The Time I was Almost Arrested for Possession

So... I haven't written in a while (because WOW, life is happening so quickly...) but I just had to share this story.

Tonight, I was driving home from a doctor's appointment. I didn't know the area very well, so I was just feeling my way back. I didn't want to use my GPS, because you learn more from finding your way, right? Though I didn't have a specific deadline, I was hungry, and I was getting impatient to be home. I saw an entrance that I wanted to a highway. Technically I was headed in the wrong direction to take the entrance, but no one was coming and the angle to take the turn wasn't hard, so I took it. Instantly, sirens started blaring and lights started flashing.

I pulled over, thinking to myself that it was unfortunate, but I did deserve to be pulled over for that turn. Oh well. I waited for a bit in the car. I pulled up my insurance card on my phone (in the whirlwind of life, I haven't printed it yet), grabbed the registration, resigned myself to explaining that my license was in my other wallet (whirlwind of life...)

The police officer predictably walked up to the window and asked to see everything. He wasn't happy to only have the 1 physical item, but oh well. No need to worry, there wasn't much I could do at that point. So far, so normal.

And then the officer said "I smell marijuana."'

I was momentarily stunned. I was going to laugh, and decided that would probably come off wrong, so I told him that it was impossible (if you know me, you know just how crazy it is.) At which point he asked me to get out of the car.

So, I got out of the car. (I'm thinking: Do I need to walk in a straight line? Isn't walking in a straight line and reciting the alphabet only for people suspected of drunk driving?)

And then we played a very strange game of Simon Says. He told me to stand behind the car, so I stood behind it.

I was apparently not in the position he wanted me to be in. He told me to stand right next to to the car, so I went closer to the car. (Now I'm thinking that maybe he's going to pat me down?)

I was still not in the correct position, apparently. He told me to turn around, so I turned around, facing away from the car.

Still not right. At this point, it's just getting silly. I'm really not sure what he's expecting. He told me to sit up against the car, so I sat up against the car. Finally, I was standing in a satisfactory position.

Now I get a talking to. Given that he smelled marijuana, that gave him probable cause to search the car. If he found marijuana, and he was sure he would, he would arrest me. But if I would just confess and show him where it was, he'd make sure things went easier for me. That was the basic message, but it was longer and with more assumed guilt and implied judgement. Not knowing exactly what to do in this unusual situation, I stammered around for a bit and continued to deny everything.

He also let me know that his police car was videotaping me. Because I looked really violent, I guess? Or as though I might have a gun that somehow fit in my girl-jeans' pockets? Reminder, this is me:

The face of a violent criminal

Then he asked, "Are you comfortable with me searching your car." (Not if he was allowed to, if I was comfortable with it.) At this point, I'm a little bit concerned and confused. My thoughts are going back and forth along these lines:
1) I am 99% sure that I don't need to let him search my car.
2) Then again, why not let him? There's nothing in there.
3) But he smelled something... what if there is? I've given rides to 5 different people in the past week, maybe someone had pot with them?? I don't think so, but I also can't be sure.
4) If I say no, he's going to drag this out somehow. I want to go home, I'm hungry.
5) But if I let him search and somehow there's something in there, I am definitely not going home. He said he would arrest me.
6) Also you're not supposed to agree to these things, on principle, right? Also, what type of a word to use is "comfortable"? No matter how innocent you are, who is ever "comfortable" with being searched? It's not really the correct word for him to use.

So in the end instead of answering the question, I ask him, "Am I required to let you search my car?" He tells me smelling marijuana give him probable cause and therefore he can search my car. (But he needs to actually get a warrant - which he doesn't mention.) "Are you comfortable with me searching your car?"

"Well then why are you asking, if I don't have a choice?" I ask innocently enough. He sidesteps the question and tells me that if I'm innocent I shouldn't mind him searching. Again, he asks, "Are you comfortable with me searching your car?"

"Well, I'd prefer if you didn't. Am I required to let you?"  He responds "Is there any marijuana in there?" I answer, in complete truth, "Well if there was I would certainly be surprised." (This is probably not what you're supposed to say in this situation... but telling the truth is a good idea.... right? right?? ...)

So then of course he starts telling me how that's not how he would respond if someone asked to search his car, and how guilty I sound. And asking again and again if he can search the car. And I continue to tell him that it's really laughable that he thinks I have marijuana (while wondering what in the world he's smelling.) We are not getting anywhere quickly.

At this point, most of me is intrigued and amused by the whole situation. A small part of me is insisting that this is really. not. good.

