So an interesting thing happened to me today.

It was about 6PM, and I had somehow managed to squander the entire day playing Burnout 3. A friend of mine--we'll call him "Brendan" for the sake of our story because, well, that's his name--was sitting at my computer doing something stupid, and I was wrapped up in an online race. My roommate, Chris, was somewhere else in the house, supposedly breaking up with his girlfriend over the phone. Between the intensity of the racing and the volume of my home theater system, my bedroom was a very distracting place to be.

As I was racing, I heard a voice call out from the bedroom door. But I didn't really pay any attention to it. It then said "police," at which point I knew not to bother paying attention to it, because it had to be Chris, coming in to see the driving action on a real TV. Even Brendan knew better than to give the time of day to someone wandering in my room and shouting nonsense.

I'm sure you can see where this is going.

So after the guy yelled a few more times, Brendan and I turned over towards the door to take a look. It was, of course, two cops, guns drawn, pointing them directly at us. I turned back towards the game, and despite the fact that I was poised to take home a first place finish, I paused the game. They remarked about the volume of the game, then asked if we had any more weapons in the house. Apparently they came in through the back and noticed a pellet gun on the couch. After some more small talk, they started leading us out of the bedroom and grilling us about a guy named Chris. Where was he? Did he drive a white car? Did he have bleached hair? The "white car" fit the description of the dude I live with, and the name matched up. They still hadn't found Chris, but they had found a locked bedroom door. They asked if I had the key. Since he and I bought keyed doorknobs at the same time, we share bedroom keys. So I produced the key to the room.

At this point, they had stopped pointing the guns at us, but they all still had guns drawn... especially since they were about to get their man. Chris, being on the phone and breaking up with his girlfriend, didn't really want anyone bothering him. So he had a similar reaction. As the door was being opened, the guy again shouted "police!" Chris responded with an angry-sounding "go away!" He then turned, had the same realization that I had about five minutes prior, and his conversation went from "I'm really sorry it isn't working out" to "cops, gotta go... bye." I can only imagine what she must think now. I know I wouldn't believe something like that.

After they got a look at Chris, they realized they had the wrong guy. They were informed that there was another Chris living on the property--there's a small house and a barn behind the house I'm in, but it all still counts as the same street address--and they slowly went on their way. The two cops inside the house multiplied to four at some point, but the impressive part is that when they opened my front door, there were like six more cops outside. None of them would go into any detail about why they wanted this guy, but it was obvious that they only had a loose description of him and his vehicle.

The Chris they wanted wasn't home, but he arrived while they were still there and got hauled off. We snapped this photo, then I went back to playing Burnout 3.

And I thought the confusion that occurs when we try to get pizza delivered here was bad... There were at least three more cop cars that just didn't make it into the shot.

It's been a long time since I've had a loaded firearm pointed at me, and it's the first time that the weapon's been held by law enforcement. It's not really a pleasant experience. Here are some helpful tips, should you find yourself in a similar situation...

- Keep your house locked at all times. If the backdoor wasn't unlocked, they probably would have had to break down a door. That would have been pretty cool.

- When a cop points a gun at you, try not to make any sudden moves.

- If you hesitate when responding to a cop's questions, he'll probably think you're lying.

- Try not to laugh about the situation until after the cops leave.

- Don't live near anyone that has the same name as you, especially if that person appears to be shady.

- If you end a break-up conversation with "gotta go, cops," just don't call back. She'll never believe you.

- If you have cops from two cities, the county sheriff's department, and the state police coming after you, you've probably done something real bad... or you know someone who's done something real bad, and they're trying to blame you for it.

- If you're talking with cops in front of your house and one of them says "haven't been out here in awhile... you guys haven't had any parties recently" then maybe it's time to cut back your guest list when it comes time to throw another one.