Tailgating

So law classes sometimes bring out random memories. This will be a quick post about such a memory. Those of you who read this know that, at times, I can be dense. I know, shocking. So the event that brought this out was a case in my ethics class, where someone kept fucking up, and the judge kept trying to give the guy hints to stop fucking up and gently telling him what he should do, until the idiot lawyer was a complete lost cause and the judge had to sanction him. Here’s the story:

Before I spent my year in China, I frequently went to concerts. Not that I’d go to every show that came through town, but usually at least 4-5 shows a year. Since I returned I’ve been to three concerts: Misfits, Darkest Hour and some random outdoor electronic fest (which I should probably write about at some point, but synopsis: crazy music, weird clothing, and lots of people on drugs. Saw one kid need to be resuscitated by EMTs. It was weird). Before I left for China, my last concert in America was Warped Tour, which I attended with friend of the blog Alex. The main draws for us were Coheed & Cambria, Underoath and some other bands which I can’t remember at the moment and are irrelevant anyway.

This was the first concert we had attended together where each of us were 21+, so on the way to the venue, we decided to stop and get some beer to pregame the festivities. We picked up a Sam Adams mixer and some cups and continued on our way to the venue. We pay for parking and get our spot, pop the trunk and crack open some beers and just hang out for a bit before heading in. Within 5 mins, a plain clothes officer on a bike has pulled up next to us asking for IDs. We show him our age and he tells us there’s an open container law in this town. Keep in mind this is our first beer and I’m sober.

Me: “Really?”

Officer: “Yes, there’s an open container law. You can’t be drinking out of those bottles.”

Me: “Crap, do we need to pour these out?”

Officer: “No, but there’s an open container law.”

Me: “So what should we do?”

Officer: “You just can’t be drinking out of the bottles.”

Me: “Hmm…. Wait. We have cups! If we drink out of the cups, is there a problem?”

Officer: “I can’t tell you to drink out of the cups. I just want to remind you of the open container law. You need to keep those bottles hidden.”

Me: “So the cups are okay then?”

Officer who surprisingly hasn’t slapped me yet: “Just keep those drinks hidden. I don’t care how you do it.”

Me: “Gotcha.”

I am dense.