ho hum, just another day in jail ...

well, that's sorta what it felt like, anyhow. i went over the border to the closest costco, bought a few things, then came back. i've gone back and forth over the border probably 20+ times in the last 16 months. i've got a passport and there's usually no problem.

today the border officer said, "you've been selected for random checking, please pull into the parking space ahead." so i, having done nothing wrong, cheerfully said, "okay," pulled into the slot, zipped up the windows, got out, locked the car, and walked toward the building's door, wondering what-all the deal was. before i had gone 15 feet, however, the car alarm went off (i must have inadvertently touched the 'alarm' button on the keychain) so i had to mess with that and finally got the alarm to be quiet, apologized to the guards and went inside.

it was about 4:45 pm and the last customer was leaving as i approached the counter. me on one side and 9 or 10 officers scattered around on the other side -- haha, no problem. the fellow (officer 1) who took my passport handed me a piece of paper to fill out. the first question was, "what is your family name?" hmm ... i was stumped. i mean, i know what MY name is, but were they wanting my family's name which usually means my husband's last name, or did they want my last name, which is hyphenated, and if so why did they call it a family name? several minutes later (don't laugh), i put my name down and went on with the other items.

i got done, then waited for officer 1 to get done talking with the officer beside him (officer 2) -- they were discussing a gal who had tried to come into the country today who didn't have a job, blahblah and whatever else -- and when he finally finished that not-pressing bit of chit-chat, i handed the paperwork to him. i pointed out that i hadn't written down the passport number in the space provided (since he had the passport) and it would need to be added.

he told me he would need the keys so he could check the car and wanted to know if there was anything i wanted to tell him, anything i had left out, or if i wanted to change my story before he went out to the car. mainly i was standing there in disbelief, wondering if i'd somehow accidently left a gun in the car or even a hit of heroin (like, i'm a user ... as if, dude) or even if, perhaps, i'd stumbled into the twilight zone, but mostly the predominate emotion was a sense of being on the edge of uncontrollable maniacal laughter.

so mr. grumpy, excuse me, i mean officer 1 went on out to my car, i sat down, and officer 2 (the ole' good-cop, bad-cop routine) started pleasantly talking to me about costco, the weather, etc. finally officer 1 came back in, handed me my keys with an air of disappointment, and i left.

free ... praise the lord, i was free at last. whew! i didn't even have a reason to feel relief but that cockiness was there just the same. haha, what does that say about me?!

much later i'm feeling -- sleepy
so i'm going to bed after i listen to -- Delerium playing Underwater