In the end though, I let him search the car. He asks me again to just show him where the pot is, so that he can not arrest me. Whatever he smelled, he is sure about it. I tell him again that it's impossible, there's nothing. Then, as he starts to walk to the driver's side, I remember something. "Oh, I might as well mention..."

His ears perk up and he comes back to the rear of the car. I go on, "There's some gallium in the car, in between the driver's and passenger's side. It's in a bag of beef jerky because the container broke. There's another tube of it in my laptop bag."

"There's... what?" "Gallium." "What's that?" "It's a metal that's liquid at room temperature."

He's very confused but goes back to search the car. He investigates the gallium. He holds it up and asks me again what it's purpose is ("just a novelty...") He pokes around in my wallet. There's really very little in the car to investigate, but he does a thorough job with what there is.

"Where's the lever to open the trunk?" "Ah... I don't know I usually use the key? Can I come back to the front of the car to see?" He watches me as though I am about to pull a gun on him the entire time. I keep my hands half-raised because he's so jumpy. "You know, why don't I just open the trunk, it's unlocked." He cautiously agrees to let me open the trunk.

Every once in a while during the search he tries to get me to admit to having something again. I tell him honestly that I am very curious where the suspicious smell might be coming from. He almost apologetically tells me that he smelt something and has to check it out. I agree that it's very suspicious that he smells something.

After poking around a bit more, he concludes that he can't find any pot, or even any portion of the car that smells much like pot. He asks me what's in my pockets (nothing) but doesn't verify this (what was the point in asking, at that point if I had been lying wouldn't I continue to lie?) I think he's getting tired of this whole search. (In reality, based on my reading since then, he can't reach into my pockets without a warrant either unless he pats something he thinks is a weapon. And he probably didn't expect "Are you comfortable with me reaching into your pockets" to go well.)

So, he lets me go with another lecture about how I Know If I Have Something (with the heavy implication that I do) and a couple of summonses for the left turn and not carrying my license around. (On that topic... what in the world? Could he not look me up in a database and check that I have a valid license? Of all the archaic things... having to carry around a piece of plastic...)

And that's how I almost was arrested for possession. Luckily the "I don't know what I'm doing and let them search without a warrant" factor was outweighed by the complete lack of anything illegal in my car. All in all, a fun story now that it's over, and it sparked me to do some reading about what to do if the police ask to search. Given these events, I think I'll do a much better job remembering what to do for next time.

Kristin Chenoweth at Carnegie Hall!

On Saturday night I was beyond excited to attend Kristin Chenoweth's "The Evolution of a Soprano" at Carnegie Hall! My friend Liz came with me and we had an amazing evening.

We arrived at the theater just in the knick of time, ran up many many flights of stairs to near the very top, and sat down just before Kristin walked on stage.

From there, it was a night filled with a combination of excellent music and silly antics. My favorite piece Kristin did was actually a cover of Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow", accompanied by drum and guitar. It was just beautiful. 

A few other highlights from the evening:

• Kristin talking about some roles "I shouldn't have played", like Tuptim from The King and I. To get into character, she asked her friends to call her "Christy Chen". (One of the Asian American orchestra members behind her was laughing pretty hard during this story.)
• When they were setting up for "Little Sparrow", Kristin inadvertently sat in the guitar player's spot. When she noticed, and moved, her comment was "I was wondering why the spotlight wasn't on me! It was funny for a second but then..."
• There was a rendition of "Popular" that mimicked the way that the song is performed around the globe, with portions in Japanese, German, and "of course" Italian.
• Kristin singing "My New Philosophy" from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. I knew she had won a Tony for it, but had never actually heard (or seen) it! AND she brought out Andrew Lippa, who wrote the song and with whom she seems very close, to sing it with her! He was a fun performer, too.
  
• Speaking of guest performers... Kristin also brought out Deborah Voigt, and the two of them were hilarious together. They performed 2 songs. The first one was "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" with a few lyric changes, and they cracked each other up so much that they had to stop singing at one point.
• The encore song was very cool. Nearly all of the lights dimmed out, and Kristin sang without a microphone.

It was a great evening. It goes without saying that Kristin has an amazing voice, and the energy and humor she brings made the performance that much more special. It was an excellent Carnegie Hall experience!

Kitty Update!

8 days ago today, I adopted the an adorable cat! She's a four year old Russian Blue mix, named Eos.

Awwwwww

I spent about a week and a half actively looking before finding Eos. At times the process felt like applying to college again; some of the places I looked at adopting required an application fee, short answer questions ("please describe your views on declawing cats"...), and references. I encountered people who were ready to just hand cats over, and others who seemed so overprotective that the cats they're watching will never find homes. For example, one woman I emailed with told me she didn't trust me enough to even meet cats because I didn't currently have a pet and a veterinarian to vouch for me and because "people around here go through cats like underwear."

