seroi0usly

I FUCKING HATE COPS

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ip=]yt[798536u8wesytrhkmxghjkmxstryuws

ANUS SHIT FUCK COCK SHJIT :SORIGHJ{:J

YEAH FUCKERS I DID BVREAK THE LAW


but you know what? iut was altruistic! iw as taking paul home and we were maybe going to smoke a bowl or whatever and then go home. paul is goijng out west tomotrrow on vacation.

we were circling the block because two hotties that we met, that were following us, had just gotten pulled over too. does that make sense

fucking cops i hate you motherfuckers


im going to smoke a bowl bnow! arrrest me im a criminla you fock sucking pieces of shjit

my FUCKING PARENTS HAD TO COME AND PICK ME UP HOW FUCKING RETARDED IS THAT

.23! Good fucking score man.

;D

./


:(

NOT A HAPPY CAMPER

Calm down Wedge.

*keeping views on drunk driving to herself*

FUCK YEAH MAN BOWLS N BEERS OH FUCK CAN I GET A RIDE HOME I FORGOT MY STASH FUCK OK POSTMODERNISM PWNS

I WAS DRIVING QUITE SAFELY THANK YOU VERY MUCH

ALSO FREE WEED COME AND SMOKE ONE IF YOU WANT OK

Could have been worse.

YOUR IMPAIRED DRIVING SKILLS COULD HAVE CAUSED YOU TO KILL SOMEBODY. IF YOU THINK YOU WERE DRIVING SAFELY, THEN YOU'RE WRONG. DRINK DRIVING IS A CRIME FOR A REASON. THE MAN IS NOT OUT TO GET YOU, THE MAN IS OUT TO STOP YOU PLOUGHING INTO AND HARMING INNOCENTS. SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE A GOOD GUY AND ALL, BUT THAT SORT OF SHIT IS VERY, VERY WRONG. DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE. JUST DON'T DO IT.

*not keeping views on drunk driving to himself*

.25? You were way over. It's a fair cop.

EVEN THOUGH I WASNT ... CAUSING "REAL" PROBLEMS

Yet.

:(

i am an awesoem driver

and the roads were *empty*

Dude -
Go to bed, get some sleep and come back to it in the morning.

what, you want sympathy? boo hoo.

seanyboy, what you doing up at this time?

It's just after midday here in the UK, altolinguistic.

NO I DONT WANT SYMPATHY

I WANT TO SAY FUCK YOU YOU COCKSUCKERS WE WERE DRIVING 6 BLOCKS, STRAIGHT


SEANYBOY IS UP BECAUSE HE IS BRITISH GOD BLESSS HIM

ok, shoot me now - I'm in the UK too, and was taking the timestamp literally (you can do that on mefi now, but not here, and I forgot).

6 blocks - walk.

YEAH THANKS GUY I THINK MAYBE ILL WALK NEXT TIME OK

I think maybe you'll have to. Won't this carry a license suspension?

nyet

just mojeuy

monewy

money.

luckily (?) for me

Wait, so you were flying Biggs home in your X-wing and you were Drubk? No wonder the storm troopers pulled you over.

HAY GUYZ KEYSERZ BAK!!!11

THESE ARENT THE DROIDS YOURE LOOKINJG FOR

Are your keyboard skills this hour in line with your driving skills at arrest time?

I'm just sayin'. And yeah. 6 blocks? What's wrong with your feet?

Sorry dude. Bad call.

"we were circling the block because two hotties that we met, that were following us, had just gotten pulled over too. does that make sense"

Oddly, yes it does. Sorry to hear about your luck bro.

paul lives out in the country, i live close. otherwise im totally down for walking.

i told becky (paul's little sis) to go home; not to give paul a ride because i would take him home, do afterbar things, and it would be all good

i assure you, i am an awesome(!) driver and there were 0 cars on the road. not saying i _didnt_ break the law,

but.

gah

thx skillet ur my bro. pls find enclosed my retainer for legal ffeees TIA

Ha ha. Another drunk pulled off the road. Let's celebrate!

Could have been worse.

