With my seemingly impossible goals come extraordinary amounts of stress and other tough situations. Monday was the day that everything I had to do caught up to me and hit me with the force of 4,000 Hurricane Ritas.
The rundown:
I spent my Saturday hanging out with friends, then spent Sunday at church and doing homework that was supposed to be done on Saturday. Saturday night, I took a power nap from 2am ‘till 4am, then I woke up and went right back to my studies. Monday I studied from 4am ‘till 8am and then I went to school.
Somehow, I got through my first class and then proceeded to go to my “Music and Civilization” class to take the dreaded test. Before receiving the test, I felt extra prepared, but the feeling changed very quickly. For fear of an emotional relapse, I will refrain from sharing any more details of the experience
After class, I went to work and my stress and frustration was amplified by the fact that NOTHING went right on the job. Three hours went by and I was at my wits end. I hopped in my car and headed to a place I considered my safe haven when I was 17. I was headed to Best Buy.
For no apparent reason, I took the long way to Best Buy and drove slow to make the trip as long as possible. The lack of a speed limit sign made me assume the speed limit was 40mph, so I drove 39 to be safe. As soon as I came around the bend, there was a police car sitting at the side of the road with his radar pointed at me. I slowed down to 10 mph to be extra safe, but the cop closely tailgated me. The cop flashed his lights and I stopped the car without bothering to pull to the side; when you’re tired, frustrated, and stressed, you don’t care about logistics.
When a cop (who has a gun at arm’s length) is ready to lay the SMACKDOWN on you, you start to act like a scared 4 year old schoolgirl…or at least I did.
Him: Good day, I’m officer xxxxxxx from the xxxxxxxx Police Department. My badge number is ######. May I have your license, registration, and proof of insurance.Since when did officers have to prepare an entire speech for a routine traffic stop??
Me: (as I nervously take out my information) I had no idea of the speed limit. I had a rough day and I was just taking a drive to…
Him: Okay. License, registration, and proof of insurance.Didn’t he want to hear my sob story?! Come on ‘ficer, I’m practically near tears here!
He takes my information and walks back to his car. Three LONG minutes later, he returns.
Him: Whose car is this?!?
Oh no! Dude thinks I stole the thing
Me: It’s my car. It says “Nissan” on the registration because it’s leased and the insurance is in my dad’s name.He seemed pretty adamant about giving me a ticket, so I started to talk…
Me: I thought the speed limit was 40, that’s why I was going exactly 39. I’m not a speeder, but even if the speed limit was 30, you’re supposed to give me a 1-9mph cushion.
Him: WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!Oh no. Cop mad. BAD MOVE!
Me: (as I try to hold back the extreme sudden urge to wet myself) Uhhh… I thought it was common knowledge. Look, I’ll show you any information you want. Here take my wallet. Look through it. (I’m not really sure why I said that)
I empty my wallet and he notices a PBA card (sorta like a get out of jail free card) for the year 2003, and under it was a stack of my business cards.
The officer was under the impression that I had a stack of PBA cards.
Him: Let me see those. Where’d you get this???
Me: My friend’s dad is the governor and he gave it to me.
Him: HA! Stop playing with me.
Me: I’m not playing with you, officer
Him: Where’d he get it?
Me: (strongly resisting the urge to be sarcastic) I don’t know.
Him: Okay, you can go, but take it easy. The speed limit is twenty five.
Me: No problem.
After that incident, I didn’t want to go to Best Buy anymore. I didn’t even want to be in a car anymore. I returned to the job, finished up my work for the day, and came home feeling ashamed that I almost wet myself in front of a man with a gun.
Note: I got the ticket on the top of the entry when I was a Senior in high school and parked in a handicapped spot. I went to court for it and the judge dropped the case.