Last weekend, I had two visits lined up. One with Pet Rescue in Putnam Valley, New York, and one on the Upper East Side in New York City.

On Friday night, two friends and I made the long drive out the Putnam Valley to visit with two cats. They both made a big impression - Squirrel for biting our hands (she was cute, but... ow), and Phoenix for being sweet, outgoing, and affectionate. I connected with Phoenix, but wanted to be sure that I was considering all options. So the next morning, we went into the city and met two sweet kittens. In the end though, the decision wasn't difficult - if anything, meeting the kittens only solidified it for me. I called Pet Rescue back, and was able to drive back for a pickup that evening.

So content! Purring away...

I chose the name Eos (spelled Ἠώς in the original Greek, according to Wikipedia), after the Greek goddess of the dawn. Eos' coat is a grey that's similar to the sky just at the beginning of dawn. I also wanted to choose a name that commemorates a new beginning for us together.

Sometimes I think she might not have any bones

Eos is four years old (approximately). Her humans abandoned her, and she was taken care of by Pet Rescue for about 6 months before I found her.

An avid reader

When I brought her home, Eos first found her "safe space" in the wooden frame of my box spring. As she became more comfortable, she started spending time on the bed, and then in the living room too. After a week, she's even ready to play with the occasional visitor:

Awwwwwww

Eos is affectionate and loves to be petted and scratched, but she's also calm and enjoys playing by herself with a toy (the catnip-filled banana is her favorite so far) or just taking catnaps. And, as you can tell from the pictures, she is absolutely adorable. <3 <3 <3

Sleepy Eos!

And on that note, goodnight blog readers :-)

Masks

My post for today comes courtesy of Shel Silverstein and his poem Masks.

When I was in high school English classes, I remember being very confused by the idea of "masks". We talked about metaphorical masks that people wear, hiding who they really are from others. I couldn't relate. Perhaps the authors were just making things up to write about, I thought. Or else English teachers liked to read more into works than was really there?

And then life happened, and one day, a few years ago, it made sense. And this (below) is now one of my favorite poems. I forget about it (and its lesson) too often. Here's to learning the lesson of Masks and finding other blue people out there.

A dress that Glitters like the stars

When I was younger, I read a book called Princess Furball. It's a Cinderella-esque story. At one point, the main character asks for three dresses: one as golden as the sun, one as shimmering as the moon, and a third as glittering as the stars. I always like the story - but I never knew how to get my dress that glittered like the stars.

And then I found out about shadowplaynyc, a company that prints dresses using images from the Hubble telescope. I love it, I love it, I love it!

Did I mention that I love this dress?
Have a fantastic week, all.

Sloth!

Hello blog readers! I am posting again, less than two weeks after my previous post! How crazy is that?

You can see my
newish apartment in
the background, too!

I have had a really crazy week. There were 2 nights that I stayed up working all night (and 2 subsequent nights when I crashed immediately when I came home.)

Today though, I had a nice, lazy Saturday. Slothful, even. And keeping with that theme, I wanted to show off my brand new sloth necklace!

Climbing sloth!

The lasercut design looks great (see a nice detailed image of the sloth from  the Etsy page, below.)
If I move my hair out of the way, you can even see the sloth "climb" up the necklace.  --->

Really, the only thing that I was worried about when ordering this was the size. On the Etsy page model, the sloth looks huge to me. So, for anyone else contemplating this sloth, or any of the other awesome designs by roconut, I hope seeing these examples is helpful.

This photo shows off my Christmas
tree, too! (Well "shows off" may be
too strong a term, but you know...)

Original Etsy photo of
Rococonut necklace

I'm always looking for clever new Kickstarter/Etsy/Fab types of games, jewelry, gifts, etc - let me know if you see something I would like. I've ordered several lately, so maybe this string of 2 posts will become longer?! We shall see.

Slothfully,
Kim

Decorating with KickStarter Rewards

I've been backing a lot of kickstarters lately, and a few have sent me backer rewards already.

This is one of my backer rewards from Meimei - A Beautiful Fish, which is a children's book in Chinese characters, pinyin, and English. I love the book, too!

Stories from Guatamala: Part III (Heading West!)

After visiting with Maria, we headed West the next morning, naively believing we could quickly jot over to Lago de Atitlan, given that it was only 110 kilometers away. Somehow, it took us all day.

Arriving in Antigua Guatemala for the first time.