YOUR IMPAIRED DRIVING SKILLS COULD HAVE CAUSED YOU TO KILL SOMEBODY. IF YOU THINK YOU WERE DRIVING SAFELY, THEN YOU'RE WRONG. DRINK DRIVING IS A CRIME FOR A REASON. THE MAN IS NOT OUT TO GET YOU, THE MAN IS OUT TO STOP YOU PLOUGHING INTO AND HARMING INNOCENTS. SERIOUSLY, YOU'RE A GOOD GUY AND ALL, BUT THAT SORT OF SHIT IS VERY, VERY WRONG. DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE. JUST DON'T DO IT.

*not keeping views on drunk driving to himself*

*agrees whole-heartedly*

I'm glad you were pulled over and I'm glad this will appear on your record. Drunk driving is really not OK. Ever. Six blocks or one.

no sympathy here. driving under the influence is stupid.

SERIOUSLY I WAS DRIVING LIKE 10 MPH GET OFF YOUR MORAL HIGHHORSE

wait, looks like i will lose my license. so that's cool. soak in the schadenfraude, you sober motherfuckers

i had like 4 vodka drinks

because paul was in town

YEAH YR MORAL HIGHHOUSE IS PULLING WEDGE OFF THE WEAGON!

This is why I love metachat, over at that other place you have guess when folks are posting uner the influence.

On preview...sorry about the license, dude. That does suck.

MY MORAL HIGH HORSE GOES 20MPH - YOU LOSE!!!!!

Wedge, seriously. Go to bed. Look at this tomorrow. Kick yourself repeatedly. Thank fuck you didn't cripple or kill someone. Yourself. Your friend. Some poor sod walking down the road. You blew .23. You're stoned as well. I'm all over that--have all the fun you want, but hide the fucking car keys first.

Are your keyboard skills this hour in line with your driving skills at arrest time?

Um...yeah. I know this is bunnyland and we're all generally supportive of each other and all that, but sometimes friends also have to give you a smack when you're behaving...er...badly.

MY MORAL HIGH HORSE GOES 20MPH - YOU LOSE!!!!!

Laughed out loud...oh my god...

I think you might regret posting this when you sober up, wedge. Why don't you go sleep it off? Don't take it out on us.

Awesome(!) drivers don't drive drunk.

We can't stop him driving now, and he isn't driving now, so there isn't much point in berating him. I can't imagine what he's going to feel like in the morning.

Wedge, mate, come back later and talk about it. We obviously won't be here to exonerate you, but we will be here to support you.

One of my earliest memories is my father rushing into afternoon daycare, suited and tied and smelling like tobacco and wool and barely hidden panic, talking to Ms. Thompkins, grabbing me by the hand and running to the Ford Maverick, buckling me in, and racing to the hospital to pace around while my mother lay unconscious in intensive care, her neck badly sprained, her vertebrae chipped, her body bruised, her breathing difficult.

She was put there by an uninsured woman, a weekday drunk in a pickup truck, who smashed through a red light and my mom's car and body, introducing the concept of chronic pain to the whole family, for good.

Yeah, she got better, but it took years, and in the meantime changed her life, her work, her friendships; maybe none for the worse per se, but certainly none for the better.

I never got a license because I like to drink, and this way I'll never get behind a wheel with a load on. I'm an extreme case, I'll grant you. But anyone who feels justified in driving drunk, no matter how slow or short the trip, can go fuck themselves as far as I'm concerned. So drunk you're driving 10 mph for safety's sake? You might as well walk, you can cut through the yards and save time.

It's not out of schadenfreude that I'm glad you got caught. It's a feeling of safety, there aren't as many drunks behind the wheel now, that's all. Sorry you lost your license, but you can probably get that back, and you'll probably smarten up by the time you do.

It's no fun to have a drunk driver almost kill your mom. That far outweighs the inconvenience of getting caught by the cops and losing your license.

I hope you make some nice friends on the bus.

stfu Hugh, nobody cares

What GeckoDundee said.

Also, there should be a phrase which describes the point in the conversation in which Mothers (Dead, Injured or otherwise) are invoked. It's like a Godwin, and I'm pretty sure that once the line is drawn, there's no going back. For the short-term, I'm gonna call it a Momwin.

Not to minimise what you had to say Hugh, but when jonmc got Momwin'd the other day, that was pretty rough.

on preview -
well, there's a small bit of proof.

