Another OD

Time for a break.

As happened once before, I find myself positively overdosing on vitriol. Not that it isn’t warranted, but last night I just lost it. The catalyst was a traffic ticket for something over which I had no control — while turning onto Connecticut Avenue from Dupont Circle, a taxi cut me off and started unloading passengers in the Metro bus zone. The bus came up right behind me, but I couldn’t get out of the way, particularly when the bus driver pulled forward to my left and started dropping off passengers, meaning I couldn’t even back up to get out of the way.

And sure enough, who comes up right at that moment? You guessed it: DC’s finest. She didn’t write the ticket right away, of course; she waited until the taxi — my only defense — had pulled away, then decided to put on her lights.

I’ll fight it, sure, but it’s not like I’ve got any supporting evidence. The officer said flat out she didn’t care what my story was, so I can’t imagine she’s going to paint anything remotely resembling a sympathetic picture.

All of that background to point out that my reaction (after the fact — I’m not stupid enough to curse out a cop to her face) was out of proportion to the offense. Fifty bucks is fifty bucks, true, but my revenge plots bordered on the insane. And I basically spent the entire evening fuming, my blood pressure no doubt going through the roof. It took some serious time playing with the kids to get me back to normal.

I’m not going to swear off the political discussion, but for today at least, I’m going to give it a rest. Give me a chance to calm down. Instead, I’d like to posit a movie-related question. Feel free to add your comments, as this time I’d honestly like some discussion.

We all know actors who’ve never been in a good movie, but can you think of anyone who’s never been in a bad movie? Some coworkers and I were talking it over this morning, and couldn’t think of anyone (living, anyway) who fit the mold. For example, Jeremy Irons was thrown out, but one mention of Dungeons & Dragons put that notion to rest.

Let me know what you think, and I’ll (hopefully) be back to my pre-Karlgate self soon.