Hi All!

It's a lovely fall/winter day here in Jersey. Can't get used to this weather. Luckily for me, I'm getting smarter and instead of putting away ALL my cold weather clothes, I only put away the most severe weather clothes! :)

So, I'm tooling along this new way my sister has me trying out to go to work this morning. I left with PLENTY of time to get to work and maybe even some time extra to stop at WaWa for something to drink. The Evesham police department has hired 10 extra cops to help patrol the crime-ridden city of Marlton, so speeding is out-of-the-question on most roads. Knowing this, I am always extra careful to stay in the 5 MPH over or Speed Limit range - which is not easy for me, b/c I like to drive fast. I also registered my car in NJ on Thrusday and therefore now have NJ plates. I was worried everytime I passed a police car when I had North Carolina plates. I was constantly telling my mom I thought police and stupid drivers were targeting me b/c I was out-of-state. So, I broke down and got rid of my last remaining tie to N.C.

So, there I was tooling along on my way to work at some ungodly hour (8:30am) when I was passed by a police SUV in the opposing traffic lane. The officer passed me, slammed on his brakes, did a U-turn in the middle of the street and proceed quickly to fall in line behind my poor little car. I had been watching my speed because, as I said they've become Nazis and because I saw him coming. I couldn't believe 47 or so would warrant a speeding ticket. I couldn't be very upset though, b/c I was shaking. 8:30 is too early to scare someone. That's how people have heart attacks! :)

The officer was very nice. He came immediately up to my car (didn't make me wait forever like some of them have been known to do) and introduced himself and asked for my license and registration. Then he noticed the pink card on my dashboard. He told me he had pulled me over because I had an out-of-state inspection sticker! Once he looked at my registration, the pink card on my dash, under the inspection sticker from N.C., and my license. He thanked me and told me he was not going to waste any more of my time and sent me on my way. A quick 5 minute distraction...which costs me my WaWa trip :( Once I got done shaking, I wondered...WHO CAN SEE THOSE THINGS?!?!?! The more I thought about it, the more I had questions.

#1 How can you in an SUV drive past an oncoming car and notice it's inspection sticker? Those stickers are about the size of my palm.
#2 Let's give the nice little officer the benefit of the doubt and say they're trained to look for them, doesn't this distract their driving? Our governor is about to pass a law banning cell phone (which I agree with. People here can talk and chew gum at the same time...let alone drive and talk and hold a cell phone), but a police officer can speed by me at 50 miles an hour while he's looking at my driver's side windshield? Who was watching the road straight ahead while he was doing this?
#3 We're gonna give Mr. Police Man another break (he was polite and extremely nice for so early in the morning). Let's say he's talented. Graduated top of his class for distracted driving at the Police Academy. HOW CAN YOU SEE A PALM SIZED INSPECTION STICKER AND NOT A FOREARM SIZED PINK CARD UNDERNEATH IT?!?!??! My thought was he wanted to make sure my 15 days hadn't expired and needed to get close up to see that.

So, can someone please explain to me when Protect and Serve became Harass and Inconvienence? When did driving with a slightly expired inspection sticker become life threatening? Is going 10 miles over the speed limit at 2:30 in the morning when you are 2 blocks from your house hurting anyone? (And let's say they're checking for drunk driving...once they find out the driver isn't drunk, why ticket them?) I've been pulled over one other time. To be honest, I didn't mind. Same type of situation...I had an expired registration sticker, which I didn't realize was expired, since I'd never gotten any paperwork on it's renewal. Anyway, the police on our campus were the ones who pulled me over. I had met a couple of them earlier in the year and they told me they apprehend 90% of drug dealers on campus with expired paperwork. CAMPUS...Not hick back road! :) The kind of ironic thing was it was the day before my surgery...almost 2 years ago exactly from today.

Today at lunch I thought I'd found the most amazing college town. I could not find a Taco Bell ANYWHERE! But then, as I was getting ready to venture into Burger King...I found it! Still, I think it's too far away from campus for drunken 2am walks for food! :)

O.K. Time for my Neil moment of the day. I talked to Scott, my old boss at UNCG today. It was so nice to hear from him. There were some good things to come out of living down there. Anyway, Scott is going through something, in my opinion, worse than my "non-relationship breakup". He sounded wonderful! He's getting better and his attitude sounds great (could be a front...hard to tell over email). He's moving on with his life. I wonder if I'll ever get to that point. I've felt overwhelmed lately. The ache has come back REALLY strong. I miss him SO much everyday. And I still cry. I often feel like those kids from Nightmare on Elm Street. When everyone else goes to bed, I try and find anything I can to stay awake, b/c I know that once that light goes off, the tears flow. I often wonder if he misses me at all. I know it was one-sided emotionally (if he did have feelings for me, then none of what he did makes any sense to me), but you'd think walking away from someone you did everything with for years and never speaking to them again would be terribly difficult. It's the one reason I never understood divorce. How do you love so strong and passionately, then walk away and never give the other person a thought? Maybe it's easier in "non-relationships" than in true relationships, living together, or marriage. Maybe it's easier for some more than others. I guess the only thing to do it (as Chris Cage says) "Breathe in and Breathe out and put one foot in front of the other" and hope eventually, for those of us to whom just walking away isn't so easy the emotions fade, the nights get easier, and the thoughts of those we loved...disappear.

You know...I've been meanign to say this for some time. When I write these things, I feel like Carrie Bradshaw. Now, if only I could have her social life! :) Oh...speaking of which...I am thinking about going to the Spartan Club banquet this year in June. So, I think I'm gonna need a trophy date...and my Trophy Prom date is married (at least from what I hear). It is my firm belief that if you're gonna throw a lamb into the lion's den...at least give them ONE place to hide! :)

Only one more hour of work left! YEA! Luckily, I just threw Kenny Chesney in the CD player...should get me through my horrible tmep work. I was not meant to be 1) a construction worker 2) a housewife 3) a temp!

Hope you all have a good day/night!