ARGH!!!
Okay... now that I've got that out of my system... phew I feel better now. Okay, maybe I don't. But at least I got to scream. That accounts for something.
I haven't written in the daylog in a while. It's not because I haven't had anything to say, I've just had other stuff to do. Stuff I wish I hadn't had to do.
Thursday night Jessica and I were to go out to dinner at Denny's. No big deal, and we were both looking forward to it. When you are poor and don't get out much, you look forward to even the most simple of things. I decided to drive since my car's in (marginally) better shape than hers. We headed out for the ten-minute drive to the restaurant.
At the light just before the restaurant, I made a right. Now, in Michigan it is generally okay to make right turns at red lights, as long as there is not a sign posted telling you not to do so. I didn't see a sign, so I proceeded towards Denny's. Just as I was turning, I saw a police officer that had just passed us going the other way turn on his flashers and do a U-turn. Since I didn't do anything illegally (or so I believed), I just assumed he was in pursuit of some other recalcitrant driver.
About 100 feet from Denny's, the police officer pulled us over. The first thing I thought of was that I wasn't wearing my seat belt. Thinking this was a really stupid reason to pull me over, I didn't think that was the real reason. I looked out my side mirror and saw this fat beast of a cop coming towards my car.
"Evening, sir" He said, "Driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance, please."
There are three fundamental rules to remember when a police officer has come up to your car after stopping - these are:
1. Don't get out of the car
2. Don't talk back to the cop
3. Don't question the cop's judgment in pulling you over (this is very important!)
I violated rule 3, and asked him why he pulled me over.
"Well, you see, you ran that red light back at the intersection."
You mean the one that I didn't think there were any sings to? The one that I always see everyone turn on?
"It says 'No Turn On Red', sir. Can I have that license and registration now?"
I comply, and he goes back to his car. I am pretty steamed right now, because I clearly didn't see any sign, and I am half tempted to tell the cop to show me where the sign is so that I can prove he's wrong and there is no sign there. I decide to just hold off until I take the ticket to court. No need to make this cop's job any more difficult. Let him just write his silly little ticket, get his little fleeting sense of self-worth, and let me go have my damned buffalo wings.
Right about that time is when he took me to jail.
I had a suspended license because of a ticket that I got forever ago and forgot to pay. I kept meaning to pay it off, I just kept forgetting. My folly is costing me now. So much for going to Denny's. Jessica can't drive a manual transmission, so they had to impound my car.
That was Thursday, and I've spent all day today trying to get my car back. Sure, they released me from jail the next day (Friday), but too late in the afternoon to get my car back. I went and paid the offending ticket, though. I just have no car. It sits in the impound yard, costing me more every day. I want to scream.
at least he didn't cite me for turning right on red after all.
How was your day?