Exit Stage Left

When I first moved to Denver (six years ago!!!!) and was working downtown at Starbucks I got a lot of parking tickets. I averaged probably two a week; mostly because I was too lazy to walk too far to the store. After about a month of this "habit" I realized how much of my tip money I was throwing away paying the $20 fine, just so that I could sleep an extra five minutes. I decided I needed to set a limit. I allowed myself to get one ticket per month. I'm not sure what the ramifications of getting more than that were, but somehow I managed to rein myself in and got my illegal parking habits under control.

Since the invention of the meter key and even more since getting a reserved parking space at work my "need" to park illegally and the desire to be lazy has lessened. I've probably not gotten more than one parking ticket in the last two years. I generally will just park at the DCPA when I go downtown, even for social stuff and walk to where ever might be the final destination. And then sometimes, my laziness gets the best of me.

Tonight I had plans to go to happy hour with a group of friends at the Wynkoop. It's not that far away, but it's not a skip, either. After a long day at work and an inability to leave on time we decided to drive. We had no problem finding a parking spot within a block of where we were heading, but since my meter key has demagnetized itself (I have no idea how) and no longer works, and since we had limited change I knew a trip out to plug the meter at some point would be necessary. I looked at my watch right about when the meter was expiring and said to myself, "ah, fuck it, it's just 20 bucks" though I secretly hoped I'd manage to escape detection.

By now I'm sure you've devised that I got a parking ticket this evening. I'm not broken up about it, but I'm not happy about it either. I realize that I made a conscious decision to not plug the meter, but I've since realized that my lapse in judgement was just stupid. It's a classic case of remembering how you feel at this exact moment so that you never repeat it. I doubt that will happen--not repeating it--but there's no harm in hoping either.