John Noble (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jackofallgeeks) wrote2003-10-03 07:43 pm
jackofallgeeks) wrote2003-10-03 07:43 pm
Mid-Week Weekend (Part 2)
When we left our hero...
Trying to get my story about last weekend done before this weekend gets finished! Things are getting back on track for me now -- my week's been really off-kilter, having little time to do much of anything aside from basic functions, like cooking spaghetti or checking my email. But I've gotten quite a bit of rest the last couple days, and I think I'm starting to catch up with myself. I finished replying to Suzannah's email, but I'm afraid it wasn't a very good letter -- it was written over a couple days since I had no real time to speak of, and I was very distracted the whole way through. But not THIS is the only straggler, so it must be completed!
Into the Storm
We were headed by the Festhaus for some reason, when I caught sight of some dancers for the show "Fiends in the Festhaus." We stopped and watched for a while. The succubi were really cute. Really, really cute. No, really, they were. A bit on into the evening it starting raining. Infact, it was just as we were waiting in line for Alpengeist, which we ended up riding in the rain. From there we thought to stop by Wilde Maus, the ride my sister's supervisor of. It was, necessarily, shut down, as it's not safe to run when wet. But we stopped by, and her Area Supervisor, Fred, was there chatting with her. We sat and talked with the two of them, and then as we were finishing up, Fred said "Hey, you guys want an exit pass for any of the rides?" And so he gave us an exit pass to get onto Apollo's Chariot. He said we should tell them we were "very disgruntled."
So, we went over to Apollo's Chariot and, being that he's the Area Supervisor for italy, Shawn was there! When he saw that we had an exit-pass, he wanted to see what we got stuck on, and I told him we got it from Wilde Maus.
And my story would not be complete without...
From Apollo's we started heading towards one of the Haunted Mazes, when Josh pointed out the arcade next to us, which had a DDR machine. Since we'd not-quite been looking for one all day (not to play, mind you, just to see), we stopped in to take a look. There were two machines -- on the one directly in the front of the store were two girls. One was up there playing for all she was worth -- and from the looks of the screen, she was worth at least 256 perfect steps in a row! Her friend was sitting on the pad next to her, obviously out.
I can't remember exactly how we got to talking -- I think the Dancing Queen finished her game and I said something along the lines of "you're pretty damn good," and her DDR-playing friend (for lack of any name at all, we'll call her Danielle) said "Why don't you get up there?" Had I been more clever, I would have said something along the lines of "Only if you go with me," but instead, and as I was half-making my way out, I explained that I couldn't dance. I never made it out, though. We (my brothers and I) sat and watched more as the Dancing Queen played several moore rounds, and I chatted a bit with Danielle. Now, to appease Josh, I have to make mention of the fact that Danielle was a really pretty girl -- infact, I think my exact words were (over and over again that night) "Oh-My-Wow" pretty. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in a definatively-goth way, but where as the Dancing Queen was more of a hardcore-sorta goth look, Danielle's was definitely a more feminine goth look... -grins- She was very pretty, and for fear of sounding any more foolish (as she was assuredly years too young for me), I'll leave it at that. Tim did manage to get socked in the arm several times, though -- he hasn't quite learned the skill of Tactful Agreement, a useful thing (as Josh has learned) when talking about a girl your older brother thought was pretty.
Case Closed
And that was pretty much it for the weekend, as such. I then had to drive back up to DC, drop my brothers off, and then me and mom drove BACK to Jenny's to return her children (who we babysit over the weekends), and spend the night so that we only had a three-hour drive to court the next day as opposed to a five-hour one.
As a point, the reason I was going to court was that, this summer, I got two tickets which we felt I shouldn't have gotten, or at least that we felt were worth disputing. The first was for speeding, which I admit I do do, but this was on a divided-lane road with no other cars on the road, and while I was over the limit, it was because I didn't know the limit and I felt I was driving at a safe speed -- I didn't realize there was a problem until the officer turned her lights on. The other ticket was the same stop, for 'driving without a liscence.' My liscence had expired in May, only a month prior, and hadn't been renued because until my nephew went through my wallet a couple weeks before the incident, I thought my liscence was good until I was 21 (I'd gotten it when I was 17, and 4 years seems reasonable). Additionally, we got the impression from the Maryland DMV that it was OK to drive on a liscence, by them, so long as it was less than a year expired. After all, it's not like I'd suddenly forgotten how to drive when my liscence expired.
Anyways, we got to the court and there were about a half-dozen people or so. The judge reduced the fines almost across the board, except for one really stupid kid who really had no leg to stand on -- and he just paid full. I actually developed a quite bit more respect for the officer who pulled me over -- she had two others there (including the stupid kid) and was just all around very professional about the whole thing -- yeah, that should come as a 'duh,' but I really respect that. When I went up there, the judge asked her if there was anything he should know about the charge, and she said "No sir, defendant was polite and cooperative," which was just a little bit of an ego-boost for me. ^_^;; I rather pride myself on being a generally well-mannered and courteous guy.
I explained my case, after pleading "guilty with an explaination," because I was guilty of the charges, but I didn't think the punnishment was quite deserved, as it was not an effort on my part to drive carelessly. In the end, he reduced my fines from about $140 to $75, so I think it was worth it.
And that was my weekend. We drove home, had dinner, and then I went back to my dorm...