A quick stop in Antigua to "switch buses" took awhile. I like the chair Niki's in that was a the hostel we waited at!

Hanging out in Antigua, waiting for our bus.

When we finally got our new bus, we circled Antigua filling it until we had 16 people (including one child who didn't have her own seat) on the bus. Then the bumpy, fume-y ride to Lago Atitlan began.

We were not prepared for the fumes and the bumps. Oh my. (Photo credit: Anika Huhn)

By the time we reached Panajachel, the skies over Lago Atitlan we getting pretty dark, so instead of spending time there we elected to take the boat across the lake without delay, to get to our night's destination of San Marcos.

Clouds gather over Lago Atitlan (Photo Credit, Yi-Hsin Lin)

The skies darkened and darkened... we added rainjackets, and then a tarp, in our efforts to stay dry as the boat hopped over the rocky lake.

It is getting wet and windy, and the boat is tearing across the lake. We keep leaving the surface of the lake and smacking into it again, hard. (Photo credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

We're all trying to stay dry. It is partially successful. (Photo credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

When we finally arrived in San Marcos, we scooted into the first hostel we saw, no questions asked... we found out later that it wasn't even the hotel we thought it was, but after all the traveling and rain, it didn't matter to us! After drying off, we ventured out for dinner.

The main street of San Marcos's tourist area, with a stream running down the middle

We had Indian food (there are so many non-Guatemalan food options in Guatemala!), celebrated Yi-Hsin's birthday, and unwound a bit.

Happy Birthday, Yi-Hsin!!! (Photo credit: Anika Huhn)

Then we headed back to our hostel and waited out the rain until morning.

Stories from Guatemala, Part II

Whoops, I have a blog! Ok, here goes: Guatemala Continued:

On Wednesday, Yi-Hsin and I set out to visit Maria, who I sponsor through Children International. We toured the Children International facilities in Patulul, then visited Maria's home (where I got to help feed the chickens!) and had dinner at a restaurant where we got to catch our own fish in a barrel :-)

Maria is 16 now, studying accounting part time. She also helps her mother out at home, and has just started to work at a shoe and clothing store part time.

Thanks to Children International for helping to facilitate the day. They provided a translator who helped out when my Spanish reached its limits, as well as setting up logistics for the day. I'm already looking forward to my next trip!

Me and Maria! (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Yi-Hsin, Me, and Maria! And chickens and ducks! (Credit: someone with Yi-Hsin's camera)

With Maria. She gave me the cute teddy bear I'm holding. (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Maria catching lunch, with her mom. (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Stories from Guatemala, Part I

I've largely caught up on the craziness resulting from being away, so let's start with some Guatemala stories and pictures!

Day 1 was on a Tuesday. Niki, Yi-Hsin, and I all boarded planes in the wee hours of the morning and converged in Guatemala City around 11am. We got in touch with the Quetzalroo Hostel, and they picked us up at the airport.

We drove through part of Guatemala City (or Guate, as locals call it) on our way to the Hostel, and got a bit of a tour from our driver. The city is laid out in an orderly fashion, with numbered avenues and streets, and 22 "zones." Our hostel was in zone 10. Zone 10 was near the airport, and had a significant number of museums and hospitals.

Along the way, we saw a Ceiba tree, which are giant trees with a wide span of branches, traditionally used as a location for markets.

Ceiba tree, credit to www.panoramio.com

Driving down Avenida La Reforma, we saw some striking statues, including the one pictured below. Guatemala has two Nobel Prizes, one for Peace and on for Literature. Guess which one this statue is commemorating?

Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/balam/sets/72157620538149039/detail/?page=3

We hung out at the hostel for a while, in part due to our tiredness and in part due to our need to acclimate to the country. We weren't really prepared for the combination of arriving during the rainy season and a street system without awesome drainage. There were some *massive* sprays of water from the street every time we ventured outside that evening. A few other photos from the day:

Silverware from lunch. Lots of silverware in Guatemala has holes in uncommon locations on the handle. (Credit: Me!)

Guatemala has lots of Crepes. They even have a Crepe chain of restaurants: Luna de Miel. (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Hanging out at the Quetzalroo hostel in Guate. (Credit: Niki Huhn)

Angry Quetzals

The things you see in a Guatemalan airport...

5:49

Not even 6am, and I'm on boarding stairs! No thanks to the guy at the check in counter who misread my ID as Kimberly Davis and printed me tickets to New Orleans via Detroit... I guess I could've gone, but Guatemala via Atlanta sounded more fun to me, so I fixed the mistake.

