My Day In Court

Getting a traffic ticket sucks.  This is not a new revelation, I just wanted to go on the record and state that sometimes the law is not fun.  On a balmy day in March of this year I was sitting in traffic when I look in my rear view mirror and I see the bubble gum machine going off behind me.  Traffic was stop and go and I had been in the same lane for miles, so I was confident in the fact that I had not broken a law.  Well, it turns out that I had.  I was just hanging up a phone call when I got pulled over and, in compliance with the newly minted hands free law, I was using my hands-free headset that came with my phone.  Apparently my headset is not in compliance with the hands-free law.  Damn.

So Im here now, waiting to see a judge about my $212 fine.  Court is an interesting place.  You have all the people who broke the law, be it wearing headphones or kidnapping a child, all in one place.  It surely is a motley crew.  Today at the courthouse there is a Halloween party as well.  It's like a little salt on the wound as all the workers are happy, smiling, eating cake, enjoying their freedom while I and my law breaking brethren are shuffled around, waiting in lines, and watching happy civil servants eating cake.

Sitting in the hallway waiting to be let into the courtroom makes for some interesting people watching.  Folks are strategizing their defense, making new friends with those with similar rap sheets.  The contempt and general bad mood of all those who are here is palpable.  No one likes to get a ticket, so it is obvious that no one likes appearing in court because of a ticket.  I have my defense prepared.  Plan A is hoping that the officer doesn't show so that the case is thrown out.  Plan B is my actual legal defense and since I have no legal background other than catching a bit of Law and Order and having seen My Cousin Vinny a few times, I'm really hoping Plan A is a success.  I'm guessing that the guy waiting in the hall next to me who is playing video games with the volume up really loud on his ipod doesn't have a good defense.  Hopefully he is before me and I can wow the judge.  I've got my fingers crossed for Plan A, though.

Uncharted Waters

There are places throughout America, and the world, that when I lay witness to them I am awed by their vast expanse and unmolested beauty. When I am in an area that has yet to be filled with houses, industry, or any other evidence of modern civilization I can't help but think what people one or two hundred years ago first thought as they gazed upon these seemingly never ending tracts of mountains, wispy plains, or any number of nature's wonders. I think to myself that they must have been inspired, awe struck, and quite a bit overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at both the beauty and the loneliness that accompanies such daunting remoteness. I have come to a point where I feel as if I have crested a mountain and in front of me is a great plain, filled with nothingness, but rife with opportunity.



I thought to myself the other day that I have been alive for quarter century. I am half way to being fifty years old as well as half way between 20 and 30 years old. I am now in a state of flux as my mind is constantly playing ping pong with ideas inside of my head. Back and forth, back and forth, batting ideas around until eventually I forget what the hell I was thinking in the first place. Ah yes, so what am I getting at? I have a blank sheet of paper in front of me coupled with a monumental case of writer's block. I have my degree now and I have graduated into one of the worst job markets since the Great Depression. I am faced with a good deal of debt from my world travels so I am swallowing my pride and looking for seasonal work in retail. I am setting myself up for more, but my next step is uncertain. I am an extremely motivated and driven person, but without direction I am forced to bide my time so that I may seek inspiration. A piece of advice that I have heeded in the past is, "do what you love and the money will follow." As of right now no one is throwing money at me to travel and surf the Internet on my couch, but I'm going to keep plugging away.