(no subject)
florida was pretty out of control. i mean, anytime you go anywhere for a funeral, you know its going to be a weird trip. however, you never go into a trip expecting to almost be arrested.
background on the florida trip:
my friend Andrew's mom died of pancreatic cancer on the 21st of june. he had left school at the beginning of may to go home and spend time with her because he knew it wasn't going to be long before she passed away. i booked a flight to florida, hotel, and rental car when he told me his mom had passed away - he said he would enjoy seeing some boston peeps and i figured he could use the cheering up. Andrew's friend Matt booked flights down for the same time i did and we split the cost of the hotel and rental car.
saturday: nothing too eventful. arrive in florida. get rental car. hang out with andrew and his friend brad until andrew's girlfriend's flight arrives. drive from orlando to palm bay. hang out with andrew's family for dinner etc.
sunday: service for andrew's mom in the morning. linner after the services. drive to orlando. drive home through the sticks of florida. now here's when the trip started to get crazy.
andrew, matt, brad, natalie (andrew's gf), and i all went to have drinks and apps at a restaurant probably around 10pm sunday night. we had met up with brad at andrew's house, and even though brad was driving for the night, i knew i was going to have to drive everyone back from andrew's house to the hotel. i ordered food with my margarita because i didn't want to get drunk. anyway, so we finish our drinks at the restaurant and take the hanging out over to brad's house on his patio (he has the absolute cutest puppy ever, btw). we're drinking gin and tonics - i only have one drink, which i nursed for like 2 hours because i knew that i was going to have to drive back. matt, has like 4 drinks and starts puking in brad's bushes. he's the only one of us that's even remotely drunk. it was around 1 am and we figured we should be taking matt back to the hotel to go to bed. here's how the conversation went:
matt: "i want to go to bed"
us: "ok we'll take you back to the hotel"
me: "are you done throwing up? because you only puked once and from my experience, most people have two rounds of puking"
matt: "no i'm fine"
me: "are you sure?"
matt: "i'm fine! i'm done puking!"
me: "ok...we dont want you throwing up in brad's car or my car...do you want a plastic bag to take with you in case you need to throw up?"
matt: "i said i'm fine! i dont need a plastic bag, i only puke once!"
me (sensing matt's defensiveness): "ok..."
so brad takes us back to andrew's house to get my car. the four of us pile into my car and we start to drive home. about 10 minutes into the ride, matt says "pull over. i'm gonna get sick". i'm like "great." and pull the car over as fast as possible because i was driving a rental car and there was NO way i was cleaning up his puke. so i pull into this driveway to a parking lot - i was going to pull further into the parking lot, but i heard matt start to make noises, so i stopped the car, just as he opened the door to start puking. when he sounded like he was done, i was like "matt do you think you can hold it enough so i can pull further into the parking lot so we aren't exposed to the street?" because we were on the intersection of two fairly busy streets. right when i said that, matt started puking again. i was like "ok...maybe not. lets just hope a cop doesn't drive by". no lie, about two seconds after i said that, i heard andrew say "oh no, here it comes" and saw the flashing lights.
the cop got out of his car and came over to my window (while matt was still puking).
me: "hi officer"
cop: "did he have too much to drink?"
me: "yes, he did. we're taking him home now"
cop: "did you have anything to drink tonight?"
me: "yes, i had one beer"
cop: "do you have your license with you? i'm going to run it"
me: "yes"
so i handed over my license to the cop and he went to go scan it. in the mean time, two more patrol cars show up and park behind us with their lights flashing. at this point, i'm starting to freak out. this is the second time i've ever been pulled over (well, pseudo pulled over) and even though i knew i was 21 and was legally allowed to have alcohol in me while i was driving, it was still scary as shit. natalie was talking to me the whole time, being like "its ok, you didn't do anything wrong, you're legal, he doesn't have anything on you". i managed to calm down a little bit (i was almost hyperventalating before) thanks to her, but that didn't do me too much good when the cop asked me to step out of the car.
cop: "can you please step out of the car?"
me (almost shaking because i was so scared): "ok"
i got out of the car and the cop was like "you know, the car smells very strongly of alcohol, i need to test you to make sure you can drive". in all fairness, the car really did smell of alcohol - while i was sitting in there, i could smell it and was like "wow if i can smell it, then it must be pretty strong"...but i mean, everyone had a couple of drinks and matt had just been throwing up, so it was probably because of him that the whole car smelled. the cop asked me to stand with my feet together and following his finger while he shined a light in my eyes. he told me to make sure i didn't move my head. now, personally, i feel that this isn't the best test to see if someone's drunk. i was scared shitless and was shaking when he was giving me the test, which was causing my head to move. also, he was moving his damn finger so far around my head, it was like behind my ear. now, i dont think i could've passed that test if i had been like completely sober. i'm asian. i have squinty eyes. its virtually IMPOSSIBLE for me to see that far around my head. i feel that test is ethnically biased.
