Today was the first time I had an opportunity to go to Magistrate Court to try to get the judge to drop the charges for the ticket I received last Tuesday. For days I’ve been preparing in my head what I needed to tell him or her:
· I didn’t know the registration had expired because the renewal form was not forwarded to our new address
· Someone at work did alert me to the expired inspection sticker a couple months ago, but I just forgot about it because I’ve been busy and under stress
· I had no criminal intent, and the law that I (unintentionally) violated did not put other people in jeopardy
· I have an excellent driving record and that should be taken into consideration
· I just don’t have the money right now to pay a fine… with all the medical bills I’ve recently incurred. (Yep, I was even ready to play the “cancer card”)
I wore my prettiest blouse today for my “court appearance”. Ric laughingly suggested I wear a hat or scarf that would give a hint to my bald head. But I wore my favorite wig instead. I didn’t really think any of those would do much good, but what the heck. I’ve been fretting and worrying all week about how much this fine would be. I thought about having worked three remotes last week, tired at the end of the day, and swollen ankles… and figured the extra money I made for all that work, would all go to pay for this stupid ticket.
I went to the wrong courthouse first. (See, I’m not a bad person… I didn’t even know where to go!) Walked into a room with probably 100 people waiting. I couldn’t see where to sign in… so I asked someone who was waiting… then found my way back to a room with only two people ahead of me. Both of those people appeared to be irritating the judge with their explanations of why their charges should be dropped… and I thought… oh no, he’s not going to be a happy man when it’s my turn. A police officer took my ticket, receipt for current vehicle inspection, and my newly renewed vehicle registration, and took them back to the judge. He returned about one minute later, and handed me the receipt and registration, smiled and said “You can go, ma’am… it’s been dismissed.” “I don’t have to explain anything?” I asked. “No, it’s been dismissed.”
Wow, was I a happy girl! That was so easy.
All that worrying for nothing. Sleepless nights for nothing.
Time to Replace
I found the time also today to fill in the information on the Dell computer website, to return my “recalled” battery. When I entered the entire number… the message “no need for replacement” popped up. I thought it was a mistake at first, but on a closer reading, I realized that my battery contained a part number that might be affected… so the entire part number submission indicated whether or not the battery was one involved in the recall.
So another thing that turned out good! (I actually hadn’t been worrying about this one… there is hope for me yet!)
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