Expensive when you add it all up.

Yesterday I met a cousin which I hadn't seen in a year for dinner.  We ended up going at a friend's Vietnamese restaurant.  We took my car, since I knew where we were going, and I was lucky enough to find parking almost in front of the restaurant, which is rare since it's a very busy area of town.  There was a parking meter so I used my credit card to pay the maximum allowed so that I wouldn't be bothered checking time, etc.

My friend wasn't there when we arrived, but we ordered some food and started enjoying our food and catching up.  He eventually showed up and like every time I go there, he made us try something.  He has this thing about healthy, tasty food.  He had made this tapioca type pudding, which was soy based.  The look of it was really not appetizing, but it tasted really good.  I just love tapioca.

At the end of our meal, he came by and sat with us for a while telling us about his latest project.  He's been working on developing this natural base product to help rebuilt the immune system, etc.  He was very passionate about it, and his documentation was interesting.  Long story short, I bought a kit - supplies for one month - to try.  If it can help with my headaches and back pain, it will be worth it.

We had decided to go to another place for our desserts, so after paying for everything we made out way back to my car and drove off.  Within five minutes in the car, we noticed, at the same time, there was a fuckin' parking ticket stuck to my windshield.  Damn it.  I pulled over, grabbed it to see it was for $52 for "having parked a road vehicle in a space controlled by a pay station without the prescribed fee having been paid".  I was fuming. I did pay, I even used my Visa and put the maximum allowed.  I pulled out the receipt from my purse.  Looked at it and was calling the "parking agent" all sorts of nasty names, when I realized that the amount for that transaction was $0.25.  Somehow, the machine gave me eight minutes instead of two hours I needed and thought I had purchased. Fuck!  I royally fucked up on that one.  I know I did press the "max" button, but somehow ended up with not even a quarter of an hour.  I did fuck around with the machine, since we had a big storm yesterday at dinner time, and the display was all foggy and I never did pay attention at the end time.  I saw :59 and assumed it was until 9pm.  I was furious!  My cousin offered to pay for our desserts - that was nice of her - and suggested that I pleaded not guilty.  According to her I would have a chance because I had use my credit card to cover the maximum fee and a judge might give me the benefit of the doubt... I'm tempted to do so, but at the same time I know I fucked up.  I should have been more vigilant and look at the end time on the ticket.  I've learned a lesson, that's for sure!

Let's just say that when we did arrive at the other place, I made damn sure I was in a proper area to park and made sure the meter wasn't in effect (after 9pm).  It was a pleasant evening overall, but I could have done without that ticket, that's for sure!