Nostalgic reprieve in an awful day…
VH1 Classic just got through playing Howard Jones’ “What is Love?” Massive rush of sense-memory, there. Holy mid-80s, Batman.
Been thinking a lot of the past, largely due to the impending return to the place where I lived from 1984-1988, and again from 1990-1997. For some reason, though, I tend to dwell on the earlier period, rather than the latter….I suspect because they were, in retrospect, happier times. 84-88 was high-school and the first year of college. 90-97 was the rest of college, and the gradual disintegration of my marriage. I guess that I’m hoping that the move back to Kansas is filled with the sort of happiness and potential of the earlier period, and not the dismal collapse of the latter.
Today sucked. I had my court appearance for the traffic violations that I mentioned about a month ago. I was basically told that there is no way in hell that I can do this without a lawyer,(and no, you can’t have a Public Defender because you make too much—despite the fact that you live paycheck to paycheck), and that they’re going to set another court date a month from now. The judge told me that, as a FIRST TIME offender, with a SPOTLESS driving record, I’m looking at around $1300 in fines, a 1 or 2 year suspension of the license, and then, after reinstatement, a $250/year surcharge for 3 years, that I’ll have to pay to New Jersey whether or not I live here. My god, I hate this worthless, polluted swamp of a state. It’s a serious contender (with Georgia) as the worst place I’ve ever had the misfortune of living.