Many years ago I bought Birth of the Federation — a “Star Trek” knockoff of civilization allowing you to play as one of five races (Federation, Klingon, Ferengi, Cardassians, Romulans) in exploring and conquoring the galaxy.

I haven’t played it in awhile, probably shortly after I bought this computer. I began having trouble running it on my old HP — the game would keep crashing only a few turns in. Playing early this morning, I found the same thing — twenty turns in, CRASH! I uninstalled the software and reinstalled it — no dice, crashed again.

I don’t understand it. I could understand the game crashing on my old HP — underpowered piece of crud that it was, I figured it just no longer had the juice to keep the game going. I don’t get why it crashes on this Dell I’ve had for not two years, especially since the game is seven or eight years old — this game should be running like a dream!

So much for my dreams of a Klingon Invasion Fleet sweeping across the galaxy …

On my last delivery last night, I noticed my passenger side headlight was burned out. All I really thought about it at the time was, “Damn, now I gotta scrape the shit out of my hand tomorrow replacing it.” Then I thought, “Huh, I’m overdue for an oil-change anyway, they can just get it done there.”

Then, an hour later, as I was literally turning onto Padonia Road, and a car pulled out from the rental complex’s usually-empty-at-this-time-of-night parking lot, I thought, “Ah, fuck, the fuzz.”

(It’s not that I hate the police — they’re just doing a job, and for example, when I got my speeding ticket, I was the one with the heavy foot on the accelerator, right? It’s just that — damn my luck! I really wish I came home today through Bosley and Sunnylake as opposed to Cranbrook.)

And when the lights went on, and it was indeed confirmed that one of Baltimore County’s finest was pulling me over, I thought, “Ah, fuck — can my probation be fucked for a repair order?” (Well, can it? Anyone know?)

I sure do like getting a repair order over a speeding ticket any day, and that’s what I got. It’s the second repair order I’ve gotten — I guess I was eighteen when I got my first, same deal in my ‘89 Acura Legend, and the very next day I made sure to get the headlight repaired. What I didn’t make sure to do was fill out the form and mail it back to the police, and my Dad was a little more than hopping mad when the State Police sent him a letter demanding that the plates be surrendered. Ahhhhh, memories.

Anyway, I’ll be gettin’ that taken care of shortly, then wait until I see my city-police neighbor pulling in and get him to sign off on my working headlights. Damn I wish I’d come home through Sunnylake. Even if he’d seen me, I coulda gotten into my parking lot and my building before he could’ve come down.