After being in the Netherlands for about fifteen years I thought it was time to get a Dutch driver’s license. The American driver’s license does not transfer over to a Dutch one so you have to undergo the entire process if you want to be able to drive in the Netherlands. That ‘rule’ is not fair, makes little sense, and is completely random.
I passed the theory portion of the test on the first attempt and did it in Dutch. Now if you can pass the theory test on your first attempt in Dutch then I think you should also receive an automatic B2 level certificate if you do not possess Dutch nationality. But I digress.
With the theory under my belt it was time to start the driving lessons. Now I have not driven a car in about fifteen years so I was a bit nervous to say the least. I have thirty lessons booked and if that first lesson did not go as planned, would thirty lessons be enough? Because these things are not cheap.
I am happy to report that driving a car is like riding a bike. It came back quickly. And compared to when I first drove in the Netherlands I now understand what the various signs mean and how I should yield to other cars on the right, provided that I’m on a gelijkvaardig kruispunt. So I’m quite confident. Booyah!
This week in the art realm I posted two pieces. First up is Green Arrow.
Green Arrow is pretty much my Doctor Strange, but this time on the DC Comics side. I wasn’t interested in the character as a kid and it wasn’t until recently that I became a huge fan. I’ve completed and read the entire Mike Grell run and it’s definitely one of my favorite runs of all time. I might even consider it to be the greatest run in comics. Grell is a huge Bond fan and I think his approach to the character was basically James Bond in Seattle if he had a steady girlfriend. The series wasn’t afraid to be controversial and it was in many parts. But there was always a reasoning behind it and it was incredibly fun right up to the end. I really need to re-read the run all the way through and also pay closer attention to the letters’ pages because those things were literally on fire when it came to people commenting. And this was pre-Internet!
Also, I took some archery courses this year so it was fun to draw because I know the correct positioning of the bow, hand, arrow, etc. The flip side to that is when I see an ‘archer super-hero’ in a comic I can immediately tell the artist is not familiar with the sport and it takes me out of it. Back to Mike Grell, he knows how to shoot a bow and arrow so his depictions were always correct. Whew.
Next up is another Fantastic Four piece I did in the expatNERD house-style, when Franka recommended a few issues during John Byrne’s legendary run on the book.
The rec pointed to issues #242-244, and is also known as the Galactus Trilogy. It also had a lot of famous Marvel characters that ran onto the scene so even if I have someone who is new to Marvel I would recommend these issues. It’s a great three-issue storyline and depicts Terrax becoming Galactus’ new herald while also taking on the name Terrax the Tamer. He’s a bit of a big deal in the comic book Marvel Universe but I fondly remember him because this was one of the first big storylines I collected when I turned my sights onto the FF.
That’s it for this week! Next week is more driving classes and the first day of October. Fall is here and I’m sipping some Pumpkin Spice while I type this. Chris is in his happy place.
-Chris
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