Because it was rainy

Ack! Another parking ticket. My mom said comfortingly, "There's something awful about parking tickets, that really hurts even when you know it's not that big a deal." It's kind of true, I've got to say. I was in a pretty good mood especially considering I hadn't eaten much all day and had worked three hours at the cafe all alone (without prior warning from my boss, I might add!), and was headed home to finish a long essay; and there on the windshield, tucked nicely under the wiper, was a parking ticket. I muttered a few expletives under my breath, nonchalantly snatched the ticket off my windshield, and huffily got into my car, where all at once I wanted to cry. I was in the wrong; I had only filled the meter for two hours and forty five minutes even though I knew I would be at work for three and a half hours; and I knew my blood sugar was low and this certainly wasn't the end of the world. But it felt awful! It felt like a pointed attack on me after a long day, and however I reminded myself that that wasn't true, it still felt vicious.

I've eaten now, and have a mug of hot chocolate, and have made relatively good progress on my paper (which means that I now have to procrastinate and blog and such until it's late enough for me to be spurred to start working again), and I feel significantly better about the parking ticket. It isn't the end of the world. I was overly dramatic, and tired. Last time I got a parking ticket was because of my own stupidity - I simply forgot about the meter. But this time it was merely bad luck, and that actually feels more bearable - what happened was, I could only put in up to two hours of coins at a time, so I went out twice to the meter to fill it; then I was left alone at the cafe and couldn't leave again to put more coins in the meter, and I hoped that it would go unnoticed in the dark.

Of course, that only worked in the dead of winter, when it was dark by six. Now it is still light enough to see a blinking meter. Let this be a lesson to me in the future. And now.... back to work.

posted by Holly @ 10:13 PM