Cop Magnets

          I had a very eventful day today! First, up at 7:15 following two hours of sleep for a dentist appointment. I have the sweetest, most motherly dentist named Dr. Zhang, but she was closed today so I went to an affiliate at Aspen Dental (over by Panera Bread). There, I had the filling that had fallen out of my front tooth replaced by an ill-tempered dentist. She was aided by a herpa-derpa-ding-dong hygienist who was paying attention to the TV and asked the dentist if an instrument she had just used on me was broken.
          We then went shopping for coats. I got a sweet pea coat and some shirts at the mall, and an $80-ish London Fog raincoat for $10 at Salvation Army, though it has a bit of that "flasher chic." At Goodwill I tried on a couple of leather jackets, but a large beetle crawled out of one of the sleeves onto my hand, which sort of ruined my enthusiasm to buy anything there.
          Returning home I did the bare minimum amount of work on the college writing paper due at 10 PM, which seemed justified considering that it's Thanksgiving break and I have other stuff on my mind. In a week or two I need to do a portfolio on the current unit. Total pieces of writing we've done this unit: two and a half. Also, it was Ryan's 7th birthday today!
          At 8:00, Seth and Kristina picked me up and we drove over to Grant D. Morse Elementary, .5 miles from my house. While hanging out on the top deck of the pirate ship on the playground, I learned the hard way that these two attract cops like flies to vinegar. (Aside: You actually catch more flies with vinegar than honey.) This was to be my first run-in with a police officer to date. He pretty much told us to move along and wished us a good evening. We then drove around aimlessly and Seth regaled me with stories of all these times they were stopped by the police for no reason. (Sitting in a car in a park in the daytime? Suspicious. Driving a car? Doubly suspicious.) Seth himself was mistaken for a serial killer by a cop in a McDonalds once, and was frisked and searched by a state trooper on another occasion. He says he must wear "cop cologne." We did stop and walk around the village for a little while and ran into Gaebel! Also, we were assaulted by a horde -- seriously -- of thirteen or fourteen year olds on the street. "My name is Dick Butkus, lolololol." It was probably past their bedtime, but it was the most amusing thing that had happened to us up to that point so we didn't bother to mention it to anyone. They probably would have arrested us for having legs or something, anyway.