Boy, oh boy, did I have an interesting morning. I got to spend some quality time with multiple places of civilian service. My first stop was the DMV. I got up at my normal time (5:15am) in order to get to the DMV at 7:45am. I was right on time, and welcomed by an already eager line of individuals also wanting to take advantage of early arrival, first place in line, situation. I’d say there were about 35-40 people ahead of me at the door at 7:45am. The doors open and I just so happen to get in line with only 2 people ahead of me (seemed like all the other folks needed something else done beside their license. Sweet beans. Well, 8:05, 8:10, 8:15, 8:20 rolls around, and by 8:25 I become next in line. The issue, however, was I needed to be in court at 9am. As much as I hated to do it, and with semi-disappointment that with only 2 people ahead of me they couldn’t get to me in half an hour, I had to forfeit my place in line and head downtown to court.
If you don’t know already, I had to go to court because I didn’t move out of the slow lane for a cop that had someone pulled over on the side of the road. Ignoring the argument that I deserved the ticket, I still had to go to court and couldn’t pay the fine online. Well, if you’ve ever been to court, you’d know there’s always a court fee. I went to court (after going to the wrong building at first and then roaming around the correct building looking for my room because there were literally no signs) and was shuffled into a room with about 25 other individuals. One by one I heard people go up and explain why they felt they were in the right, whether it be they were pulled over because they didn’t have insurance even though they assured the judge that they have it now, so everything should be dismissed, or that they’ve never had a license but decided to take their friends car for a ride because they wanted to test it out for them. The few individuals that I could respect as upstanding citizens of society went up, apologized for their driving behavior, and were waived of their ticket. Not this guy. I went up, told the judge that I just couldn’t get over in time and next time I will slow down instead of maintaining my speed, and he didn’t buy it. I was sure that if I used the “I’m sorry and guilty, but won’t happen again” thing all the others did, I’d be let off too, but I wasn’t. The ticket was $20. The court fee was $144. Yeah. On top of the sheer ridiculousness that I had to go to court for this, they also had 2 individuals that joined us in the courtroom. These individuals were shackled. One was convicted of murder. Should I even ask the obvious question? Ok, I will. Why in the world were we in the same courtroom as individuals being tried for murder?! So, I bit the bullet and paid the $164 for a $20 ticket, and headed on my way back to the DMV.
When I got to the DMV I walked up to the state trooper lady with the best smile I could conjure, and told her that I was there earlier in the morning but had to leave. Luckily, the guy I was conversing with told her just as a side comment when he went to handle his business, and she remembered, and fit me in in 5 minutes. Thank God! So I was able to get my Alabama license, and then headed over to registration to update some title info, and I was done!
I got back to work at about 12, so I only missed 3 hours of work which rocks. I thought I’d be gone the whole day.
The rest of this week should be pretty beautiful, and I’m excited about that. I guess that’s all for now. I hope you all have a spectacular week! And Amy, I pity you, but I can’t wait to see you and Sara next month! I need details. Hit me up!
