my day 3/5/09

what one hell of a day. i had an appearance in court today stemming from a driving after revocation citation stemming from operating a motor vehicle outside my permitted hours stemming from driving a vehicle with a slightly higher than level of alcohol in my blood (.34) i guess that's more than slightly higher, 4x? well. i never liked to do anything half-ass. if i do something, i do it well.

i believe that this will translate into my recovery. i'm not putting a half-ass effort into this. as in texas hold'em. i'm going all-in!

anyway. i arrive at the courthouse 15min early at 9:45 only to find the courtroom closed and lights off? hmmm, that is quite peculiar, i know judge sazama is retiring but i thought that was in a few months. i proceed to the clerk of courts office to summon the answer to this most perplexing situation.

Nicholas: "Hi, I'm scheduled to be before the judge today at 10am and it appears that court is not in session today."

Rotund Clerk: "Correct, no court today, you must have a pre-trial conference scheduled."

(from here out I will be "N" and Clerk will be "RC"

N: "I don't believe so. I had a pre-trial the 1st week of Feb." (pulls out my pocketbook to confirm 10am march 5th)

RC: What is your name sir?"

N: "Nicholas Joseph Schneider"

RC: Rapidly entering information. "Sir, there is actually a warrant for your arrest."

N: (Picking my heart up off the floor so i don't step on it and adjusting my pant leg so the shit can escape my pants) "Excuse me? For What?"

RC: "Failure to appear before the judge."

N: "That is why I'm here. To appear before the judge. Where is he?"

RC: "One moment while I get your file so we can clear this mess up."

(Translation......Stalling until the detective appears before to inform me of what is going on and gifting me a beautiful set of Cartier Silver Bracelets joined by a little silver chain. He then escorted me on a beautiful walk to this fabulous to new resort in Chippewa. The critically acclaimed CCJ Inn & Spa)

I'm thinking wtf is going on? This is shear madness. Long story short, things were resolved. I was in the wrong with transcribing the wrong date for the appearance (it was yesterday). The interesting part of the entire ordeal was I didn't get angry. I was upset and disappointed. But I remembered that I had done this to myself. This was still a ramification, a symptom of what happens when I drink. I must accept the consequences that result from the actions I made as a suffering alcoholic.

Things could have been worse. The 18-year old i sat next to during the motions in front of the judge was gifted a beautiful matching orange suit with numbers and everything on it. i believe it was gucci. (He had broken his mother's nose!)

Interesting tidbit. Had my timing been such that an alternative judge was not about to go into session, i would have spent the night in jail for failure to show to court to schedule my next court date. (that was all the hearing was for, to schedule another date to return to court) there is a man in new york who has swindled 50 billion dollars from people and has not seen the inside of a jail cell.

oh yeah, the best part! they asked if i wanted to see a public defender. (you know in movies, "you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you) with my huge income from the state of wisconsin unemployment office. aprox $200 week after taxes taken out, i make to much money to qualify for the public defender's office assistance!

nj