Karma...

I don't know if what I am about to tell you happened as a karmic reaction to my last post where I made fun of the Trenton Police, or because I haven't finished my dinner the other day; bottom line, I have a story to tell.

Ok; before I got my Green Card a little over a year ago, the expiration date of my drivers license used to be directly linked to the expiration of my visa, which I had to renew every couple of years. Of course... once I had my precious Permanent Residence Card I really stopped thinking about it, and lived (and drove) happily ever after. I vaguely remember receiving a notice about my license in very early spring, but so many things have happened since and I admit that I simply didn't think of it anymore.
On Tuesday I had a day off, and went to pick Manolo up from work in the evening. I got to his office a little early and started going through all the stuff I accumulated in my wallet. I threw out receipts, organised bills by size... and eventually took out my license. Sure enough... it expired last month. DAMN!!!
In my head I went through my schedule for the week. I knew that on Thursday I would take the Bus to work anyway, since we have school at night, which would take place at a construction site near my job. Manolo would keep the car and pick me up in the evening to go there. Good... that only left Wednesday. I would take the car to work, pick Manolo up at night and that would be it. Friday I have a day off, and I would get my license renewed first thing in the morning.
Of course... all day Wednesday I was driving around a little nervous... knowing I was really doing something I shouldn't do. But hey... I have never been stopped, and I will be fine!
I got home from work at night, prepared some dinner and waited for Manolo's phone call to go get him. He called, I grabbed Fiby (it was her first birthday) and drove to where he works.
I guess NOW I should have stopped pushing my luck and made HIM drive back; but it just didn't occur to me.
We drove down South Broad Street and got to the corner where two traffic lights are set so that one turns green as the next one is just about to turn red. It pisses me off every time, and I have discovered that I can (kind of) make it through the second light when it's "yellow" if I push it! And so I pushed it as I have many times before. I got through the second light as it jumped from yellow to red................ and there they were; coming out of a side street with their lights blinking. Trenton cops.
COME ON!!! We were two minutes away from our house on my last drive before going to the DMV!!! I pulled over, rolled down my window, and realized that I didn't even bring my wallet this time!
Long story short... the cop was actually nice. He took my name, went to his car and came back a little while later to inform me about my expired license. He was kind of cool, and charged me for less then he could have for the license issue. Of course... he got me for the red light as well, which I couldn't really argue either.
It was altogether a very expensive and quite exciting evening... $270.
There is a side of me that wants to be angry at the fact that all this went down at one of the worst corners of our neighborhood. There are so many crazy things going on right there that would be way more important to fix than my little red light/ license issue. As we sat in the car waiting for him to write up his tickets, I wanted to point things out to him... like: "Heads up... hooker to your left! Attention: Crack sale 11 o'clock!"
But on the other hand I have to slap my own wrist and say that I can't complain about cops NOT taking charge... and then complain when they do (even if it bit me in the ass).
How the hell could I have forgotten about this in the first place!? I know I have been busy and preoccupied with a lot of things that are going on in my life right now... but... HOW??? How does one forget about an important thing like that?????? I need a freaking assistant!
I am mostly mad at myself for not having been on top of things. I mean... had anything else happened, I could be in jail now. Can you picture me in jail??? Manolo would come visit with the babies fresh from the groomers with pink bows in their hair; it would be quite the sight!