My Night With the Police

The other night, I got to go for a ride in a police car.


No, not because I was bad. If you know me, you know that I am not like that. As this kid from work would say, I am "One of those good juniors". Being a good junior was actually what got me the chance to do the ride along. I am part of this leadership group in the city, and they set up ride alongs for anyone who wanted to do it.

On Thursday, I arrived at the police station five minutes before 4:00, right when they told me to be there. Actually, I had to speed to get there in time. Luckily, no one asked about that, and I didn't tell. So I got there at 4:00, and filled out the sheet of paper that the receptionist gave me, and waited. Come 4:15, I was still waiting. Around rolled 4:30, and I'm still patiently sitting in the PD lobby, wondering if I will ever get to go for my ride. After all, I had homework to do that night!

Finally, Officer Long came out the door to get me. She told me that she was sorry, and that she had to make some phone calls, which was what made her late. Once we got in the car, I realized that this cop was cool, and I was going to enjoy being in her car. We pulled up to her normal car in order to get some papers. I waited to see which car she would go to. In the vicinity there were a couple choices: a pickup, a jeep, a minivan, and a bright orange mustang. Yeah, she chose the mustang. I would later realize that she is a dog lover and a football fan, as well as owned a cooler car than all the macho policemen.

Throughout the ride, she was extremely easy to get along with. She answered all of my questions, let me eat (when we stopped at McDonald's for a call, only to find the people had left), joked with me about the people, gave me one of her turkey bites, and even showed me some of the flood zone. Not only was I lucky to be able to go on the ride, but I was extremely lucky to get such a cool partner.

During the ride, we saw some...odd... people, and even heard about some cases that made us either roll our eyes or raise our eyebrows. To start the night off, we sat for about thirty minutes on the side of the interstate, in the middle of the most dangerous section that passes through downtown. In the rain. The only reason we stayed was to make sure no one "crunched" the car that we was to be towed. Basically, we were there to get hit, but we survived. Right away, we went to the McDonald's case. There was supposed to be a disturbance between a mother and daughter in the restaurant, but we got there and nobody was there. I got to get some food, and then we left for a domestic disturbance.

This case was the first one that made us just roll our eyes. The reason we were called there was because a girl had called saying that a man was pushing mommy. A very valid reason for the police to arrive, I would say. However, when the officers got back (two officers go because they don't know what to expect, and I waited in the car), I learned that the man was actually mommy's boyfriend, and they were breaking up. Mommy was jealous because he was with another woman. Oh yeah, Mommy was pregnant with the man's baby, as well. So the officers told them to figure it out, as they can't make him leave his place of residence.

At this point, Officer Long had to pee....

Focus

Sometimes, a person loves something so much that it is all they think about. For my dad at the moment, it is fixing our house to sell, and finding the right house to move into. For me, at least until Friday, it was Dave Matthews Band. We had tickets for a few months to the show on Friday, and the closer the show came, the more obsessed I became.

The picture above is the album cover from their latest release, Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King . Friday's show was part of their 2009 summer tour supporting the album, which is largely about their late saxophonist, Leroi Moore. The show was a blast, and I will never forget it, but it's not the show that I want to discuss.

"Hype" can get really big. The hype in my life for this event was enormous. I thought about the show every day after we got tickets. I listened to DMB songs almost every day. The only CD for a straight two weeks was the new one, and it was the only thing that was played for those two weeks. I was more excited for this concert than I have been for nearly everything else that I've done. It ended up being one of the coolest things I've seen, right behind Africa (Which was also this year. Yeah, big year for the Irish American).

Not only was I excited, I was incredibly focused on it. I bought songs, learned their history, the members, and listened to them constantly. I have found that I get like this when I am truly excited for something. It was the same way with my Africa trip. My computer was only used to learn about South Africa, look at pictures of South Africa, and to learn what I would be doing in South Africa. If there is one way to tell how excited a person is for something, this has to be it. When they are completely taken over by the subject, they are truly excited. Other times, they may say they are excited, but maybe not as much as they could be.

It is focus that truly shows what we enjoy, because if we didn't love it, why would we focus on it? People who are incredibly good at what they do, are likely very focused in their work. They also likely enjoy their work tremendously, or else they wouldn't work so hard. Why would you develop a skill that you don't enjoy and isn't necessary to survive? True focus, in this way, is reserved only for the things which we love.