cop: "have you really only had 1 beer tonight?"
me: "yes..."
cop: "are you sure? your eyes are telling me differently"
me: "ok i had 2 drinks in the span of 3 hours"
cop: "dont lie to me. dont ever lie to me. i could take you to jail. has everyone in the car been drinking?"
me: "yes."
cop: "why are you in florida from massachusetts?"
me: "my friend in the car, it was his mom's funeral today. i came down for the funeral"
cop: "is there someone who can come pick you guys up?"
i went over to the car to check with andrew to see if he knew someone who could pick us up. the cop came over and asked us again if everyone had been drinking. natalie told the cop "andrew hasn't been drinking because he's 20, but he only has his permit". the cop was like "ok he can drive you guys back to the hotel. we're putting our badges on the line for this. what if there was a mom in a minivan full of children driving home and you guys slammed into them? you wouldn't want that" ok, well, no, obviously no one would want that. but there are a couple things wrong with this whole incident:
1. would a mom driving a minivan full of children really be driving around at 1:30am? no. probably not.
2. i had two drinks in the span of 3 hours. i would not have voluntarily gotten behind the wheel of a car had i been even remotely drunk. i'm not that dumb. i've been drinking long enough to know when i do and do not have control.
3. the cop didn't give me a breathalyzer test, so obviously he didn't think i was that big of a danger.
so yeah, sunday night i almost got arrested for a fake DUI. needless to say, i didn't speak to matt for the rest of the trip. it figures that the kid i find annoying and can't even spend more than half a day with at a time, would almost get me arrested.
monday: ate mexican food down by the beach and drove to cocoa beach to hang out.
tuesday: drove natalie to orlando at like 5am to catch her plane. drove around I-drive. went to barnes and noble to sleep because it was ridiculously early. went to pick up chinese food and got the rental car towed because we parked in the parking lot across the street that was for a grocery store only. had to pick the car up in the ghetto by piling into the bed of a truck, with a 60 year old asian couple who had also gotten their car towed. paid $100 cash to get the car back and rushed to the airport to catch the flight home. plane took off 2 minutes before the shuttle launch, and saw the shuttle pass by our airplane window.
background on the florida trip:
my friend Andrew's mom died of pancreatic cancer on the 21st of june. he had left school at the beginning of may to go home and spend time with her because he knew it wasn't going to be long before she passed away. i booked a flight to florida, hotel, and rental car when he told me his mom had passed away - he said he would enjoy seeing some boston peeps and i figured he could use the cheering up. Andrew's friend Matt booked flights down for the same time i did and we split the cost of the hotel and rental car.
saturday: nothing too eventful. arrive in florida. get rental car. hang out with andrew and his friend brad until andrew's girlfriend's flight arrives. drive from orlando to palm bay. hang out with andrew's family for dinner etc.
sunday: service for andrew's mom in the morning. linner after the services. drive to orlando. drive home through the sticks of florida. now here's when the trip started to get crazy.
andrew, matt, brad, natalie (andrew's gf), and i all went to have drinks and apps at a restaurant probably around 10pm sunday night. we had met up with brad at andrew's house, and even though brad was driving for the night, i knew i was going to have to drive everyone back from andrew's house to the hotel. i ordered food with my margarita because i didn't want to get drunk. anyway, so we finish our drinks at the restaurant and take the hanging out over to brad's house on his patio (he has the absolute cutest puppy ever, btw). we're drinking gin and tonics - i only have one drink, which i nursed for like 2 hours because i knew that i was going to have to drive back. matt, has like 4 drinks and starts puking in brad's bushes. he's the only one of us that's even remotely drunk. it was around 1 am and we figured we should be taking matt back to the hotel to go to bed. here's how the conversation went:
matt: "i want to go to bed"
us: "ok we'll take you back to the hotel"
me: "are you done throwing up? because you only puked once and from my experience, most people have two rounds of puking"
matt: "no i'm fine"
me: "are you sure?"
matt: "i'm fine! i'm done puking!"
me: "ok...we dont want you throwing up in brad's car or my car...do you want a plastic bag to take with you in case you need to throw up?"
matt: "i said i'm fine! i dont need a plastic bag, i only puke once!"
me (sensing matt's defensiveness): "ok..."
