Let’s hear it for the new year… all together now… yaaaaay.

No, really, I’m not that much of a humbug. I just haven’t gotten that much of a thrill out of holidays for a while now; for me, most of them are just another day. Unless I’m purposely out with other people who are celebrating it, most holidays are just an annoyance because nothing’s open. This particular year is the first since 1990 or so that I’ve had the holidays off; usually I would have worked Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, but since I’m an office bitch now, I have to take the holidays off. Maybe that’s why holidays aren’t anything particularly special for me. My big New Year’s Eve celebration? Made some pasta, drank some beer, smoked a cigar. Thus the year ended not with a bang, but a whimper.

And I get to take a new gift into the new year… a shiny new 42 USC 1983 lawsuit! For those not familiar, that’s the federal rights violation civil lawsuit aimed at law enforcement if, for example, they use excessive force. In this particular case, someone I arrested two years ago for a DUI filed at the last second (statute of limitations is 2 years) claiming I used excessive force in arresting them. Now, I don’t believe the case will even get to the deposition stage before it gets thrown out; it’s patently absurd and I documented the arrest meticulously… but anyone can sue anybody for anything in this wonderful nation of ours, and plaintiffs hope for that big settlement from government entities. I know this case has no merit… but it still sticks you right where live when someone accuses you of something you never did and you get that federal subpoena.