Wedge, I enjoy drinking as much as any human possibly could, but drunk driving, even six blocks is a bad idea. You're going to be embarassed by this tommorrow. And lay off the cop, he's just doing his job.

When did jonmc get momwin'd?

Godwinning is a cheap rhetorical flourish, usually used to distract folks from the meat of the matter. I'm giving an example, one of many, of the possible effects of drunk driving, in response to someone whining about how unfair it is that they got caught driving pretty fucking drunk. I think that stories about my mom, or hell, my cousin, or the other how-many-times-a-week-are-people-hospitalized-or-killed-by-drunks-on-the-road individual tragedies, are right at the heart of the matter.

Should Wedge feel guilty for my mom's pain? Of course not. Should Wedge feel stupid for circling around the block on such a short drive to ogle girls being pulled over by a cop? Of course.

The plupart of the comments here are along the lines of, "bad luck, bro -- stupid of you, but too bad. Are they going to take away your license?" Well, I have a differing view, and a personal story that explains my view better than any rhetoric can. Reduce it to a cheap shot if you like.

And folks almost never get caught the first time they drive drunk. So six blocks and 10 mph this time might have been more last time. Just saying.

Oh yeah, now I recall jonmc's Momwinning, we don't need to rehash it.

Hugh, it's here. Seanboy can speak for himself, but I was moved by your account of what happened to your mother (as I imagine anyone would be). I think the point is that once anyone says "someone dear to me was involved in precisely this kind of situation..." then the possibility of serious rational discourse is lessened in much that same way that the "Goodwin" comparison with enormity introduces emotion to the same end.

On preview, I see that you know the reference, but I'll leave it there for others anyway.

I really was moved by your account. I hope Wedge reads it tomorrow, but I also hope that he's not the kind of person to need to do so in order to feel the way I hope he is going to feel then anyway.

Woah Hugh.
What did I do to deserve such ire?

It wasn't a cheap shot at you, and I certainly didn't want to cheapen your experience. It's just that I believe mentioning (specifically) Mothers and Fathers in this sort of a context invariably leads to hostility and hurt feelings. If we get to shouting at each other, then more will be lost than gained.

I tried to introduce the subject lightly, and that was possibly a mistake, but Hugh... I wasn't having a go at you or your situation.

Honestly, I meant no ire, seanyboy. You didn't do anything wrong, and I'm surprised I came off as overly critical. Sorry if it seemed that way. I just disagree, that's all.

Maybe I was so heavy-handed in order to counterbalance the sympathy here for a self-pitying drunk driver whose self-pity stems from the fact that he got caught. That kind of sympathy leads to hostility and hurt feelings.

And I generally agree that rational discourse is disrupted by personal anecdotes. But you see, we're talking about drunk driving here, which is stupid and irresponsible and deadly and inexcusable. And definitely not justification for self-pity and support.

But whatever, I'll back off and leave it for somebody else to tell Wedge it's not okay.

The idea that Hugh has some special rational insight into drunk driving just because he feels bad that his mom got hit is stupid, and the idea that he has to tell us his preschool teacher's name and how his dad smelled or we won't get it is insulting.

Hey, thirteenkiller: Classy stuff.

Drunk Driving is bad news, I regret that I have gotten behind the wheel in an impaired state in the past and I know I will never do it again (if god is with me), I feel very lucky that I've never hurt anyone in the past.

It's simply impossible to know how you might fuck up, going 10 miles an hour or 100, your reaction times are screwed up, it's as simple as that. It's one of those things you either know or you learn and hopefully when you learn it it's not at the expense of someones life.

Hugh Janus: I'll do it!

Having been a driver who had been drinking all night before and witnessing an accident as I was just less than a block from my house (and of course pulling over, calling the cops from a pay phone, telling the officer that I called it in and didn't see anything, all while trying to make sure I didn't appear drunk) I am all in favor of staying the fuck put when you're too drunk to drive or having contingency plans, such as a car service or a cab.

Next time, walk the six blocks, put your friend up at your place, stay the fuck put and smoke those bowls. Just stay the fuck off the street.

thirteenkiller: Encouraging or "giving a pass" to this kind of attitude when everyone knows that drinking impairs judgement behind the wheel is also very insulting.