Trying to get my story about last weekend done before this weekend gets finished! Things are getting back on track for me now -- my week's been really off-kilter, having little time to do much of anything aside from basic functions, like cooking spaghetti or checking my email. But I've gotten quite a bit of rest the last couple days, and I think I'm starting to catch up with myself. I finished replying to Suzannah's email, but I'm afraid it wasn't a very good letter -- it was written over a couple days since I had no real time to speak of, and I was very distracted the whole way through. But not THIS is the only straggler, so it must be completed!
Into the Storm
We were headed by the Festhaus for some reason, when I caught sight of some dancers for the show "Fiends in the Festhaus." We stopped and watched for a while. The succubi were really cute. Really, really cute. No, really, they were. A bit on into the evening it starting raining. Infact, it was just as we were waiting in line for Alpengeist, which we ended up riding in the rain. From there we thought to stop by Wilde Maus, the ride my sister's supervisor of. It was, necessarily, shut down, as it's not safe to run when wet. But we stopped by, and her Area Supervisor, Fred, was there chatting with her. We sat and talked with the two of them, and then as we were finishing up, Fred said "Hey, you guys want an exit pass for any of the rides?" And so he gave us an exit pass to get onto Apollo's Chariot. He said we should tell them we were "very disgruntled."
So, we went over to Apollo's Chariot and, being that he's the Area Supervisor for italy, Shawn was there! When he saw that we had an exit-pass, he wanted to see what we got stuck on, and I told him we got it from Wilde Maus.
Shawn: So Fred just gave you one.He still didn't believe me, but it's all the same in the end. Apollo's was actually down momentarily while they removed one of the trains (in poor weather, they can only run two trains), and when it came up, we got to ride it through the pretty steady rain. w00+
Me: No, we were very disgruntled. I love that ride!
Shawn: Uh huh, and this has nothing to do with the fact that your sister is the supervisor.
Me: Nope, I really do like that ride!
And my story would not be complete without...
From Apollo's we started heading towards one of the Haunted Mazes, when Josh pointed out the arcade next to us, which had a DDR machine. Since we'd not-quite been looking for one all day (not to play, mind you, just to see), we stopped in to take a look. There were two machines -- on the one directly in the front of the store were two girls. One was up there playing for all she was worth -- and from the looks of the screen, she was worth at least 256 perfect steps in a row! Her friend was sitting on the pad next to her, obviously out.
I can't remember exactly how we got to talking -- I think the Dancing Queen finished her game and I said something along the lines of "you're pretty damn good," and her DDR-playing friend (for lack of any name at all, we'll call her Danielle) said "Why don't you get up there?" Had I been more clever, I would have said something along the lines of "Only if you go with me," but instead, and as I was half-making my way out, I explained that I couldn't dance. I never made it out, though. We (my brothers and I) sat and watched more as the Dancing Queen played several moore rounds, and I chatted a bit with Danielle. Now, to appease Josh, I have to make mention of the fact that Danielle was a really pretty girl -- infact, I think my exact words were (over and over again that night) "Oh-My-Wow" pretty. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was dressed in a definatively-goth way, but where as the Dancing Queen was more of a hardcore-sorta goth look, Danielle's was definitely a more feminine goth look... -grins- She was very pretty, and for fear of sounding any more foolish (as she was assuredly years too young for me), I'll leave it at that. Tim did manage to get socked in the arm several times, though -- he hasn't quite learned the skill of Tactful Agreement, a useful thing (as Josh has learned) when talking about a girl your older brother thought was pretty.
Case Closed
And that was pretty much it for the weekend, as such. I then had to drive back up to DC, drop my brothers off, and then me and mom drove BACK to Jenny's to return her children (who we babysit over the weekends), and spend the night so that we only had a three-hour drive to court the next day as opposed to a five-hour one.
As a point, the reason I was going to court was that, this summer, I got two tickets which we felt I shouldn't have gotten, or at least that we felt were worth disputing. The first was for speeding, which I admit I do do, but this was on a divided-lane road with no other cars on the road, and while I was over the limit, it was because I didn't know the limit and I felt I was driving at a safe speed -- I didn't realize there was a problem until the officer turned her lights on. The other ticket was the same stop, for 'driving without a liscence.' My liscence had expired in May, only a month prior, and hadn't been renued because until my nephew went through my wallet a couple weeks before the incident, I thought my liscence was good until I was 21 (I'd gotten it when I was 17, and 4 years seems reasonable). Additionally, we got the impression from the Maryland DMV that it was OK to drive on a liscence, by them, so long as it was less than a year expired. After all, it's not like I'd suddenly forgotten how to drive when my liscence expired.
Anyways, we got to the court and there were about a half-dozen people or so. The judge reduced the fines almost across the board, except for one really stupid kid who really had no leg to stand on -- and he just paid full. I actually developed a quite bit more respect for the officer who pulled me over -- she had two others there (including the stupid kid) and was just all around very professional about the whole thing -- yeah, that should come as a 'duh,' but I really respect that. When I went up there, the judge asked her if there was anything he should know about the charge, and she said "No sir, defendant was polite and cooperative," which was just a little bit of an ego-boost for me. ^_^;; I rather pride myself on being a generally well-mannered and courteous guy.
I explained my case, after pleading "guilty with an explaination," because I was guilty of the charges, but I didn't think the punnishment was quite deserved, as it was not an effort on my part to drive carelessly. In the end, he reduced my fines from about $140 to $75, so I think it was worth it.
And that was my weekend. We drove home, had dinner, and then I went back to my dorm...