BUSTED

So I just got pulled over by a cop on my way back from lunch. Let me tell you something - there aren't many things more humiliating than getting pulled over a block away from your work WHILE RIDING A SCOOTER. Now that's an awkward 10 minutes.

Actually, wait - it would have been more humiliating if it had been a bike cop. Other than that, though, I don't know of many other things as humiliating.

It was for registration. It's been expired for 3 months now. I never thought they would actually check. I mean, I wear my helmet, for crying out loud. How often do you see a guy riding a 50cc scooter, wearing a tie and an enormous helmet (hardly anyone wears a helmet in Utah) and think, "I bet that guy is breaking a law of some sort"?

My initial reaction was shame, followed by disbelief, then a sort of simmering rage at how stupid it was. Why on earth should you have to register a 50cc scooter? You don't even need a license for it. It's practically a toy. And why should the registration cost as much as it does for a car? Come on, government - I'm trying to save the environment by using less gasoline, throw me a bone here. Then I thought how I should have quickly turned when I first saw the police car, and about how, if I had simply taken another route, I wouldn't have to pay this $40 ticket. After that came a myraid of ideas on how I could have gotten out of the ticket, or the dozens of ways I would have avoided this sad fate if I had just done something else.

But then I realized I should just get my scooter registered.

So I'm going to do that.

How's that for sticking it to THE MAN.