Quake, Mom’s Birthday, DMV
Today we had an earthquake. It was a magnitude 5 and at this time there’s two reported aftershocks.
Of course, I’m far away from the epicenter so all I felt was my chair wobble a bit as I shook my leg. Angus remarked that we’d just been through an earthquake and Jim and Patrick seemed to think he was putting them on.
Many of us at Tellme are very recent transplants to the area.
Today is mom’s birthday. While I missed Grandma’s and Uncle John’s birthday, because I can’t remember so many things so well, I think it appropriate to be able to remember my mom’s birthday.
So I gave her a call, but hopefully she was out partying. Good.
Today I picked up a patch kit for my bicycle, which has a flat tire. I didn’t, however, get to the DMV. I’ve got two things to do there – register my car because it’s expired, and get me a California license. As a third I’m thinking to try and score me a motorcycle permit. Possibility of fun there, see?
You see, the other day I was driving along and I wanted to switch lanes so I turn on my signal and wait for the guy at my rear to pass.
He doesn’t.
I go slower and slower and realize he’s stopped.
Now, I’ve run into this thing where CA drivers will slow down and let you pass ahead of them if they see you have a turn signal going, but this was just moronic, so I cut over in front of him and went a lane extra to the left turn I’d been wanting, all the while thinking ill of the fucknut who stopped in the middle of the street because I had my turn signal going.
Then I noticed he was a cop.
And as I turned his lights came up.
So I got pulled over and did everything right and well, turns out it’s really illegal for me to drive right now:
- Expired registration.
- No valid California license.
- My insurance is registered for the wrong car in the wrong state.
But he just gave me a “fix it” ticket for the license plate stickers. Okay. Well, I’ll fix everything else this week too.
Anyone got suggestions for a young guy in California driving a beater vis-a-vis auto insurance?
Damn.
So, I guess the reason he stopped is he figured I noticed him behind me and so was slowing down to change lanes behind him but wait-a-minute, are those expired tags? Is that why he’s aiming to slow and pass behind me and make this turn?
And then nailing me for insurance … I guess that and the license are something that might be hard to prove in court if I put up a fight. You’re supposed to get a license within ten days of moving here, but does the state really want to go through the trouble of calling around and proving your residency just so they can fine you?
And same with the insurance, but I gotta get that fixed, for sure. If I plow in to somebody’s beemer I’d bet the insurance company would be more than happy to prove my fraudulence.
Makes sense in retrospect. I guess the moral is you never know when a fucknut is going to be a cop.
Ah well, let’s go tackle that tire …
