Parking

2/5/2008 at 10:27 AM

It's funny you should ask . . Ben and I never bought parking passes. We almost always found parking at Muddy's (a local coffee shop) accommodating enough. Otherwise the Admin parking lot was free. Sometimes I would be running late for an exam and was forced to park one of the garages near my building. I was ticketed a few times but just paid them with my tuition. I always found parking easy in the garages.

At the time Ben drove a minivan and it wasn't registered under his name so the school had no way to trace it to his tuition. He racked up hundreds of dollars in tickets until one day I met him after class and we were heading to a nearby parkinglot to enjoy a bowl only to find the van had a huge yellow boot over the front right wheel. Looking closer I discovered that it had been very sloppily attached.
"We can totally get this mother off." I told Ben.

Without much effort we were able to get the cover plate off but the tire bar wasn't budging. We decided it would slip off if we let some air out of the tire. So I took a pebble and screwed the cap back on top of it and we waited while air began to leak out.
Minutes from being able to free the tire bar. We're standing by talking about where we're going to dump the boot for campus security to find when a cop rolls by. Not one of those fake campus dorks in the electric cars, a full blown Kansas City officer- randomly patrolling the parking lot. The asshole passes us, then slowly backs up finding us trying to look cool, the plate just leaning against the wheel. He gets out and is a complete douche bag, trying to tell us we broke the boot. I don't remember what was said but this guy was a prick. I think Ben had to pay all his tickets and an extra fee for tampering with the device. .

. . With the benefit of hindsight we should have just slapped on a spare and booked it after we removed the wheel plate.

2 comments

Response on style and trendy-pop culture

12/19/2007 at 1:53 PM

Popular and faddish trends have always been bizarre, and there has always been all kinds of environmental controversy. Sure, everything goes in cycles but I wouldn't say society is going down the shitter. Levis are definitely hip anyway, you don't have to wear diesel or guess jeans to be stylish. My point is, cowboys are still cool. There's still an attraction to that certain rugged quality. Yeah, there are people who don't have a clue what they should be wearing-they might end up looking really trashy. On the other end of the spectrum though, I'm sure you've seen an overdressed trendy kid too. People can get out of control trying to be fashionable and easily become and eyesore even to that hip crowd you refer to. Yes, style is subjective-like any form of art. But there are natural laws of sorts , certain cuts of jeans compliment different body types, certain colors compliment each other, etc. These elements are naturally attractive. Some things may subtly change through generations, but key elements stay in place. Popular music? Blues and country music can be just as whiney as popular rock nowadays, hip-hop is another story. All I'm saying is, what's the 'in' crowd? You don't have to watch MTV, listen to emo, and wear skinny jeans to be there. Real people like real people, I'm sure you've got a crowd of real friends. Anyone who looks down on that is an arrogant shithead, and you're better than that.
Smoking in public? That's fine. Just don't be an asshole about it, nonsmokers think that shit stinks. They aren't telling you not to smoke, just don't blow it in his face or put your shit out on his shitty flannel L.L. Bean sweater.

[note : this is a response to a rant on fashion culture, I'm do not necessarily endorse cowboys, skinny jeans, Marlboro brand cigarettes, L.L. Bean, or Toyota Prius]

0 comments