And just to state the complete obvious: it doesn't matter how well, or how carefully and slowly you are driving while impaired - if some other *bad driver* comes along and careens into you, your reaction times won't be as good as if you were sober.

Also, when I was in high school, a kid I used to work with was in a car being driven by a guy who was drunk and high on a stew of stuff. My friend was in the back seat (and high as well) with a seat belt on. When the car crashed the seat belt sliced him almost in half, and he was a hemophiliac so he didn't make it. He was 17. This is no game.

The idea that Hugh has some special rational insight into drunk driving just because he feels bad that his mom got hit is stupid,

I'm glad you realize that this idea is stupid, since you're the only one in this thread who thinks that is what he is going for "special rational insight" rather than an emotional counter-example to Wedge's emotional anecdote.

and the idea that he has to tell us his preschool teacher's name and how his dad smelled or we won't get it is insulting.

The illimitable HJ has an enviable knack for telling excellent and poignant tales. Memories of traumatic events tend to be quite evocative in their details, so HJ's specificity allows a comprehensive reader to understand just how etched that time is in his memory. Thus, HJ's story is quite apt in this context.

Drunk driving has consequences, all of them bad.

I only wish that there were a much harsher penalty for those caught drunk driving.

Six months incarceration should do the trick.

One time this girl I didn't really know but partied with once was driving her car and she was on a country road and the sky was really blue and she drove past a quarry and a truck from the quarry pulled out and she hit it and she died. THANK YOU WEDGE FOR NOT DRIVING PAST A QUARRY PLEASE PEOPLE THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU QUARRY AWARENESS PLEASE THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

The idea that Hugh has some special rational insight into drunk driving just because he feels bad that his mom got hit is stupid,

That drunk driving is dangerous is not a special insight. It falls under 'blindingly obvious,' to most people. Back off my friend.

on preview: ok, go ahead, drive drunk. just do it on an empty road. preferably one with concrete pylons.

It's blindingly obvious to all of us. That's the point. Your hysteria is misplaced.

Wait, are you saying you want me to die?

Let me get this straight—you were driving dunk (quite drunk), and you want sympathy here? Fuck that. This post of yours says a lot about your character, nothing good.

Hugh's story was completely relevant, thirteenkiller.

It dosen't seem blindingly obvious to Wedge?

Wait, are you saying you want me to die?

No, I made a dismissive callous comment, which I imagine irked you somewhat. Get the picture?

I have a sneaking suspicion that we have a few years yet before thirteenkiller can drink or drive legally. Enjoy growing up, kiddo, and be safe.

thirteenkiller, please go back to the dark blue place.

Thirteenkiller elsewhere said he was 24. But he could use some more maturity anyway.

I just hate it when people deploy their dead/injured friends/relatives for emotional appeal in a debate. I think Wedge understands that he shouldn't drive drunk, and if he doesn't, your sob stories about dead people aren't going to help.

I'm a girl, I'm 25, and you really don't know much about me.

I think Wedge understands that he shouldn't drive drunk

Really? Show me where he's not justifying or rationalizing his behavior, or blaming it on "fucking cops". Then we'll talk.

emotional appeal in a debate.

The thing is this isn't really a debate site.

I just hate it when people deploy their dead/injured friends/relatives for emotional appeal in a debate.

This isn't even a debate. Somebody announced something dangerous and illegal they did and we're telling him what we think of it.

I just hate it when people deploy their dead/injured friends/relatives for emotional appeal in a debate.

But... but... where was the debate? I saw Wedge wanting sympathy and noone giving it to him. No debate. This is not the blue.

not saying i _didnt_ break the law,

but.

gah

He's pissed because he got in trouble. Anyone would be.

Okay, it's not a debate. I just hate when people deploy their dead/injured friends/relatives for emotional appeal when they're trying to teach a moral lesson or punish someone or whatever this is. But really, you all seem to be (ridiculously) interpreting Wedge's posts as arguments justifying drunk driving and you're responding with arguments against drunk driving. Seems kinda debatey to me.

I just hate when people deploy their dead/injured friends/relatives for emotional appeal

Emotional appeal? Ye gods, he's appealing to emotions, those horrible, horrible things.

what's wrong with emotional appeal? Again, this is a chat site. We're not following rules of argument here "oh no! appeal to authority!". gah.

