8:52 p.m. | 2003-04-22 The One Time I Was Flipped Off. I�m talking about the time I was flipped off and the Flippee fully intended for me to see her flipping me the bird. I have no idea how many times I�ve been flipped off behind my back. Nor do I want to know. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Not surprisingly, it was a driving-related incident. I had worked all day, then went directly to school where I sat in class until about 10:00pm in the evening. After class, I got in my car and started the 15-minute drive home via the familiar, often-traveled route. Two things were on my mind. The first was getting home. It seemed to be the goal each day. I usually left at 7:30am and got home around 10:30pm. As each of those 15 hours passed, I was that much closer to getting home, where I could get out of my uncomfortable clothes, and, well, deal with the mail, any messages, and knock out a couple of hours of homework before slipping into a coma only to be roused by my alarm clock a few hours later. But that time was my own little slice of heaven� my alone time. The second thing on my mind that night was memorizing the 10 different factors which determined whether or not a specific landlord/tenant civil wrong had been committed. The huge amount of minutia that one must memorize in law school is utterly astounding so you spend every spare moment frantically trying to memorize stuff that practicing attorneys just look up. Or, well, have someone else look up for them. Anyway, while my mind was busy with the mental gymnastics, my body was focused on driving, as quickly as possible, home. It was late, there wasn�t really any traffic and I was on automatic pilot. When I turned onto a particular street, I ended up behind Flippee. We were the only two cars on the road headed in the same direction and we were approaching a red light. Suddenly, about 3 car lengths from the stoplight, Flippee stopped. Surprised, I hit the brake hard and stopped quite close behind her. Flippee started creeping up, and I thought she was going to close the gap between her and the light, so I kind of sped up. Then Flippee stopped suddenly again about 2 car lengths from the light. I again stopped quite close behind her. Flippee crept another car length. I crept behind her. By the time Flippee got to the light, it quickly changed to green and we both proceeded. While all this was occurring, I was busy reciting as many of the 10 specific landlord/tenant factors that I could remember and trying to remember the ones I�d forgotten, so I really didn�t give much thought to what was happening on the road. Plus I was just trying to get home. As a consequence, the same thing happened at the next 3 lights. By that time, I realized that Flippee was a �stoplight creeper�. You know, one of those people that stops short at a red and then slowly creeps forward until the light changes. Finally, at the fourth light, I paid attention and hung back knowing that she was going to stop and start several times before the light changed. Fortunately, that was the last light before we hit the freeway. Once, on the freeway, I quickly pulled into the next lane to pass her. As I passed Flippee, I looked her direction and she was flipping me off with every ounce of rage that she could muster. After the initial surprise passed, I totally busted up laughing. And, passed her, of course. It was then that I realized what had transpired. I presume she was pissed because I appeared to be impatiently tailgating her car. Which, technically, I was. So I suppose I deserved to be flipped off. Well, and I should have been paying better attention. But, I guess she showed me, huh? your thoughts? seed flower