After copious amounts of seafood, steak, and music, the 2007 school year ended with a bang. And a few coffin sized coolers of booze. For the first time in my tenure, I stayed on campus; one of the teachers lent me her son’s bed, since he was visiting relatives. Corbin, their house cat, slept next to me just like Oedipus. Walking back to my car the morning after was a very strange experience–rather like stumbling between the dorm and the dining hall after an intense bender. And the fact I had my parent’s green hate tank, instead of my own car.

Speaking of the trusty 2001 Nissan, I walked out the UPS store Saturday afternoon and discovered a shiny white 5 series BMW parked in the fire lane in front of Blockbuster’s blocking me into my legal, striped spot. Where others might see inconvenience, I see a chance for entertainment.

And maybe a paradigm shift. I cranked the ignition, dropped the car into gear, and rolled backwards..slowly. When it became clear I was not yielding to their socio economic statement, the honking started. I continued in reverse. More honking. About two feet before I left gray marks on the passenger front panel, the BMW driver confronted three realities:

1) My car is old and looks it.

2) I probably wasn’t stopping.

3) Should we collide and report the accident for insurance claims, there is no justification for parking in a fire lane to drop off a DVD. That’s a pretty hefty citation on top of the other essentially needless repairs.

And so the 5 series backed out of the fire lane and I completed my K turn. Pulling even with the car, I waved to my new friends and drove off in good spirits. Curiously, they refused eye contact.

Not sure what’s up with that…* evil grin *