Lindsay Lohan

Okay, I know she's been a pain in the ass for a year now. But the justice system hasn't been much better, so I still have to opine about this topic.

I personally think Lindsay is a 5 year old girl in the body of a 24 year old actress. She needs to grow up, but the circumstances of her life really make that a difficult feat to accomplish. So what should we do?

Well, on the one hand, she has violated some laws which have landed her in the criminal justice system. That system is very rigid; everyone is expected to respond appropriately. Of course, if you tell a 5 year old, "You're in big trouble, Mister!" they're probably going to stick their tongue out at you.

Nevertheless, she is a criminal, right? She drove a car under the influence of a controlled substance.

Wait a minute. She drove a car under the influence of a controlled substance.

She was under the influence of a controlled substance.

A controlled substance.

Let's just leave the "she drove..." out of the equation for a moment. The "controlled substance" is the only debatable point here. Alcohol is a controlled substance. As a physician, I have to say, I am against the recreational use of chemical substances to alter your mood or perception of reality (not that there is anything wrong with that! Sorry...channeling Seinfeld). Still, most controlled substances, if they are not combined with driving, have no negative impact on those who do not participate. Taking controlled substances wreaks havoc on your body and mind, but what you as an individual choose to do to your body or mind is none of my business.

Disclaimer: light up a cigarette (or any other burning substance) next to me and you're affecting my lungs too...watch how fast drown your cigs and bitch slap you.

So...Lindsay wants to f* up her life by taking drugs, that's her problem. Let her. Don't waste my news time or my taxes on trying to force her to change her habits.

So now let's deal with the "driving" part. The California Driver's Handbook emphasizes that driving is a privilege, not a right. I totally agree with that. If you are a good driver, California will allow you to drive on the streets, highways and freeways. If you don't drive safely, you're really in possession of a deadly weapon, and too stupid to know how to use it. It's the equivalent of giving a bazooka to a 5 year old.

So what should we do? Well, if I were the judge, I'd tell Lindsay one thing:

Bitch, you can throw your life away on drugs if you want, I don't give a $#*!. You can disrespect me if you want: I'm above that. But you have two choices: you can follow the rules and keep your license, or you can prove to me you still like to make bad choices, and I'll take your driver's license away for the rest of your life. I'm not going to play games with you. You're on probation for 5 years: no driving under the influence. We'll outfit your car with a breathalyzer, and if you blow 0.0001 with no good reason (like you had Nyquil to control your cold symptoms that day). Or you can take plan B: no probation, and for the rest of your life you must have a driver take you everywhere.

Maybe it's just because I'm tired of that f*ing helicopter flying around my house whenever that brat has to go to court (like I'm sure it will this Friday).

Deathly Hallows trailer

You know, when the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone came out, my oldest was a little too young to read it.  Still, we got through it, and read all of the books as they came out, though he became less interested as time went by.

Now the oldest has moved out, the next oldest boy was 'too cool' for Harry Potter, and the girls have all moved over to the Twilight crowd. Oddly enough, their grandpa also likes that series...go figure. So now it almost seems like I'm the only one wanting to see Harry Potter through to the end (though I've already been there in book form).

The last movie, Half-Blood Prince, was the worst adaptation of the series (so far, though to be fair the book on which it was based was [to me] the least interesting of the series [It could have been a few chapters at the end of the 5th book, or the beginning of the 7th, but anyway...]) The last book was very exciting, IMHO, and I loved the way Rowling handled the whole, "Will Harry Potter Die?"

But with the kids not interested, the poor quality of the last movie, and the fact that Deathly Hallows has the same writer and the same director as Half-blood Prince, I really thought this was going to be another movie series I couldn't stomach seeing to the end. Then I saw the newest trailer for Deathly Hallows.

Harry (Daniel Radcliff) is now a young man, and perhaps as such he reminds me a bit of my nephew, who is currently a marine recruit in boot camp. That would explain why watching the trailer I felt a desperation in Harry's fight against the forces of evil. Or the weight of him possibly losing Ron and Hermione's friendship.

The bottom line: I have to admit, the trailer was emotional, inspiring, and, children in tow or not, I will definitely be going to see the new Harry Potter movie.

Bad Communication Between Cars

No, I’m not talking about that middle finger. I’m talking about doing something other drivers don’t expect you to do. Like passing an exit at 90 MPH and then deciding you need to zoom over the median and jump onto that exit you almost missed. I got news for you: you missed it. But don’t worry, there is another one a mile or so up. You can take that exit and work your way back.

It’s even more stupid (and dangerous) when you’re in the carpool lane of an 8 lane freeway and decide you need the exit that is 500 feet away, so you make a right turn on the freeway without using your blinker, moving out of the carpool lane in a non-designated area, crossing 7 lanes of traffic and running over the $500,000 Highway Beautification Project to take the H Street exit…only to find out you needed the J Street exit anyway. Nice going, Mr. Wheeler. Why can’t you be more like Mr. Walker?

Source: Dallas Transportation Blog

So use your blinkers to let others know what you’re intending to do. Change lanes safely. And when you see someone turn on their blinker, that doesn’t mean speed up so they can’t get in front of you! Share the road with others. Leave enough room between cars.

Don’t drive like there is someone waiting for you at your destination, drive like there is someone at your destination waiting for you.