Actually I think Wedge was just trying to wind people up (as per usual). Has all the hallmarks donchafink?

Pfffttt.

That went down hill fast.

CHANGING THE GOD DAMNED SUBJECT
by seanyboy.
=================================

If I ran, and I didn't mind ...

- going to bed at 3.00am
- spending $200.00
- travelling for 6 hours.

I could ...
- be at the London meetup by 8:30
- Spend 2.5 hours with the dodginess

So tempting,,, so, so tempting...

seanyboy, it started at the bottom the hill and had nowhere to go but underground, frankly.

Thirteenkiller, I don't care who you are, or how old, I still hope you have a nice time growing up, and you do it safely.

---

You should do it, seanyboy, not least because it's at the Betsey Trotwood, and you can crack all sorts of "Davey Copperfull" jokes, and go on about fiduciary impecunity and penurious existence à la Mr. Micawber (jokes which I'm sure the publican has heard countless irritating times).

As Hugh said above, rational discourse is disrupted by personal anecdotes. He went on to say there's an exception for drunk driving because it's DRUNK DRIVING. I don't buy that. I find hysterics like that unconvincing and sorta disgusting.

Hugh, really, this isn't an issue of maturity. Real sorry your mom got hurt. I don't think it's relevant, and it really annoys me when people sacrifice the dignity of their own most precious experiences to teach some lesson that won't be heeded anyway.

As Hugh said above, rational discourse is disrupted by personal anecdotes.

If you want dry, rational discourse, you've come to the wrong place. Besides dry discourse is for dry people. Here we are all very wet.

Yeah jonmc I don't usually hang out here much at all. I just came to see Wedge's lol thread.

rational discourse is disrupted by personal anecdotes

No more than anything else. Personal anecdotes are often very relevant. Hugh's story was relevant.

I just came to see Wedge's lol thread.

So this is just #tapes fucking with mecha?

This thread sucks.

See, that's what I really want to say, but I'm afraid it will only add to the suckiness. So I guess I just won't say anything at all.

Rational discourse is disrupted by personal anecdotes; MetaChat isn't governed by rules of rational discourse, but by the general decorum of conversation. Politeness.

You call this a "lol thread" at the same time you say "real sorry your mom got hurt." My gut tells me you're laughing at me.

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt when I call you immature.

If I ran, and I didn't mind ...

Dude, it's such a shame you can't make it. I dunno yet for sure but the June do might be do-able so hopefully I'll catch up with you there.

Yes, it's an lol thread. I came to laugh at what an idiot Wedge is. Then you go and tell some story about your mom that ruins the whole mood. I'm not immature, you're whiny.

My gut tells me you're laughing at me.

I'm laughing at Wedge! Jesus Christ. Stop listening to your gut.

mmm winey guts.

Rational discourse is disrupted by personal anecdotes

I don't agree with this categorical statement. Personal anecdotes are no more and no less disruptive than anything else. Implicit in the assertion otherwise is the false opposition between what is rational and what is personal.

Personal anecdotes can, and often do, aid in rational discourse. I could point to a large number of examples in the writings of philosophers, beginning with Socrates and continuing through to Russell and into the present day.

Particularly in the subject area of morality and ethics, many or most people drawn to "rational discourse" tend to extreme abstraction. But there is no subject which more demands to be personalized. Morality and ethics are personal matters—personal matters which live and breathe with us each day in our decisions and actions.

The unusual school I attended has only seminar-style classes, most of them with fewer than 12 students. St. John's College is four years of intense "rational discourse". Perhaps the majority of students there tend to dry abstraction. I, myself, can be notably abstract in my discourse. But I used personal anecdotes—both providing them and soliciting them—as a means to vitalize our conversations, to bring them to life down on the Earth where we walk every day, to inform our understandings of the well-worn paths and those not taken.

Emotion is not antithetical to reason. What is personal is not a distraction from what is true. Rather, emotion completes reason; the personal completes the truth.

And drunk drivers kill people we love.

I've been trying to keep quiet, but this got me:

I'm laughing at Wedge! Jesus Christ.

You're laughing at someone who (was stupid to drive drunk and) got arrested for drunk driving?

Nice.