so brad takes us back to andrew's house to get my car. the four of us pile into my car and we start to drive home. about 10 minutes into the ride, matt says "pull over. i'm gonna get sick". i'm like "great." and pull the car over as fast as possible because i was driving a rental car and there was NO way i was cleaning up his puke. so i pull into this driveway to a parking lot - i was going to pull further into the parking lot, but i heard matt start to make noises, so i stopped the car, just as he opened the door to start puking. when he sounded like he was done, i was like "matt do you think you can hold it enough so i can pull further into the parking lot so we aren't exposed to the street?" because we were on the intersection of two fairly busy streets. right when i said that, matt started puking again. i was like "ok...maybe not. lets just hope a cop doesn't drive by". no lie, about two seconds after i said that, i heard andrew say "oh no, here it comes" and saw the flashing lights.
the cop got out of his car and came over to my window (while matt was still puking).
me: "hi officer"
cop: "did he have too much to drink?"
me: "yes, he did. we're taking him home now"
cop: "did you have anything to drink tonight?"
me: "yes, i had one beer"
cop: "do you have your license with you? i'm going to run it"
me: "yes"
so i handed over my license to the cop and he went to go scan it. in the mean time, two more patrol cars show up and park behind us with their lights flashing. at this point, i'm starting to freak out. this is the second time i've ever been pulled over (well, pseudo pulled over) and even though i knew i was 21 and was legally allowed to have alcohol in me while i was driving, it was still scary as shit. natalie was talking to me the whole time, being like "its ok, you didn't do anything wrong, you're legal, he doesn't have anything on you". i managed to calm down a little bit (i was almost hyperventalating before) thanks to her, but that didn't do me too much good when the cop asked me to step out of the car.
cop: "can you please step out of the car?"
me (almost shaking because i was so scared): "ok"
i got out of the car and the cop was like "you know, the car smells very strongly of alcohol, i need to test you to make sure you can drive". in all fairness, the car really did smell of alcohol - while i was sitting in there, i could smell it and was like "wow if i can smell it, then it must be pretty strong"...but i mean, everyone had a couple of drinks and matt had just been throwing up, so it was probably because of him that the whole car smelled. the cop asked me to stand with my feet together and following his finger while he shined a light in my eyes. he told me to make sure i didn't move my head. now, personally, i feel that this isn't the best test to see if someone's drunk. i was scared shitless and was shaking when he was giving me the test, which was causing my head to move. also, he was moving his damn finger so far around my head, it was like behind my ear. now, i dont think i could've passed that test if i had been like completely sober. i'm asian. i have squinty eyes. its virtually IMPOSSIBLE for me to see that far around my head. i feel that test is ethnically biased.
cop: "have you really only had 1 beer tonight?"
me: "yes..."
cop: "are you sure? your eyes are telling me differently"
me: "ok i had 2 drinks in the span of 3 hours"
cop: "dont lie to me. dont ever lie to me. i could take you to jail. has everyone in the car been drinking?"
me: "yes."
cop: "why are you in florida from massachusetts?"
me: "my friend in the car, it was his mom's funeral today. i came down for the funeral"
cop: "is there someone who can come pick you guys up?"
i went over to the car to check with andrew to see if he knew someone who could pick us up. the cop came over and asked us again if everyone had been drinking. natalie told the cop "andrew hasn't been drinking because he's 20, but he only has his permit". the cop was like "ok he can drive you guys back to the hotel. we're putting our badges on the line for this. what if there was a mom in a minivan full of children driving home and you guys slammed into them? you wouldn't want that" ok, well, no, obviously no one would want that. but there are a couple things wrong with this whole incident:
1. would a mom driving a minivan full of children really be driving around at 1:30am? no. probably not.
2. i had two drinks in the span of 3 hours. i would not have voluntarily gotten behind the wheel of a car had i been even remotely drunk. i'm not that dumb. i've been drinking long enough to know when i do and do not have control.
3. the cop didn't give me a breathalyzer test, so obviously he didn't think i was that big of a danger.
so yeah, sunday night i almost got arrested for a fake DUI. needless to say, i didn't speak to matt for the rest of the trip. it figures that the kid i find annoying and can't even spend more than half a day with at a time, would almost get me arrested.
monday: ate mexican food down by the beach and drove to cocoa beach to hang out.
tuesday: drove natalie to orlando at like 5am to catch her plane. drove around I-drive. went to barnes and noble to sleep because it was ridiculously early. went to pick up chinese food and got the rental car towed because we parked in the parking lot across the street that was for a grocery store only. had to pick the car up in the ghetto by piling into the bed of a truck, with a 60 year old asian couple who had also gotten their car towed. paid $100 cash to get the car back and rushed to the airport to catch the flight home. plane took off 2 minutes before the shuttle launch, and saw the shuttle pass by our airplane window.