Queen of Rambles

Setting: On my way to the train station to pick up Mike.

Me: sees police car in review mirror I’m going to get pulled over. Damn damn damn. I’m going to get pulled over and cry.

Blue lights flashing in my rearview. . .

Officer: walks up to window and stares at me

Me: Hands officer my driver’s license What else do you need?

Officer: stares at me

Me: Throws officer my insurance card and searches frantically for registration that I know is expired. I just moved here and just got my title in the mail. I know I need to get registered here.

Officer: stares at me

Me: Decides this is absurd, so stares back

Officer: Finally, he speaks You’re going to have to get a Maryland license.

Me: I know.

Officer: When did you move here?

Me: August 24

Officer: stares at me

Me: stares back

Officer: keeps staring at me

Me: Do you need anything else?

Officer: Why haven’t you registered your car yet?

Me: I just got the title in the mail two days ago. You can see I went and got the safety inspection that same day [there’s an inspection sticker on my car]. I was going to go today, but my A/C broke and I spent the day with the repairman.

Officer: stares at me

Me: stares back

Officer: You know, you have to get your car registered in Maryland and you have to get a Maryland driver’s license.

Me: I know. It’s on my agenda for tomorrow.

Officer: stares at me

Officer: Keeps staring at me

Officer: Ok, get it taken care of. Walks away

Me: starts bawling like a baby, something I’ve never ever done after being pulled over (all four times in my entire life).

************

Is it just me, or is it completely bizarre that he just kept staring at me? He didn’t even ask to see anything and he didn’t look at my insurance card at all. Was he using the old teacher’s ploy of silence as a means of extracting a confession? I’d have to say it didn’t work all that well. I babbled a tiny bit, but not much. I was too irked to babble. If you’re going to pull me over, at least SAY SOMETHING.

I was true to my word, and did go to the DMV to get my car registered today. I had an 11:45 doctor’s appointment in Alexandria, so knew I had to be out of there by 10:45 to make the appointment. I decided I’d best get my shower early and get down there since the wait can be horrendous.

I was in the door at 8:45 and my number didn’t get called until 10:55. It was INSANE! There were hordes of people and only five people working at any given time (usually it was more like three people). I almost went ballistic when this one guy took up way more than his fair share of time. Here’s his end of the conversation (I couldn’t hear the other side of the convo):

I don’t know why I have to pay taxes on this car.

This car is not my property. It belongs to the bank.

I won’t own this car for five years. I might never own it. I might sell it before I own it. I shouldn’t have to pay taxes on something that doesn’t belong to me.

I don’t have to pay a tax on a car in New Hampshire.

I’m not arguing, but I’m not going to pay a tax on something I don’t own. It’s not fair.

What’s the penalty for not registering my car?

I’d rather pay the penalty than pay an unfair tax.

And on and on and on. . . .

What a jack ass. It took every single little tiny fiber of self-restraint I had not to go up and tell him he had forty people waiting in line behind him and he was not going to get anywhere with is dumbass argument. And really? Is that just not the MOST dumbass argument you’ve head in a while?

Even though I left the DMV about 20 minutes after my “must leave” time, I ended up getting to the doctor’s office at the exact minute I was supposed to be there. I’m a left lane driver. We would have been late if my right lane husband was driving.

Then I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes.

The doctor doesn’t think my symptoms are any indication that the baby will be early. It could come any time, or it could be another month. There’s just no way to tell. She didn’t check me, which was a surprise. Frankly, I didn’t mind the lack of a check. The baby will be born when he’s born without any regard to the number of times I have a stranger’s hand up my crotch. The baby’s head is down, so at least I know he isn’t breach. That’s about all I learned today. Oh, and I didn’t gain any weight this week! Thank GOD!

By the end of the appointment I was so hungry that I was feeling faint, so I stopped at the Chinese restaurant in the building. Nasty nasty. I am not a fan of Chinese food. I rarely eat Chinese food, and I generally have no idea what anything on the menu even is supposed to be. I got sesame chicken and I didn’t like it at all. It was really sweet and despite my sweet tooth, I can’t stand sweet meals. I prefer my sweetness in the form of pure sugar and fat, not sauce on chicken.

I FINALLY made it home and got a call from my mom. She had some really great news: she got a job! I am soooooooo happy for her. She’s been stressed out and unhappy and dirt poor and she needed a job badly. Her best friend’s daughter offered her the job, so she didn’t even have to have an interview or anything. I think she’s finally going to be happy for a while. I think if she hadn’t been holding onto the phone she might have floated right up into the ceiling.

Of course, this puts a bit of a wrench in her plans to come here. She is still coming on Oct. 5, but has to be back at work Oct. 24 so we need to figure out how to change her ticket. I hope it isn’t too difficult. I know it will cost something, but I just don’t want to have to be on the phone for hours trying to arrange it. This kid BETTER be on time so his grandma can spend some quality time with him.

Whew. What a day. And it’s not even over.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 23rd, 2005 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.