Tacos and Cops

January 14, 2010:

Oops. "A day late, a blog short." Just like my grandfather always said. Of course, when he said "blog", he meant a shot of whiskey and Mountain Dew.

Oh my gad. My grandfather was an alcoholic!

Moving on.

Yesterday... er, "TODAY" was very packed for a Thursday. I might have stretched myself a bit thin. And there's a lot of me to stretch! Knowwaddamean? HO HO! But no, my social calendar was very busy. The day before, I had made plans with Patrick M. to have lunch with him before he went to work. I woke up, kicked ass and took names, and was ready to seize the day by the short hairs. Then I got a call from Aaron seeing if I'd like to hang out around 3:00.

"Yeah, sure!"

I then got a call from my boss at Lakewood, Steve, and he asked if I'd like to pick up some work today, starting at 2:00 and getting done at 5:30.

"Yeah, sure!"

Oh, that's right...

I then called Aaron back and asked if it was cool that I hang out after 6:00. He was cool with it. DRAMA AVOIDED. Very nice of him to be gracious.

I headed to lunch with Patrick, at a wonderful little place called Taco Surf. Its this cool resteraunt/cantina out in Los Alamitos. (I have an open invite any and all that would like me to take them their to try it out. Let me know). I got to Taco Surf a little ahead of Patrick, and got a table. I checked my cell, and found that Amy had called me earlier about some comic work she's doing for me, out of the kindness of her heart. I called her back, and then decided to invite her over to Taco Surf, cuz why not? She was cool with it, after a BF check with Aaron to make sure he didn't feel left out.

Patrick arrived and was looking dapper as usual.

Quick Facts About Patrick M.!: Half-Japanese, Half-White, ALL awesome. This dude is highly trained in Kendo, and could kick my ass, but he's too nice to do that. (doesn't mean I'm going to push my luck). He is working very hard at becoming a Monster SFX Make-Up artist guy. And yes, there is a much more official title, but I'm too lazy to google it. And sorry ladies, he's taken! I know, it broke my heart too.

(Maybe this "Quick Fact" thing should be a aspect of my journal/blogs...)

Amy arrived at Taco Surf, and we got our food on. After were done, I had to head to work, as did Patrick. Amy headed home to wait for Aaron to get out of work. I got to Lakewood and got to work cueing up tapes and going through them to find different shots of Lakewood cops pulling people over and writing them tickets. Yeah, that was kind of sad.

I've only ever been pulled over once. It was a block from my home, and it was when I still had my Ford Focus. I was turning, when I got hit by the LIGHTS. Now, I get the red and blue flashing lights. They make sense. But, really... is the spotlight right in my face and every mirror in and out of my car ABSOLUTELY necessary? I was so blinded, I had to literaly hunch down to find a spot to pull over. I rolled down my window, and had a heart attack when I didn't find my wallet in my pants pocket.

...it was in my jacekt pocket. Real funny one there, life. The cop came over and informed me he pulled me over because my license plate light was out. Yeah friggin' Right. My dad got pulled over just a few days THIS year. We just have a corner that is a favorite for cops to pull people over. The cop asked me for my license and proof of Insurance. I had them out in record time.

"Have you ever recieved any speeding tickets or any other type of violations?" he asked me.
"Uh... I turned on a red turn signal once," I replied.
"Is that all?" he asked.
"Yeah," I answered.
"Are you SURE?" he asked me, in that "Don't-Lie-To-Me-Boy" tone of voice.
"Yep," I stated.

He ran the information and came back with almost an entirely different attitude.

"Here you go, Mr. Schulz. I'll just let you off with a warning. Have a good night," he said, almost smiling at me.
"Thanks, Officer," I said. F**k right! I had an immaculate record at the time. I've NEVER got a speeding ticket, and not because I never got caught, but because I don't speed. It would have been bizarre to get a ticket because of a friggin' license plate light.

But everybody on this tape I was cueing up got a ticket. Just one after another. Was it because the camera was on the cop? What part of his job was he more allowed to exhibit? Apparently it wasn't mercy.

I was done a little early actually, and headed over to Amy's place to figure out what was going on that night. We played Left 4 Dead 2, which I'm becoming as bad a junkie for as the first game. I'll probably need another fix later this week, god help me.

Around 8:30 we headed to a little get-together at a friend's house. Pizza and Black Forest Cake was on the menu, and it yes, it did seem strange to have those two on the same table. Delicious none the less. There was PS3 and YouTube as entertainment, and fun was had.

Topics of Conversation @ Said Get-Together: David Tennant, Fat Princess, the old Street Fighter cartoon, Left 4 Dead 2, pizza, the difference between getting "owned" and "pwnd", why "hawaiian pineapple" is called "hawaiian pineapple," etc.

I didn't get home to 1 am, and just fell asleep when I got to bed. This is why this journal is a day friggin' late.

-Nate

Nate Note: The thing that really put this night over the edge is this video on YouTube. Its every clip of sheer WTF moments and stupidity in the old USA Street Fighter cartoon. I saw a few eps once upon a time, but didn't think much of it. Apparently, this cartoon was riddled with AWFUL. Check it out...

Street Fighter WTF