getting on track

i spent the morning in traffic court. again. for the third time.

most people i know have never even gone to traffic court, much less three times. i, on the other hand, due to being generally flaky etc, keep ending up in these kind of situations: traffic court, collection agencies, SF City Tow, bench warrants (accidentally issued to my dad, oops!), loss of my license, etc etc. for years now, i’ve never been able to pull my shit together. i used to file my taxes on april 15th just before midnight. i ignored my credit card bills and just threw them away without even opening them. every single movie i’ve rented, i’ve returned late… even managing to lose a few of them all together. i’ve gotten enough parking tickets to wallpaper at least one of my walls, if not my whole room. my cell phone would be shut off every single month until i paid them off. my credit cards got closed one by one. my bank account would end up about 1,000$ in overdraft every single month.

and then… somehow i changed. i fixed all my bad habits (well, maybe not the city tow one, doh!). i started paying bills on time. i fixed my credit history. i’ve become super diligent in my money matters. it’s crazy and weird to think i’m actually responsible now, and have paid off all my debts. i think a big part of it has been that i need to save $$ for my trip so i’ve been very money-conscious lately. it feel really good to have my shit together.

anyways, getting back to this morning, i was in traffic court because of a ticket i received over a year ago. i had a) speeding b)no registration c)no proof of insurance and d)failure to appear. all of it put together added up to $1,044 and a threat that i’d lose my license if i didnt pay by the 17th. luckily, through past experience, i knew i could get that fine wayyyyy down if i went to court instead of paying it. my decision paid off: fines lowered down to 188$. fuck yes!!

*v