Moving

You know that person who always seems to leave exactly 3/4 of a parking space in front of their car, making it impossible to find parking? Tonight that is me. Because Lord help us all if I need to maneuver this beast of a UHall around anything in the morning.

Fire Alarm

We had a fire alarm at my apartment building just now. It wasn't a huge deal, just routine. The fire alarms blared, I grabbed my sandals and went outside, and considered going to the store while I was out anyways. A couple of trucks arrived, so did the building superintendent. Firefighters stomped inside, they presumably did some investigating, and then the noise stopped and we got to go back inside.

On my way back inside, I saw one of my neighbors, slowly making her way to the door. Because she has MS and moves slowly, she never made it outside before the alarm was over. All that time, and she never made it out.

If this were a "real" alarm, she would have been in serious danger. It blows me away that there's not something - anything - in place to make sure she gets out of the building quickly when needed.

If I weren't moving away this week, I'd offer to check on her in the future. But even that would be a bandaid to a larger problem. Could technology solve the problem? Apps to let the Fire Department know if you're still in the building, maybe?

What a strange interlude in my day...

Dance Performances in the Park

Also from last weekend... We found a dance festival going on at Cambridge Commons. Here are photos from my top 3 performances...

I love all of my pictures of these girls, because they all look like they're floating :-)

And these junior members of the same dance group just had so much energy!

These ladies were my favorites... I think they announced that they were all in their 50s and 60s. Their performance was really fun. It started with acrobatics (photo from the bottom right of the collage, and had lots of drumming on big green balls to accompany the dancing.

Food Truck Festival

Last weekend I attended a Food Truck Festival in Cambridge. The world is a cool place.

Whitehouse WAVES II: SUPER Visitors

Back to data!

I started looking at the data the White House releases about its visitors in this post, in particular the distribution of last names of visitors.

Today, here's a look at the top individual visitors. As you might expect, most people who visit the White House don't visit frequently.  Of 13,707 visitors in January, 13,549 of them visited 3 or fewer times.  Another 148 people visited 4 to 9 times.  And 10 people visited 10 or more times. Let's find out who the Super Visitors are!

With 10 visits each: 
Janice C Eberly (It looks like in January she would have been about to be nominated to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy.)
Donald Y Yu (A lawyer from Fairfax, Virginia.)
Christopher J Meade (At the time, was the Acting General Counsel at the US Dept of the Treasury.) Has since been confirmed as the General Counsel in April.)
Natalie W Earnest (Now the Secretary for Public Affairs at the Treasury Department.)
Randall J DeValk (Counselor at U.S. Dept of the Treasury.)
Esther M Olavarria (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Homeland Security.)

With 11 visits:
Jonathan J Hopkins (Not sure - may be the President of an environmental consulting firm Called Delineations Plus which seems to help companies obtain permits for work that has the potential to impact wetlands & streams.)

With 14 visits:
David M Simas (Aide to Senior Advisor David Axelrod.)

With 16 visits:
Trevor G Nelson (I can't seem to find any other option than the British DJ and BBC presenter. No idea. He was visiting a Danny Moore. He was also known in the records as Dan and Daniel... why can't people write their names down consistently on these forms...)

With 18 visits:
Alastair M Fitzpayne (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs.)

So... the conclusion is that the vast majority of Super Visitors are there to focus on the economy. Seems reasonable.

Sorry I disappeared, here are some updates!

Wow. Somehow my life just exploded into busyness. Somewhere between the apartment-searching, a cappella-practicing, and travel-planning, my blog got lost.

Here are a few pictures and observations from the past week.

Apartment hunting can be tiring. When I looked down at the floor inside the elevator of a building I was visiting, I thought it might be moving, but that it was more likely that my eyes were playing tricks on me. Nope! The pigments actually move around when you step on them. I love this elevator! And it looks like I'll probably be moving to the building that it's in, so I'll get to step on its floor frequently. Yay!

My A Capella group, Collective Measures has a concert coming up, and it's going to be a great show. This Saturday June 8, Brighton Beer Garden. Doors open at 7, show starts at 7:30. My solos are near the beginning, so don't be late! Other than our Christmastime engagements, this will be my only performance with the group. I'm sad to have to leave, just as the group is picking up speed (and after memorizing a dozen songs of repertoire in the last few months.) Anyways, come see us!

The zoo in Guatemala apparently throws crazy parties. This photo is supposedly from the elephant's birthday party in January. I may need to visit this zoo... and I'll have the chance in July! I'm starting to get excited about the upcoming trip. Please let me know if you have suggestions for what to do, what to bring you as a souvenir, or resources for brushing up on my Spanish.