I'm sorry, is it inappropriate to laugh at him? I suppose I should be more sympathetic. Sounds like he's gonna lose his license. :/

I know what you're saying, kmellis, but I (and I think a great number of people) think of rational discourse as an adjunct to pure logic, and a way of framing arguments, and of personal anecdotes as distractions or at best resonating bodies attached to those logical points. I don't think we see it in altogether different ways, but most of the time, when someone is looking for rigor, they aren't looking for a story about someone's mom. But the point, to my mind, is that we aren't engaged in rigorous argument here, but a more amorphous conversational stance, with plenty of leeway for reminiscences, gags, sarcasm, and loads of other thoughts that might clash with the logical rigor the blue pretends to.

And thirteenkiller, I'm fuckin' mad, is what. I've been holding back all day while you taunt me for putting up a story that illustrates why I think drinking and driving is no laughing matter. Not to mention, you changed your reasons for my story being bad. First it wasn't part of logical argument, then it wasn't part of the joke you wanted this thread to be.

So your goading worked. I thought nothing of you before, and now I think less. And I'm mad, and I know I've wasted my time.

LO fucking L, sweetheart. Nice one.

I should just slowly back away from this thread, but I feel the need to make a couple of points.

Metachat is all about the personal anecdotes. Wedge told a personal anecdote about himself, Hugh countered with one of his own. What's to criticize? (And Hugh, I'm sorry you had to go through that.)

Driving drunk is always wrong. Even if you're just a little drunk or just driving a short distance or if the roads are totally clear, it's wrong.

OK, sorry.

thirteenkiller's behavior here explains exactly why I left that other place. It's overflowing with that. Mainly because it's full of miserable people who want evryone to be as miserable as they are.

Agreed, jonmc.

Listen, I'm not miserable. I just don't like it when people use their moms like that.

Oh, good. Reason #3 why you don't like Hugh's anecdote. Keeping those stories straight are we?

Ah, fuck it. I'm staying off MeCha for the rest of the day.

thirteenkiller, you've made your point, over and over. You didn't like Hugh's story. We get it. Sweet buttery jesus, we get it. You apologized, maybe you should let it rest now.

Just to get the thread back on track:

I WAS JUST ARRESTED FOR DRUNK DRIVING.

Hooray! The system works!

Gaspode, pay attention, my reasons fit together. I don't like his use of that story because it's irrelevant and ineffective. Therefore, it's a cheap use of his family's precious and profound experience.

Clearly not everyone finds it irrelevant and ineffective.

iconomy, people keep talking about it!

Three things that weretable needs to get off his chest:

weretable tried to favorite this thread, weretable needs more sleep.

weretable thinks Sweet Buttery Jesus is the best band name ever.

weretable wants to see a "what if they mated" starring Sweet Buttery Jesus and Ceiling Cat.

TIA, HTH, HAND.

I have a friend who's probably the most devout Christian I know. She's a bible-toting holy roller all the way. And she's very homey and domestic. She has this crazy Nativity cookie cutter set, which consists of a Mary, a Joseph, a donkey, a lamb, and a baby Jesus. She made sugar cookies with them a few Christmases ago. It was so bizarre biting into a crispy, warm, flaky, sweet buttery Jesus. I made jokes about biting off his head and they were horrified at first, and then saw that it was kind of funny and strange to be eating baby Jesus in the first place. To them, anyway...to me he was delicious.

Yah, "Sweet Buttery Jesus" deserves to sweep the nation. Or two.

Sweet Buttery Jesus! That was one heck of a thunderstorm! Give me a kiss!

Come morning Wedge will wake up with that taste in his mouth and a nasty brain pain. Will he come back to the thread with bravado or remorse?

Personal anecdotes do work for people who have a conscious and respect the person relaying the anecdote. In fact, most people who don't wear seat belts, drink and drive, smoke cigarettes, etc. do not change their ways until someone close to them dies in a car accident, is maimed, injured or killed by a drunk driver, loses a loved one to cancer, etc. Or until one of these things happen to them.

HJ was probably trying to HELP Wedge along that route by showing him that there are consequences to his (stupid) actions. Perhaps assuming that Wedge respects him as a friend and or community member, and might actually listen and learn something. But such advice is usually ignored by people who can't admit their own mistakes, are too drunk/stoned to do anything but rant about being the victim, or are too immature to realise that someone relaying a tragic story about a loved one is not doing so as some sort of LOL Internets game.

