ChefChiTown's Rebirth: I'm Back, BABY!!! (In More Ways Than One)...

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eh...I'm gonna have to rethink this whole marriage thing. haha.

That means you have to give me the ring back. You're not rethinking SHIT, HAHAHA
 
WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD

Part 1

Hey, Chef? How was your long weekend?
Oh, not that great.
Really? Why not? Was Game of Thrones disappointing or something?
I wouldn't know.
What? Why not?
I was in jail.
Huh?
I was in jail.
Jail?
Jail.
Wwwwwhat?
Yeah. Jail.


So, last night around 7:30 I decided to pack up the car with my baseball gear (balls, glove, throwing net) and head on over to the baseball fields. I was in the mood to throw for a while and I thought it would be a good time to do just that. I'm on the main road heading toward the fields and I notice a police officer behind me. No big deal. I turn into the rec center (which is by the baseball fields) and the officer follows me into the driveway. Ok, what's going on? He immediately flips his lights on and has me pull over.

I pull over, turn down the radio and put my hands on the steering wheel. He approaches the car and asks me for my license and registration, which I tell him are in my gym bag located in the backseat. He tells me that it's ok for me to get out of the car so I can get my license (which is in my wallet). I'm searching for my wallet and he asks if I had any idea why he pulled me over and I said that I had no clue.

Well, my birthday was back in October and, at that same time, I had to renew my license (it was due) and renew the tag for my license plates. I ordered my new sticker online but it never showed up in the mail. As time went on, I totally forgot about it. So, I've been driving around with last year's sticker. That's why I got pulled over. So, he issued me a warning and said it wasn't a big deal.

So, why were you in jail, Chef?
Oh, I'm getting to that.


As he is wrapping things up and explaining to me that he's going to let me go with a warning, he asks if my car is insured. I say yes and hand over my insurance card. He takes it back to his vehicle, says he is going to "run it through the system" and then let me get on my way. He walks back to my car after a minute and goes, "Are you aware that in the state of Michigan it's an arrestable offense to drive a motor vehicle without insurance?" So, I'm like, "Yes, sir, I am."

And, that's when I found out I was going to jail. He ran my insurance and it came back as invalid. You see, a few months ago, there was a banking error that occurred during which my bank accidentally deposited a $20,000 check into my account. Yeah, weird as shit right? Anyway, it was their mistake but they froze my account until they could find out how to correct the problem. During that time, when my account was frozen, my insurance company attempted to withdrawal my monthly payment. My account was frozen so it came back as an invalid form of payment. They tried again a few days later, still no go. One more time a few days further down the road, nope, not happening. So, they canceled my insurance. And, because I do all my billing online, I never look for anything in the mail (because I don't get it from them). I also never bother to read my emails from them because all they ever say is, "Your next payment will be taken on blah blah blah" and a receipt once the payment is taken. So, I had NO clue my insurance had lapsed.

And, I was taken to jail.

So, I spent the night in jail. The whole night. I missed Game of Thrones, so I have to catch up on that later. Anyway, everything is taken care of at the moment (except my court date - which I will find out later on) and I'm home. However, there is more to this story and I don't really have any place to share this, so I figured I would do this here.

Part 2

I understand that a lot of people in this country view police officers as egotistical jerks who abuse their power, but I am not one of them. That's not to say I'm ignorant to reality - I know there ARE officers who fit that mold, but I also know not ALL officers fit that mold. In fact, every officer of the law I have ever dealt with has been very respectful and hasn't shown much of an ego while dealing with me. The officers from last night, for instance, were incredibly respectful toward me and showed absolutely no sign of arrogance or attitude while talking with me. Kudos to those officers. You are what this country needs.

HOWEVER - I witnessed something this morning I had never seen before. Police brutality.

This morning, one of the inmates who was permitted to walk around freely (to a certain degree) was walking through the main corridor and stopped to talk to a female inmate who was standing by the booking window. One of the officers (who my fellow cellmates had explained had tasered a girl just a few days earlier for apparently no reason) walked out of the booking office and yelled at the kid to stop talking to the girl and to leave her alone. The officer turned his back and the kid (I say kid, but he was 22), who was speaking respectfully to the female, said a few more words. Without warning, the officer in question immediately grabbed the kid by his throat and threw him to the ground. He then immediately pulled out his taser and tased the kid...for simply talking to a fellow inmate.

The officer tased the kid and two more officers came running in to help with the situation. The officer who tased the kid (who I will call Officer Dick) was violently holding the kids throat the entire time, preventing the kid from being able to scream for help. The entire jail was in an uproar. Nearly every single inmate was SCREAMING, "POLICE BRUTALITY!!! POLICE BRUTALITY!!!" The inmates in my cell were looking at me going, "SEE? See how unnecessary that asshole is? There was NO reason to tase him, NO reason!!!" And, I agree. There was NO reason.

