I am such a wuss

Or wimp. Whatever. So I went to The Traffic Court today. Let me set this up properly. By the time I got home last night (I left work at 4:45, I got home at 6:00, there was an accident!), I was covered in itchy, red, angry raised bumps on my flesh. Made worse by the fact that as I sat in traffic I scratched at them. So we went out to Target and I bought some Benadryl tablets and some Caladryl Clear lotion. Back home we went and I took the Benadryl and put the Caladryl on. I went to sleep and I woke up, groggy, at 8:30 am. Ugh. Overslept. I was meant to be at The Court at 10:45, and Google reckoned a 30 minute drive from my house. I got ready. I had hoped to be on the road by 9:30, but it was 10:00 by the time I got in The Minivan of the Great Speed. Damn Benadryl. So I followed the Google directions, which thank goodness were right, and I parked the Speeding Bullet at 10:30 ish. Mind you, I could not find the bit of paper that had my court date info on it. I did remember to tear off a check so I could pay my fine, however. We’ll call it even. So I walked in the building. Why the heck was there so many people hanging out in front of the building for? In I went, through the metal detectors, then stood there looking stupid. My mom (who had worked for a judge many moons ago) had told me that there should be an info desk, and I could ask there where I was meant to go. I asked the lady sitting at the desk that was only mildly put out because she was reading a book and I was interrupting her, where I was meant to go for Traffic court. She showed me the way to the docket. I looked at said docket and it said Courtroom 1. I crept over that way, dithering whether I should just walk in or what. It was around 10:40 or so. I finally built up my courage and crept into the room. At which point the judge called recess before the 10:45 session, and the bailiff? Made us all stand up as he left the courtroom. The he went on to explain things to us. Thank goodness for that. What I wanted was called probation before judgment, where you paid the fine, but got no points on your license. So I sat there, all hot and cold and prickly, waiting. A state trooped walked into the room, which I later recognized as the very same one who had pulled me over. Shortly thereafter, court was called back into session, and the Judge gave us more instructions. My name was called, I walked up there, said GUILTY. He asked about my driving record, and I told him about my last moving violation around three years ago that I went to traffic school for. He nodded, said probation before judgment and went to the next case. So I got off, paying $140 for fines and court costs. No points. There is a God and he likes me. I went to the window to pay my fine. Why is it that people DO NOT PAY ATTENTION? I had to wait a bit, as there were people in front of me. There was a sign which said, approximately “No change given out with fine payment”. Okay. I went to the window, wrote my check out. Next to me a young man went to the window and asked the cashier for change for a dollar. A moment of silence. On my way back to work I stopped off at Starbucks and got my first Frappuccino of the New Year. Mmmmmm.