Wow. I'm outta the loop... I tried to open this thread this morning on my high school's computer (the wireless for my laptop was down), and it blocked me. Figured there were nudy pics or something. It's like I went out for a pee and came back to a smoldering bunker.

Not that this all needs another voice, but my jaw dropped at the remarks by thirteenkiller; I think she's the one who missed the point. If that's rationality, I'll take emotional, thank you very much.

Everything about the dangers of drunk driving seem pretty well covered. No lol there. There are hard ways and easier ways to learn that lesson; I'd say, for Wedge, whoever you are, this was one of the easier.

*Rips off thirteenkiller's mask... Hugh??*

(now that would be lol)

THE INTERNETS ARE NOT A GAME

I don't know, Pips. Hugh's sockpuppets are generally pretty cool. They wouldn't stoop to this sort of display.

Christ, what an asshole.

I have my own little anecdote: I was awakened at something like 3am, while 7 months pregnant, with a call from my baby daddy, that he was in jail. He got picked up for a DUI (his third), while out in my car. Much drama ensued. He had to spend the night in jail, and my car battery was dead when I went to pick up my car.

Anyway he was whiny as fuck about the shit he had to go through (3rd DUI here in TX is supposed to be a felony, but he got a good / expensive lawyer), which included a breathalyzer in his car, court ordered counseling, court ordered AA (I think that was for at least a year), community service, a hefty fine, and two years probation. The breathalyzer in his car would frequently malfunction and stressed him out, so I got to drive him everywhere for... damn it was months and months. Including driving myself to the hospital (while in labor (okay it was painless at that point but STILL)) and back to have the baby.

His continual bitching about the consequences he faced really got fucking old. He could have killed or maimed someone. He could have killed or maimed himself. I didn't care about his stupid excuses. He got off easy, very very easy, considering. I wasn't about to participate in his pity party. Evidently they didn't make things unpleasant enough for him after DUI #1 or DUI #2. Slow learner, I guess. But he did actually comply with everything they made him do. And he quit drinking.

And he was only really sorry about having gotten caught.

Don't be that guy.

what an interesting and somewhat hostile thread! i hope i can clear a few things up.

you were driving dunk (quite drunk), and you want sympathy here? Fuck that. This post of yours says a lot about your character, nothing good

i don't remember any appeals for sympathy, but free feel to just assume the worst. (...says a lot about my character?)

what, you want sympathy? boo hoo.

the sympathy here for a self-pitying drunk driver whose self-pity stems from the fact that he got caught.

oh christ i believe i specifically SAID i was NOT looking for sympathy. please, feel free to read/not read/understand everything, anyway. although empathy is always comforting and welcome, this thread was intended to be a cathartic, somewhat self-depreciating, pillow-punching (not biting) thread. i was pissed off and i thought i'd be better to vent online rather than yelling IRL and waking up the neighbors. this thread is NOT an Afterschool Special, it is not a pity party, and it is not a monkeypile.

(dear reader: have you ever gotten pulled over, deservedly or not, for speeding? [remember speed kills] how did you feel afterwards? maybe a little angry, yes? was it "morally wrong" of you to speed or were you just in a hurry, keeping up w/ traffic, being a dumbshit, etc) although none of you actually witnessed the 'incident', it seems as though you're ready to crucify me for the sins of every "drunk driver" past, present, and imagined. it's a shame you aren't all available for jury duty. state your opinions, share your stories, point and LOL. that's fair enough. im remarkably resilient. but i dont appreciate some of the unfounded accusations or jumping to conclusions. i may be guilty of being a dumbass, but that's it. i hit no one, i damaged no property, i was driving quite safely to a destination 3 minutes away, on an empty boulevard. yes, i do understand that the statistically safest BAC is 0. yes, i was lucky. yes, i will be extra-extra cautious next time. NO i am not an alcoholic, i am not a drunk driver, i don't make a habit of engaging in risk-taking behavior, and i am certainly not a murderer.