The officers subdued the kid and put him a nearby cell. The kid, obviously angry and confused, was yelling, "WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT DID I DO? WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO?" After about 10 seconds, he quieted down and stood in his cell peacefully. Officer Dick walks up the front of his cell and yells at the kid to sit down. The kid is just standing there peacefully. Officer Dick screams again, "SIT THE FUCK DOWN!!!" The kid is still standing there peacefully.

Three officers rush into the cell and Officer Dick, once again, grabs the kid by the throat and they tackle him to the ground. The kid is SCREAMING, "WHAT DID I DO? WHAT DID I DO?" Three officers continue to choke this kid (one of the officers is grabbing the pressure points underneath the kids jaw and squeezing) and end up manhandling him into a chair where they strapped him down. The entire time, the kid is screaming, "WHAT DID I DO? WHAT THE FUCK DID I EVEN DO?"

Officer Dick wheels the kid out of the cell and takes him around the corner where nobody could see him. All you can hear is the kid screaming and crying...and Officer Dick screaming at him to "shut the fuck up" over and over again.

I witnessed this. This kid did NOTHING wrong. This kid was violently manhandled for no reason. He was tiny. He weighed maybe 120 lbs soaking wet. And, he was not only manhandled, but struck with a taser. He was also violently forced to the ground twice and into a restraint chair once. The entire time, I actually felt myself siding with the criminals - fuck the police.

Once again, not ALL officers are that irresponsible and unworthy of wearing the badge, but seriously...FUCK THAT GUY. That kid was harmless and did nothing to provoke him. I witnessed it with my own two eyes.

Fuck...that...guy.
 
I'm surprised that I have never ventured into your diary before. Only read through the last page but it's been a good read. You seem to be doing quite well. Great job on the 12 pounds lost and on the exercise (and big calves ;) )
Sorry about your night in jail! That's terrible. And that's really terrible about how that police officer acted. I have a family member who's a cop, but were canadian and I think it's less of a problem up here with crazy cops!
Are you and Jen_renee really married?! Awesome that you're both in it together!
 
I'm surprised that I have never ventured into your diary before. Only read through the last page but it's been a good read. You seem to be doing quite well. Great job on the 12 pounds lost and on the exercise (and big calves ;) )
Sorry about your night in jail! That's terrible. And that's really terrible about how that police officer acted. I have a family member who's a cop, but were canadian and I think it's less of a problem up here with crazy cops!
Are you and Jen_renee really married?! Awesome that you're both in it together!

We're not married yet - we're engaged. We're still discussing wedding plans and trying to figure out where and when and all that good stuff.

And, yeah...the way those police officers treated that kid was unacceptable. I do understand, however, that not ALL officers are like that. In fact, I think the minority of officers behave in such a manner. You probably know that though, since Canada is MUUUUUCH more peaceful than the United States.
 
Are you and Jen_renee really married?! Awesome that you're both in it together!

We actually met on the forum here. He somehow convinced me that he wasn't a crazy murderer/stalker and that we should meet. Four years later we're engaged and he just got out of jail. hahaha.
 
We actually met on the forum here. He somehow convinced me that he wasn't a crazy murderer/stalker and that we should meet. Four years later we're engaged and he just got out of jail. hahaha.
The criminal justice system fails us all, yet again...
 
I have my first coach's meeting tonight for the upcoming baseball season and I'm really excited. Tonight, we find out who is on our team, our practice schedule and all that good stuff. I don't know if it's the excitement of bringing baseball back into my life or what, but I'm 50/50 today - half of me feels like being good, but the other half feels like being bad. I know I'll try to fight it for most of the day, but ultimately I already know I'm not being good today. There are just those days where you wake up knowing it's going to be one of THOSE days - and, today is one of those days.

Right now, Jen is sitting here working on her art stuff and I'm watching Bizarre Foods w/ Andrew Zimmern. And, for some reason, I have two things going through my mind right now.

1) I want to change my avatar and signature. I like them, but I feel it's time for a change. Maybe something more basebally? Eh, I don't know.
2) I want Jen to go into the bedroom with me so we can have some super happy fun time.

Oh, now he's eating some eel soup. Looks good.
 
For my entire childhood (and even into my early adulthood) baseball was my life. I lived it. I breathed it. I was engulfed by it. And, I loved it. I always have, I always will.

But, for the longest time now, baseball has been nothing more than a piece of my past.

When I stepped onto the field, every problem, every ounce of pain, every shred of frustration, every burst of anger, every moment of regret, every heartache, every boulder that weighed down my soul...they all disappeared. I was serene. I was happy. I was pure. I was whole...as long as I was on that ball field.

I haven't felt that serenity in over 15 years. Until tonight.

