Nothing To Do With The Superbowl

It's been about a week since my last update and today I have a ton of homework to do so I'll make it quick.
Our essays sucked apparently so badly that our teacher handed them all back without grading them, giving us the opportunity to go over them once more. This is probably the one and only opportunity I will get in that class to screw something up and here I was under the impression that my essay was well written.
So we've established that I'm delusional, but to add to that point, I got sick on Friday and went to the doctors office at the very faintest symptom of an infection hoping that if I caught it early enough, I wouldn't get sick or at least avoid the full blown symptoms. Didn't I say I was delusional? Over the weekend I've taken the antibiotics and rinsed the hell out of my nasal passages with warm saline, gargled warm saline even rinsed my face with warm saline hoping any pathogens would be eliminated. This morning, exhausted but not sick enough to justify sleeping in, I drove my way through a labyrinth of morons in a haze. Somehow I didn't kill anyone, thankfully, remained pretty lucid throughout classes and one of my teachers remarked that I "wasn't being a zombie" so that's a plus. All this and more without the help of any antihistamines, decongestant or pain reliever. I'm going to need a ton of pro-biotics. Now I'm going to study for my upcoming tests and re-write that garbage I handed in.

Helicopter Crash

Last night I had the strangest dream. It's so hilarious that I decided to share it here even though I don't normally share dreams and things of a more intimate nature.

I was on a team of scientists doing research in a remote mountainous region. We had a base camp set up on the side of a mountain facing the ocean, it was ideal because it was the most accessible point and we could scout other locations from there using our nifty helicopter. A group of us set off for a smaller island off the coast about fifteen to twenty minutes east from our camp. Once we got there it was easy to see why we needed a helicopter to get there, the trek on foot would have easily taken several hours, though it was not very far, through steep moutain terrain and ridges with sheer drops into solid bedrock. As we neared the small island, we were shaken violently, strong winds were taking control of our helicopter and our pilot had no choice but to try to land or crash into the side of the mountain. We made a choppy landing onto the tiny island but our helicopter, still unstable, began to tip and sway. We jumped out and made a swim safely away from the island as we watched our helicopter blades hit the water and the rest slowly sank into the water. No one was injured, we all managed to escape the failing helicopter in time but were really shaken. Rather than panic, we took shelter of natural caves and waited for our team to come to our aid. We collected firewood and tinder for fires and settled in as night was upon us. While we waited, a small group sat stunned and traumatized on the hard bedrock and natural ridge formations near the shore and started to smoke gañja.

I pondered within myself, mockingly, if that was the real reason our helicopter crashed. I smiled and chuckled aloud a bit. My partner looked at me bemused and asked, "What's so funny?"  I suddenly wake up and blurt out, "The pilot must have been stoned." 

Zero Tolerance Law

This is something funny that I thought I'd share with everyone; don't get me wrong, I'm not for minors drinking alcohol and/or drunk driving. I just think this law seemingly oversteps some bounds. I mean, come on, suspension for refusing to take a blood alcohol test? That's just a little bit too much. Anyway, I just like the redundant speech... read it, again and again and... again?

• Chapter 524 of the Transportation Code and Section 106.041 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code provides for suspending the driver license or driving privilege of individuals under 21 years of age for any detectable amount of alcohol. Senate Bill 35 as passed by the Texas Legislature became law on September 1, 1997. This law provides that a minor (a person who is under the age of 21) may not drive a motor vehicle with any detectable amount of alcohol (.00) in their system. This law is commonly referred to as the ZERO TOLERANCE LAW. This law provides for the suspension of a minor’s driver license for any detectable amount of alcohol in the minor’s system or refusal to provide a specimen of the minor’s breath or blood for analysis. See Chapter 10 for more detailed information about the ZERO TOLERANCE LAW for minors.

Did we get the point? I think whoever wrote this law should have his license revoked. Hah! Anyway, I thought you guys might get a good laugh. On a more serious note,

• In 2006, 13,470 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (32%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.¹
• In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics.⁴ That's less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.⁵
• Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol.⁶
• Half of the 306 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes in 2006 were riding with drivers who had a BAC level of .08 or higher.¹
• In 2006, 45 children age 14 years and younger who were killed as pedestrians or bicyclists were hit by alcohol-impaired drivers.¹

From the Centers for Disease Control website for Impaired Driving.