btw if anyone can explain how drinking ~3.5 drinks (i didnt drink much of the last one- we were playing darts, the bar was closing and they kicked us out), in 3 hours, can result in a nearly-comatose BAC of ~.23, i would grately appreciate it. i have an athletic build, i weigh ~160lbs, and i'm pretty healthy afaik. i had my first drink at 11pm, i was pulled over at exactly 2am... much of the alcohol, at this point, was probably either _just_ reaching my digestive system, or on its way out. from what i understand, these breathalizers have a tendency to be wildly inaccurate. that's disconcerting, isn't it.

so i agreed to be the designated driver precisely because i dont like alcohol, and wasnt going to (and didnt) drink much. btw IANAD. having ~1 drink/hr seemed a fairly safe, level-headed, and "reasonable" rate for consuming just a couple blue UV & lemonades while catching up with my very good buddy (since grade school) that i havent seen in a year. and paul's caring, sober, church-going sisters concurred with our assessment that i was fit to drive while we were doing the risk calculus and ride logistics. i wasnt pulled over for driving erratically, i was pulled over because we were suspicious. the girls we met were supposed to be following us, so when they got pulled over we had to turn around so they didnt lose us. it kinda felt like one big raid. the cop tells me to get out of the car and starts asking all these baffling begged questions like 'why were we trying to get away, what were we trying to hide from him, etc' instead of the normal "license and registration please, do you know why i pulled you over" routine. IANAL.

although you better believe i did get wasted after i came home, and then posted here.

thirteenkiller knows me well enough to know that i'm not much of a drinker and that i'm actually pretty decent and levelheaded IRL... ie, she knows i know better, i think she just got a little... feisty? i don't believe for a minute, though, that anyone here would think that what happened to mrs janus is, in any way, funny.

as far as the "police are your friends, dont hate on police" horseshit goes... well, cops might be wonderful and heroic in new york, i dunno. in wisconsin, police like to fuck around. they will not hesitate to beat your hippie or minority ass into a bloody pulp, at the drop of a hat. have you ever been pepper sprayed or cracked with a police baton? ever had to spread your legs, bend over, and lift up your balls? ever been pulled over for driving while black/brown, or been racially targeted? ever been incarcerated? harrassed or intimidated? humiliated and dehumanized? (where do you think they got all that abu graib shit from? who cares, youre oblivious!) goodness i can't see why anyone would hate oppressive fascists armed with an assortment of lethal weaponry! i've never had a positive experience with the police. and they're never around when you need one. obviously im pissed about getting pulled over, but the cop wasn't _just_ doing his job... he was being weird, he was being a prick, and he was being a bastard, above and beyond the call of duty. i'll elaborate if you really need me to.

and you know who else was "just doing their job"? yeah... the NAZIS!

-wedge

Christ, what an asshole

i sincerely hope that wasnt directed at me, beth

Bravado.

aaah, wedge! I see your point, but also, you would have to see the point of most people responding here.

If you did most of your drinking AFTER getting home (from the whole police thing), and just BEFORE posting, then it makes better sense how you could be so fucked up, yet still be protesting your innocence so much. But you have to admit that just seeing an incoherent, pissed-off "I WAS JUST ARRESTED FOR DRUNK DRIVING" post from someone who couldn't even type didn't make most people think that you were treated unfairly.

no doubt, taz ;)

think the point is that once anyone says "someone dear to me was involved in precisely this kind of situation..."
I certainly agree that these personal experiences add little to the discussion, but they do add to our understanding of each other, so they are not really pointless.

I do feel like a bit of a hypocrite criticising drink drivers, having driven in some fairly advanced states of intoxication myself in my younger days (having to stop half-way home to have a spew out the window a few times), but drink-driving was not considered to be the social evil then that it is today - when I was a teenager, it was something of a universal social status symbol to be able to regularly drive shitfaced without getting caught (and I did, as did almost everyone I know).

But that is not the case today and I don't think there is anyone who seriously (when they are sober at least) believes that driving under the influence is OK, no matter what. Likewise, if you take the risk, you have no right whatsoever to whine when you get caught. The real problem is that we rely on people to make the decision to drive or not when their decision-making ability is impaired in direct proportion to the extent to which their ability to drive is impaired.

Sorry about your license, wedge. Even though you deserve to be punished for it, it sucks to not be able to drive.