Bad Karma

I believe I mentioned my getting a ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign the other day. Well, today was the court day, and I wasn't planning on going; my dad said I should, it's always worth fighting, but going to court, just seems, oh, I don't know. I'm guilty I did indeed fail to stop at that stop sign. Nor do I have an excuse. Something about trying to fight something like that, even a ticket as ridiculous as failure to stop at a stop sign, seems wrong to me.

But I didn't have class today, and I left work at around eleven, and it was only a few minutes from Gigi's so it wasn't out of the way or anything, so I went. Turns out I was wrong about the cop; he didn't show up, and I walked. The judge wasn't pleased by it either. For the most part, she was letting everyone off with a lighter sentence, but the few people like me with less than stellar records she had no mercy for. She warned everyone at the beginning that they could just go and pay the fine on their ticket, or, if they stayed, there was a chance the fine might go go up if she found you guilty. Had I not been boxed in by two fat guys, I would have left, but no one else did, and I didn't feel like making a scene, so I stayed, and was glad I did.

The judge called my name, and I went up. I was the first name on the roster for my cop, and I never even looked at him when he gave me my ticket, so I had no idea what he looked like. But I didn't hear anyone walking up behind me, and after a moment or two, the judge realized my cop hadn't showed up, nor did he have an excuse. Some other cop was sick, and so everyone who pleaded innocent for him had to postpone, and that was something I did not want to do. The judge told me it was my lucky day., there was no one to testify against me, no fine, no court fees, and no points. I win again.

Still though, there is karma for such things. I went out to my car, and what should be under my windshield wiper? A parking ticket of course. Apparently, I was parked in a loading zone. I don't know, I pulled into a space, saw a sign for court parking, but then I would have gotten back into traffic again and merged over two lanes to go left, and it just seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth, seeing as I was already parked in a parking spot.

I'm pretty sure things would have gotten ugly had I actually had to pay for my $90 ticket and gotten more points on my license, and then came out to find a $35 parking ticket, but all in all, I suppose if this is all the punishment I get for lucking out and bypassing the system, I suppose I'm lucky.