And, at this time in my life, I needed it. Things have not been going well for me. I won't go into it, but for the past few days, I have felt nothing but negativity in every sense of the word.

So, to tonight - I'm coaching a youth baseball team here in town and the league to which we belong has a new president and vice president - and these two guys live and breath baseball, just like I used to. Well, I want to be more involved in the league - I want to be more than just a coach - I want to help make a difference to ALL the kids on ALL the teams, not just mine - so, I went up to the ball fields tonight to help the new president and vice president make some much needed repairs. And, the second - the very SECOND - I stepped onto the first field and felt the dirt beneath my feet...it all went away.

For the next hour and a half or so, I was in my own little heaven. I was dragging and raking fields, digging post holes for bases, leveling dirt...SIGH, it was fucking serenity. It was just me and a couple of dudes, working on the fields, talking baseball...the good old days. I got my heaven back. And, now that I have a taste of it in my mouth again (literally, the dirt blew into my mouth), I want more. I have a feeling coaching won't be enough. I want to play again. I want to suit up and get behind the plate. But, one step at a time. One step at a time.

But, for that hour and a half tonight, my life was magic.
 
I'm sorry things haven't been going well for you, but I'm glad you were able to start to get back into a sport that you love and that it gave you some peace.
 
Chef, I am so glad that you feel that you have found what must have been missing from your life. You obviously have had an absolute passion & love for baseball. I will never get that, but that's OK. If baseball can heal your hurt, then it's a brilliant game. I'm sorry that you have been struggling. Life is good mostly, but sometimes that is hard to see. If baseball does it for you, then baseball is magical!
 
Ok, quick vent.

I work as a chef in an assisted living complex here in town. Clearly, I am not going to violate any HIPAA laws, so many details will be vague.

One of the elders at our complex is very lonely. To be realistic, she is a very, VERY demanding and annoying human being, but she is not bad, evil or dark-hearted in any way, shape or form. She's a good person who has an unfortunate lack of social skills which is largely to blame on a stroke suffered a few years back. Anyway, the fellow elders at the complex do not like her - and they are very verbal about it, even to her face.

She sits alone at lunch - every single day. She sits alone at dinner - every single day. She doesn't even come to breakfast...hardly ever. Why? Probably because she doesn't want to start her day with a blunt reminder that she is alone.

Due to her loneliness, she has become severely depressed. She talks about it all the time - how she feels unwanted, that nobody likes her, how she wants to leave and walk into the middle of the lake, take a long walk off a short pier - you know, that kind of stuff. Well, a few weeks ago, she caught me in the dining room and we ended up having a heart-to-heart with one another. Why? Because, she told me she was planning on killing herself. She even went into detail - how she was going to do it, why she wanted to do it, etc.

I talked her out of it. I shared my own story with her and talked her out of it.

After our talk, I IMMEDIATELY emailed my bosses and shared with them exactly what happened. I told them that I wasn't sure what steps were the proper ones to take and that I was emailing them so they could handle the situation appropriately. I also told them I don't take suicide lightly and that this woman NEEDED help - I expressed this very bluntly and told them that she might not do it today, she might not do it tomorrow, but, knowing from personal experience, she WAS going to do it - and we (my employer) needed to do something about it.

One of my bosses emailed me back and said she had called this woman and talked to her on the phone, and that the elder promised she wouldn't kill herself. My boss thanked me for showing concern for our elders and basically blew me off, like her simple talk with the woman was more than enough. I believe her words were something along the lines of "There is nothing to worry about." Problem solved, I guess.

Yeah, WELL - that woman tried to fucking kill herself yesterday. YEAH.

Now, I heard about this from my co-workers today. When I heard the story, I told them how I had just had a talk with this woman a few weeks ago, and how, at that time, she told me she had planned on killing herself. My co-workers knew NOTHING of this. My bosses did not share this with the employees - the very same employees who physically and emotionally care for this woman on a daily basis. They knew nothing of her suicidal conversation with me. On top of that, my boss (the one who called this woman after I sent my email) told my co-workers that it was an "unexpected event" and that "there was no sign of (her) being suicidal."

Umm, FUCKING EXCUSE ME? I sent you an email telling you just that - that SHE WAS SUICIDAL. And, now you're going to act like you had NO CLUE she wanted to kill herself?

I'm sorry - I like my job, but FUCK YOU. I TOLD YOU she was suicidal. I TOLD YOU she might not do it today or tomorrow, but I TOLD YOU that she WOULD do it.

All day my entire conscience has been screeeeeaming "I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!!"

SIGH, ok...end of rant.
 
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That sounds so terrible. Your boss really needed to step up to the plate on that! I'm glad the lady survived and will hopefully now get the help she needs.
 
For as much as they pay to live there, you'd think they could at least keep them from trying to kill themselves. Complete bullshit.
 
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