Christmas Sweater + Cop + a Crane and a Camera

CHRISTMAS SWEATER

To begin, I recently went to a Tacky Christmas Sweater party. I was dressed from head to toe: light-up reindeer antlers, light-bulb earrings, an elf shirt, tacky sweater and polka-dotted furry Santa socks.

That would be me on the left ;) 

 And these were my favorite part!

When it comes to things like this (dressing cheesy for partys and such), I always say "go big or go home" ;)

But, not "go to jail."

Yea, that is not how that saying goes.

Don't worry. I didn't go to jail.

COP

But I was pulled over. By a cop WITH A CANINE UNIT. Annnnndddd, I had some of my students in the car. Classy, right?

Such the role model BCM intern ;)

Anyways, it was after midnight and I was running late for an event called LoveGave at a local Walmart that I was volunteering for during the midnight-3am shift.

Despite that I was running late, I wasn't even speeding. I had no idea what I had done when the cop knocked on the window and asked "Ma'am. Do you know why I pulled you over this evening?"

Turns out, it was all a big misunderstanding.

I didn't realize I was in a turn-only lane when I came to a light so I paused with my blinker on til I could get back over in the lane going straight; I did not have time to get off the main road and risk getting lost which I have a very high propensity to do. Plus my gas light was on (naturally) so I didn't want to waste gas since I knew I wouldn't fill up until the next day as I would definitely not be stopping on the way home at 3am to fill up.

Anyways, from wherever the cop was (I didn't see him until blue lights were in my rear-view mirror!) he thought I ran a red light turning onto the main road. 

OH AND DID I FAIL TO MENTION, I WAS STILL IN MY TACKY-CHRISTMAS-SWEATER-OUTFIT?????????????

Yes. Recap:

• it was after midnight
• I was driving a car full of college students
• you saw how I was dressed!?!
• I stopped in traffic with my blinker on to turn the opposite direction of what the traffic signal was suggesting
• I told him I was headed to Walmart to volunteer til 3am???  Granted this was the truth but it sounded crazy nonetheless.

I can imagine the guy thought I was drunk as a skunk.

But, no, I hadn't had a drop to drink. I'm just directionally challenged and enjoy going overboard in cheesy attire for Christmas parties. 

Fortunately, once he spoke to me and could tell I was completely coherent and sober,  he realized the misunderstanding and let me go with just a warning for improper lane use.

So, running almost half an hour late now, we headed off towards Walmart - carfeul not to go over the speed limit by even 1 mph. 

A CRANE AND A CAMERA

I generally try to stay positive and view things from a glass-half-full perspective.

Turns out, there was a silver lining to that cloud: my volunteering task (unbeknownst to me until a few hours before my shift) was to be in a crane live on camera. That is just part of a publicity stunt that LoveGave does to raise awareness and money, this year in an effort to feed low-income children over the holidays. Essentially, 1-3 people are live on camera (which happens to be on a crane in a Walmart parking lot) talking sometimes about Jesus and the church but often about random stuff, especially the shifts that are past midnight. Those are the ones that tend to be the most random and entertaining. Since I was late for my shift, someone else went up in the crane to be on camera.

Praise the Lord. I thought I had escaped.

But when 2am rolled around, I was up... literally... in the crane and going live on camera.

Turns out from my vantage point in the crane, I happened to see... guess who? No, not Santa. The cop. Yep, I guess he was just coming to investigate if I truly did head to Walmart. I saw him drive around the parking lot and stop near my car but, fortunately, after that he left.

Somehow (maybe a miracle of God to spare y'all from any further torment and me from any further embarrassment), the internet connection died halfway through our camera shift but in case you're curious to see my short-lived airtime, here it is: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18895670.

All is well that ends well: we met - and exceeded - our goal for LoveGave to feed low-income families but if you want to learn more, here is the website: http://lovegave.com/live/

Go big or go home!