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
dude…i don’t think i’ll *ever* pay off all of my debts.
not anytime soon, anyway.
heh, yeah, school will do that to ya. when i was working and going to school at the same time, i was totally f*ed financially.
*v
Heh, I think I’ve been to traffic court more than you. Not too good with the tickets myself. I remember this one judge that made me stay until everyone was done. She made me write a one pager on why I wouldn’t speed anymore and why it’s not safe to drive so fast. When I was done she called me and the few others that did it with me and we individually had to apologize to her and the courts. As much as going to court sucks you do usually get your fines dismissed or decreased.
-meow