some form of forward motion or I would lose motivation entirely. I passed the test but despite the license being good for six years, I would need to renew it three times.

This is because I didn't have anyone close enough to me to practice. My mother stopped driving in my early teens and my extended family all lived in different cities. After finishing Canada World Youth and before beginning college, I did stay with my grandparents in Kenabeek for a few months, expressly so that my grandfather could teach me how to drive.

This almost worked. I was able to practice every day and even went as far as taking the drivetest. I failed, with the instructor saying that I didn't make any disqualifying errors, but that I'd made an accumulation of minor ones.

I got into a situation where I either didn't have enough time or didn't have enough money for driving lessons. After graduating college, I spent three years making my income through a combination of temporary and gig work. Then I got a job at a group home, but I was also doing four Direct Support contracts, teaching Safe Management, and going to university. I attempted driving lessons in this era, but scheduling was too much of a mess.

A year ago (I think, might have been two), I tried my second driving school and took ten lessons. But because my license was going to expire between the time of scheduling and the time of testing, I needed to apply for an extension. Which I did successfully, but on the day I accidentally brought the receipt instead of the document itself and they wouldn't let me try. I renewed my G1 the same day.

This year I went for a third driving school. I chose it by sending emails to a bunch of different places describing my apprehensions just to see which would respond the best. I said that I didn't have access to my own vehicle and would need to use one from the school, that I was tall and didn't fit well into most cars, that I was anxious, that I had ADHD, and that I was old and insecure about starting something that so many people learn in their youth. Obviously no school can help with all that, but I just wanted to test their chill.

Most of the responses I got sounded either automated, generic, or overly optimistic. The place I went with, Treadz, gave a pretty thorough and realistic response. I remember them mentioning the types of cars that are used as training vehicles, explaining why the height thing would likely be a pervasive issue for me.

So I booked ten lessons with them and a test date. The opportunity to follow through on it would be snatched away from me again though, as Lee-Anne's surgery wound up getting booked at the same time. All things considered, her situation needed to take priority. However, after rescheduling my test, the surgeon cancelled on her a second time because they broke their machine again.

Around this time I did a tarot reading on the topic, and the gist was that I would only get my license if I wanted it for myself, and that I would never succeed if my intentions were to be in service to another.

The weather was getting worse, and it felt like things were set up to potentially go wrong again in the exact same way. But this time it didn't. 

I felt really self-conscious of using the school's vehicle, as it made me a representative in a way. All these companies have statistics with the success rates of their students and I didn't want to be an exception, especially because I was pretty sure that my instructor was one of the two founders. Most of the Treadz vehicles just had a "hat" to show their status as a training vehicle, but mine had large decals.

I had no idea if I would be capable of passing. I was really 50/50 about it. During the test, I was very conscientious that you would get docked points for going over the speed limit, but not for going under unless it was by an egregious amount. So I went comfortably under even though I know that's annoying for the people around me. I was aware that most of the points connected to parking came from checking blind spots and being cautious, not from the exactness of the final position. So I put all my focus in that and the result was maybe the worst parallel park I've ever done, although I think it was still kind of okay.

The test was booked for an hour. I've no idea how long it actually took but it didn't feel that long. My examiner told me that I met ministry standards but that I should work on my parking and I need to relax.

I'll take it.

Art Walks 2026

There are a couple art walks that Lee-Anne and I typically do every year. I've posted about them before. They are events where local artists display their work in or outside their homes. There is one in our neighbourhood, the Central Art Walk, and one in the Frederick area. This weekend we attended the latter, but we also partook in the former a few weeks ago.

 The one closer to us is the Central Art Walk and this year it only had six participating locations, a stark decline from when we started going to it. However, three places were hubs hosting multiple artists. My workplace, WALES, hosted three displays, there was the KW Art Co Op, and the person running the whole thing had eight people in and outside his house.

 

I actually helped host this year. WALES requires one of our employees to be present while the Art Walk is happening, and I took the closing shift on Sunday. Two of the artists had a shared display and they told me that they have been participating annually for... I want to say something like 15 years. One of them showed me the first brochure. Each participating location was represented by a letter in the order of the alphabet and it extended all the way to Q. By comparison, this year would only have gone to F.

 

But they were fairly unconcerned. They said that the person who usually runs it retired this year, so the guy hosting eight displays out of his house adopted responsibility. The transition left him with less time than usual and everything got underway last minute, resulting in an underwhelming turnout.

 

We still got some stuff. Here they are:

 

These were from a house that was new to the art walk. Most of their work waa paintings on canvas. The median price range was something like $700. It's tough because considering the skill, time, and resources that went into them, they were priced appropriately. Technically I could afford it, but it's just not something to buy on an impulse.

 

However, they also had these mushroom figures which were much cheaper. We chose a couple with gold caps, one with a kissy face and the other winking. Overall, a pair of flirty mushrooms. They're sitting by our succulents at the moment.

 

 

 

This was made by one of our WALES members and a participating artist stationed in our building. I bought two pieces from him last year. We don't have enough wall space to justify his work, but I got this one as a gift for my brother. His favourite flower is peonies, and these are at least pink like them.

I bought a painting from another artist displayed in the same room. I got something from her last year as well. I have it displayed at work though and didn't take a picture of it so can't show it here right now. The piece was titled "Where are you Linda?"

 

These were done by the photographers in the WALES building. If you're counting, and want to call me out for getting numbers wrong, I said we had three displays! Those were shared over four artists.

They were a married couple. Adrien did mostly animal photos while Jonathon did sky. The techniques for capturing their respective targets was pretty different. More earthly subjects need improvisation and quick decision making under unpredictable circumstances while celestial images require long-term planning and research.

We bought a magnet for Lee-Anne's sister-in-law, as she loves raccoons and her household hosted us for Thanksgiving this year. Jonathan donated two packs of cards to the WALES employees that oversaw the art walk. I got to choose the collections. I picked the solar eclipse because it happened while we were at work so it was a shared experience for most of us, and I just thought the aurora borealis looked neat. 

I bought this book from the guy who organised the art walk this year. He's the one who hosted eight artists out of his house. I guess his name is D.H. McKee. He's a legitimate published author, he's got a page on Goodreads.

The following images are from the Frederick Art Walk, which happened this weekend and was much, much larger. 

We got some Christmas ornaments.

I got this adorable little ankylosaur sculpture. His name is Sweet Potato. He has heart markings on his spikes and under his chin. The artist I bought him from was very excited with my pick. Maybe my favourite purchase this year.

And here are a couple of magnets. We got the axolotl from someone that we got a fox and dinosaur from last year, although we broke the latter.

The chickadee actually came from the Bestival, which is a separate event from the art walks. In the past, we've gotten a rainbow mushroom in the same style.

We also bought tea, a candle, and some homemade soap.