did you get the ticket?

...no jillian, not to the gun show this time, unfortunately. before i get in to how awesome my day was with my friends from ca (who are actually originally from out here in MI) at the most incredible place ever (most awesome view, and defines my dream lake house down to the kayaks and awesome back yard... which you see in the picture)... so ya, before i get in to all that good stuff, i have a story to tell... a not so pleasant story, if i may say so myself.

i shall title it: "Hello, my name is jerk-face, how may i ruin your day today?"

after playing tennisvin the heat and humidity (75%) of the morning, i cleaned up and headed off to grand haven where i would be hanging out with some friends. as i turned to head north on the M-31, i started keeping my eyes open, trying to find a speed limit sign. i didn't see one for a few miles ( a bit frustrating), but i concluded since it was a highway (kind of) i would go 65 and go with the flow of traffic. a few miles down, i am cruising along in the right lane (by the way, only two lanes going each way)and i see a cop who has someone pulled over on the left shoulder (yeah, i know weird to pull someone over on the left) but anyway, i took my foot off the accelerator just in case, but the cop was giving someone a ticket, so i just went by not too worried.
a minute or two later, i saw the dreadful blue and red lights flashing in my rearview mirror, something i have never dealt with before or have ever wanted to deal with. you've got to bejoking me.
so i pull over to the right shoulder and stop. the officer (who, since i never read his badge to find out his name, i shall call him jerk face) walks up to me, sunglasses on, hands on his belt as if he were trying to keep his pants up (which, you've got to be joking me, cause they were skin tight) he seemed to be in his forties or something, and he had an obnoxious mustache... "may i see your license and registration miss?" okay, at this moment, to be honest this is what went through my mind... first, i thought of my friend and about how she has gotten out of a few tickets before, and so i tried to remember what to do to get out of a bind... second, i thought, what in the world did i do... third, i thought, shoot, i gotta grabmy license and registration, why in the world am i just sitting here thinking!
okay, so i handed him my license, and before i could reach in to my glove compartment to grab the registration stuff, he starts talking to me...
"miss, did you see me pulled over with another car back there?" i nodded, frozen in my seat... "miss,is there any reason why you didn't change lanes as you passed me?" um, well, no... was i supposed to? "miss, it's a state law that you must change lanes for an emergency vehicle blah blah blah..." (i can't remeber the exact name of the law, but basically, i am supposed to change lanes to be on the opposite side of the road of him when i pass if he has someone pulled over). okay stina, work your magic, get your way out of this ticket... "i'm sorry sir (sir is always i good touch, so i thought) but um, i had no idea about that law.. you see, i just arrive in michigan on sunday, and i am moving here from california for college." he then repeated the law again as if i didn't hear him the first time. and... "i also clocked you going 65 in a 55... do you know what the speed limit is here?" i am sorry sir, but i didn't know what the speed limit was, i am new here.. "there are speed limit signs right at the beggining of the 31 in holland, and another right outside of grand haven." this is where i bit my tongue, surpressing a smart alleck remark, to the tune of, WOW two signs? how in the world did i miss it if i started in between those two places! and how did he clock me when he was busy giving someone else a ticket???
anyway
still frozen, i asked him if i could grab my registration for him, and he said go on ahead. kind of funny: my unicycle is in my passenger seat, and it was blocking my glove compartment... it wouldn't open, i looked over at him... sorry, my uncicycle is kind of in the way, it might take a sec... hoping he would find a unciycle extremely cool and let me off right then and there... didn't work. so i grabbed my registration holder, which by the way is bright orange, and although i think it is really cool, jerk face looked at me kind of weird when i handed it to him... kind of embarassing, never thought i would show it to a cop before. he then asks me, "this is a CA license, are you a resident out here?" um, no, i am coming here for college... Calvin college (hoping he was an alumni and would let me off or something, but no)... we then engaged in a conversation in which he was trying to nail me for not having a michigan plate or license... i at least won that battle. so he goes back to his cop car, an no joke, he seriously sat in there for over 10 minutes... in that time period, 3 cars drove by in the lane next to where i was pulled over... THREE! jerk face.
after this long wait, in which the tears worked up (a tactic, and well, quite natural because i have never ever gotten a ticket or been pulled over) he comes over with some papers... and this is where his true jerky-ness shines.
"well miss [looks at his paper] stavro, although it is a law in 99% of the states [which if you do the math, um, ya, that creates partial states, jerk face], i am going to let you go on ." he continues with his jerkiness, "you know, it is a misdemeanor, and i could take your license away for it." and the way he said it just made me want to slap him... he said in such a look-how-much-power-i-have way, making me feel so little. he wasn't being nice, he was being a power hungry jerk, showing me how much i am under his authority. instead of saying all that, a feeble "thank you" accompanied by a few rolling tears came out. he then said, "but i am going to give you a citation for speeding.." and he then explains to me the process of paying for the ticket (all the while tears are coming... genuine, but still to no advantage for me) he then says in this arrogant manner, as if anyone would dare challenge his authority, "and if you want to challenge and plead not-guilty, follow these instructions here." trust me, this is the type of cop that would show up no matter what, so i aint getting out of this one.
he walked away, holding those pants up, the jerk face that he was...
so, i've recieved my first ticket (a gnarly $85 one, which i will be taking care of by mail tomorrow). i was so upset, but as soon as i got to my friends place and told them all that happened, i felt a lot better and got over it pretty quickly. it turns out that my friend's mom actually got her first ticket within a week of moving out to michigan as well. i'm not alone in this one.
and strangely, a lot of michiganians didn't even know this was a law.

okay, so i got over that pretty quickly, totally did not let it ruin my day, because this house is amazing... beautiful, on the lake, great weather, being with friends... all around good stuff. went kayaking a bit, and then we took the paddle boat out to the bridge that you can see... if you look closely, you can see the people jumping off... that's not me, but about an hour prior to that, both ryan and i jumped off that bridge! it's taller than it looks, and the air time is pretty crazy too... but it was funny to see malachi get all excited after he saw us jump, and then explain what happened in his own little version of sign language. so ya, it was a great day today!
oh, and crazy, just after dinner, all of the sudden the wind picked up and blew a few clouds over and it started to rain! it was sooooo cool... like i said before, i love summer rains. so that was neat too.

and this is my room i am staying in... and all around my bed, i have my "bedtime blessings". i've got my two pillows (the pink one isn't mine), my ugly doll "jeero" (ugly doll is the name brand by the way), i've got my fleece blanket with the symbols (from the blanket making day me and my friends had) my tennis racket close at hand, and my laptop, prepared to deliver this post!

and this is a awesome pic of the sky from when i drove up to the place i am staying... can we say awesome!

well, ciao for now my friends!