Some people don't realize that consequences will sneak up and clobber you over the head. No matter if you agree with the cause, or effect, it will come back to haunt you.
Sad thing is, I knew this. I knew that leaving California without taking care of my traffic ticket (for not having my car registered and having a brake light out- not as if there aren't 5 other lights on my car indicate that, yes indeed, I am slowing down, so you should too) was not a good idea. I just didn't know how much of not a good idea it was.
Last September I get pulled over as I was heading to a friend's house to drop off some goodies from the bakery I worked at when I got a ticket. My registration was out of date. Yes, I knew it was. But I have an old car and I didn't pass their stupid smog test (which I must add cost me $50 to get in the first place. And do they tell me what is wrong? No. For that I must go somewhere else and find out. For some unforeseen extra cost). Well, I didn't get it fixed because I didn't have the money for it. Then I got pulled over.
In October my life had finally reached a point where I was like "forget it. I am leaving this desolate place and returning to Florida". I promptly get a job with a friend at a cafe on an itty-bitty island off the west coast of Florida with the closest movie theater being 60 miles away. It was great.
Then I get a job in Georgia. I moved here in April.
In June there was a family reunion that I needed to drive home for. I left after work (which means about 11pm for me) and start driving. I get about an hour from home when a cop pulls out behind me. I cringe, knowing what is coming. Sure enough, the lights go on and I pull over. Not only is the registration out of date but the light was never fixed AND my California license was suspended. I get arrested.
I get taken in. The cop is talking about the ticket being $2500. I am freaking out a bit but trying to be cool about it. It is 2:30 ion the morning and I am starting to feel the effects of being up for way too long.
Eventually the cop is nice and down plays my ticket to just driving with an expired license and the ticket is a wee bit less than $900.
I call my parents to come pick me up. They aren't going to get there for 2 hours and there were some inmates coming in to clean the offices so the nice police people have to put me somewhere. Into a cell I go. But not before I am fingerprinted (still not sure what that was about since I was told this wasn't going to go on my non-existent until now file, but just my driving record), put into an orange jump suit, made to take out all of the bobbypins in my hair and put into a cell.
All I could really think at that point, besides the inappropriate thought of "I need to get a picture of myself in this get up" was "my friends at work are never going to believe this".
Finally my parents get there and take me home. I spend the next 3 days trying to get my license released (a $2000 fine that had to be payed in cash). I then spent the next week trying to get my car back. This included my poor friend waiting for a total of 6 hours in various lines to get my license released both from the court house and the DMV, me walking 3 miles around Newnan to get my new Georgia license (they took my California license) and my tag from the various locations that they have them all spread out over. Then a 67 hour drive (3 down and 3 back) to get my car from Blakley where it was impounded. All the while, the people are telling me things that aren't true and everything is WAY more expensive than it should be. $200 to register my car? Seriously? It wasn't even a new car that I needed to pay taxes on.
AND to top it all off, I had ants in my car because I was parked over an ant hill for 10 days. I finally got rid of them. 3 weeks later.
Stupid ants.
