Monday, August 21, 2006
DUI Night
This all happened hours after Jessica's wedding so, if it's anyone's fault...
After we left the winery, Chris and I changed at my house. Because he was
supposedly already too drunk to drive, he left his car at my house and I
drove us to Juarez to meet up with some people. After several unremarkable
hours, Chris and I decided to go do something else.
We hop in the car to go somewhere else and, upon pulling out of the
parking lot, we were immediately pulled over. The cop walks up to the car
and the first thing he asks is if I've been drinking. I say only a couple,
which is more than a lie. He clearly senses this lie and says he "smells a
strong scent of alcohol." I have to step out of the car and do some tests
of balance heavily biased towards making the person look drunk. I can't
see how if I didn't pass them anyone could have passed them, but it's not
like I can say anything because I am, though not greatly, "under the
influence."
The police officer says I have to call someone to pick me up or else I
will be arrested. This process made me wonder how things worked in the
days before cell phones. For whatever reason, I have to sit in the
backseat of his cruiser while I do this. Let me tell you, nothing is more
uncomfortable than that molded plastic called a seat. So I call everyone
in my phonebook and finally someone answers who hasn't also been drinking.
Another half hour of waiting and finally Danny gets there.
We figure out some way to get Danny's and my car away from the cops so I
can drive home, though I will take most of the credit for the genius.
Danny goes home and Chris and I sit around for a while at my dad's office
trying to get the alcohol out of our system. After about ten minutes of
sobering up, I decide it's time to drink again.
My cousin turns out to be at some party so we head there. It was dumb. No
further detail needed.
The DUI ended up costing only $35.00 so I'm content.
After we left the winery, Chris and I changed at my house. Because he was
supposedly already too drunk to drive, he left his car at my house and I
drove us to Juarez to meet up with some people. After several unremarkable
hours, Chris and I decided to go do something else.
We hop in the car to go somewhere else and, upon pulling out of the
parking lot, we were immediately pulled over. The cop walks up to the car
and the first thing he asks is if I've been drinking. I say only a couple,
which is more than a lie. He clearly senses this lie and says he "smells a
strong scent of alcohol." I have to step out of the car and do some tests
of balance heavily biased towards making the person look drunk. I can't
see how if I didn't pass them anyone could have passed them, but it's not
like I can say anything because I am, though not greatly, "under the
influence."
The police officer says I have to call someone to pick me up or else I
will be arrested. This process made me wonder how things worked in the
days before cell phones. For whatever reason, I have to sit in the
backseat of his cruiser while I do this. Let me tell you, nothing is more
uncomfortable than that molded plastic called a seat. So I call everyone
in my phonebook and finally someone answers who hasn't also been drinking.
Another half hour of waiting and finally Danny gets there.
We figure out some way to get Danny's and my car away from the cops so I
can drive home, though I will take most of the credit for the genius.
Danny goes home and Chris and I sit around for a while at my dad's office
trying to get the alcohol out of our system. After about ten minutes of
sobering up, I decide it's time to drink again.
My cousin turns out to be at some party so we head there. It was dumb. No
further detail needed.
The DUI ended up costing only $35.00 so I'm content.
Series of Unfortunate Events
It seems God is trying to tell me to stop driving, which is unfortunate because I love it so. After the DUI, my car got hit by an 18-wheeler. Dramatics aside, driving to Deming, it drifted into my lane and the bottom of the trailer hit the top of my roof. While not messing up anything too badly, it broke all the windows in the car. The driver then proceeded to drive away.
The cops came after two hours of my brothers and I sitting along the freeway outside of Las Cruces (read "the middle of nowhere"). Getting my report, he asked if we were hurt. They were fine, but I had the tiniest scratch from all the glass and, unsure of its importance, told the officer about it. He said "I'm sure you'll survive." (Later and still unsure, I told the insurance company about it and they said the same thing, though kinder.)
Our insurance company wouldn't let us get the car fixed until the troopers had enough time to find the guy so the car sat in the driveway for two weeks. One day, I see outside a tow truck pulling the car onto it. I feel relief as they finally came. I talk to the guy to find out the car's been reposessed. So there's another two weeks to pay the bill.
Eventually, the car gets into the shop and stays there for a month. My dad and I go to pick it up to find out the insurance won't release it because the police found the trailer. The insurance wanted to try to squeeze the cost out of the trucker, instead of taking care of it themselves, so we must wait for them.
Friday morning, I got my car.
Friday afternoon, my mom told me the car has to stay in El Paso in order to get inspected by the insurance company. I leave to school in Socorro Monday morning in my mom's truck, which at 300,000 miles is expected to give shoddy performance. I'm singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival and one of the tires blows out. I pull over and get the tire off. Unsuprisingly, while the tire is off, the jack slips and the disc brake hits the ground. That low to the ground, I can't get the jack under the truck to get it back up. So I spend two more sitting along the freeway outside of Las Cruces (read "the middle of nowhere") trying to MacGyver some way to get the spare on the truck. Using what is more than likely all the luck I have left, I get it on and get to school just in time for the dining hall to close.
What a joke.
The cops came after two hours of my brothers and I sitting along the freeway outside of Las Cruces (read "the middle of nowhere"). Getting my report, he asked if we were hurt. They were fine, but I had the tiniest scratch from all the glass and, unsure of its importance, told the officer about it. He said "I'm sure you'll survive." (Later and still unsure, I told the insurance company about it and they said the same thing, though kinder.)
Our insurance company wouldn't let us get the car fixed until the troopers had enough time to find the guy so the car sat in the driveway for two weeks. One day, I see outside a tow truck pulling the car onto it. I feel relief as they finally came. I talk to the guy to find out the car's been reposessed. So there's another two weeks to pay the bill.
Eventually, the car gets into the shop and stays there for a month. My dad and I go to pick it up to find out the insurance won't release it because the police found the trailer. The insurance wanted to try to squeeze the cost out of the trucker, instead of taking care of it themselves, so we must wait for them.
Friday morning, I got my car.
Friday afternoon, my mom told me the car has to stay in El Paso in order to get inspected by the insurance company. I leave to school in Socorro Monday morning in my mom's truck, which at 300,000 miles is expected to give shoddy performance. I'm singing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival and one of the tires blows out. I pull over and get the tire off. Unsuprisingly, while the tire is off, the jack slips and the disc brake hits the ground. That low to the ground, I can't get the jack under the truck to get it back up. So I spend two more sitting along the freeway outside of Las Cruces (read "the middle of nowhere") trying to MacGyver some way to get the spare on the truck. Using what is more than likely all the luck I have left, I get it on and get to school just in time for the dining hall to close.
What a joke.
