VICTORY!!!

Oh, the taste of sweet victory! It seems that Officer Friendly of the "I'll ticket you because wadda ya gonna do about it?" company had better things to do on the Thursday before Christmas than show up at traffic court, so that means Suzanne is freeeeee!

Okay, I wasn't actually in danger of being jailed, but I'm freeeeee of paying the fine and having the ticket on my record, so woo and hoo.

Shout out to Jonathan for accompanying me to the halls of justice. The whole affair took only half an hour, but it would have been a much longer half-hour without ya baby!

I actually thought at first that I might be screwed. The prosecutors came in, called out two names and told those guys right off that their cases had been dismissed. I figured that meant that the rest of us were going to have to dance. After a little roll call to see who had shown up, there were only 3 of us left who were there and ready to tango. The judge called a little recess for the prosecutors to see which cops and witnesses had shown up.

They called one guy out into the hall to talk to the arresting officer for his case. This kid was some kind of athlete from out of town who had gotten into trouble when he came to Austin for a game of whatever he plays. They pleaded down to something lesser and that guy was done. That left two of us.

The judge called the other guy up to the bench and told him his case had been dismissed. I saw hope!! Sure enough, he then called me to the bench and gave me my dismissal. Free at last! Free at last!

So, what have we learned from all this? Slow down - don't speed? Uh...right. Do you even know me? I believe the lesson here is: fight your ticket. Especially if you can get your court date close to a holiday.