My day in court *edit

It feels weird to say that.

Anyway, I felt a lot better about the whole ordeal today than I did on Monday when I initially went in for what I thought was my court date. I was still stressed and a ball of nerves, but I wasn’t an anxiety ridden maniac.

When I first got there I found my name on the list (whew!) and went into the court room where I waited with everybody else who was in line to speak. There was already a trial going on and I kind of panicked when I noticed that the defendant guy didn’t have anybody next to him (no attorney, no public defender, no nothing… he had to question the witnesses himself and answer all of the questions thrown at him by the prosecuting attorney and judge). I thought that this was going to be relatively low key- that I’d probably have a public defender who I’d talk to and I would then come into the court and not say much of anything while my defender explained my situation.

As it turns out, this guy was actually having a trial and had pleaded "Not Guilty" (he was speeding on his motorcycle) which is different from what I was to go through. About 45 minutes passed before I realized this. During those 45 minutes, however, my mind was reeling.

I didn’t actually have to speak with a judge. I spoke with a prosecuting attorney when he called my name and the two of us talked about my options. He said that he has to be consistant when handing out fines and punishments, so regardless of the reasons behind my getting the ticket, he couldn’t waive it completely. He reduced my fine from $278 to $150 and set a pay date of October 20th, which gives me a solid two months to pay the fine. He also waived all court fees and made it so that the ticket won’t go on my record so long as I maintain a clean driving record for one full year.

So, it worked out! I still have to pay fees, but I won’t have to pay nearly as much as I had worried. My insurance also won’t go up so long as I don’t get any new tickets within the next year. I feel a lot better.

On another note: my bread still hasn’t seen the inside of the oven. It’s rising, but it’s rising very slowly. It’s all okay though, because Dave won’t be home for another three hours. He and Chris went for a drive earlier and Chris’ car started acting funny. They brought it to the dealership and Dave ended up having to drive Chris back to his house, which is nearly an hour away. 

I’ll post pictures of the loaf and boules after I’ve baked them.

They’re done! They’d have been prettier if I’d have scored them or eggwashed them prior to baking, but whatever. They smell absolutely beautiful.