Ticket to Ride

Hippie skulked out in the dead of the night and after some suspense caused by a missed flight he returned to the Mother land. Now I have to amuse myself...with midterms. Still the class that gets most of my attention is my wine tasting class. Every Thursday for six weeks we meet and talk and drink wine. Last Thursday we had the first two-hour session. Each time we try three wines, one white, one red and one dessert wine. This time we had a Chenin Blanc that smelled of corn tortillas, an orange-red Barbera with raisin and blackcurrant undertones and finally, a wine so sweet that the toes curled, like melted strawberry lollipops. When the class is done I will dedicate an entire post to temperatures, swirling, acidity, you name it, but you'll have to wait for it.

Saturday morning-ish, I lay blind as a mole in my bed, when I was woken by some stir in my room. In the nearsightet fog I saw four figures approching slowly, all carrying something big and colorful in their hands. I recognized Maryjane and Eddie. What do you do when the maffia wakes you up with four pistols pointed at you? You:

A) Reach for the gun under your pillow and cherfully (!) call them out: "C'mon baby, show me what that loaded gun is for!" and fire loose.

or

B) Make a whining sound and hide under the blanket.

I'm not proud over my course of action. I met my Waterloo in a very short water fight.

Later that night, one of the unknown Italians turned into a DJ in Eddie's backyard and we rigged speakers and colored lights and had a dance party. 1:38 is the new record. Then the police came and gave Eddie a ticket for noise violation. 200 bucks. It was Eddie's 9th ticket since he got here.

At the party I talked to a Spanish and an Italian girl about tickets. The Spanish girl had gotten two tickets á $200. One for urinating in public and another for carrying an open container of alcohol. The Italian girl, the one I went skydiving with, got the same for using someone else's ID in a bar. Another guy got a $1000 ticket for urinating in public, it's not even the same amount! You have to go to court and complain about the amount and then they might change it. The cops make money on tickets, so if you're stopped you'll get a ticket no matter what.

I only got tickets for a trip to NYC. Me and my big brother will travel for a few weeks before I go back to Europe the last of June.