Hi All!
The year certainly got off to a bad start for me.
This posting is by way of letting the world know how I am feeling today. If you aren't interested in a sad sack story, go away and come back later. But if you would indulge me in a bit of self-pity, it would lighten my heart and make less heavy my chest.
Last May, I had a very untimely and unfortunate encounter with the local constabulary. The sad tale was told here and are in the archives for May 2004.
Today I was judged. And I got the book thrown at me. Chalk up another win for the MADD crowd.
In addition to the few months I have left in my stayed commitment which has kept me away from home (and computer) I will now be under "house arrest" for which I am to pay for 24-hour electronic monitoring.
This will go on for 90-days, after which I get to become intimate with a parole officer for the next two years.
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all is the forfeiture of my dream collector car which I owned for 9 days. There is a page on my website, www.kuettels.com if you want to see it.
I am writing this down for therapy. I can't argue that I commited DWI and that the punishments are as prescribed.
The thing that gets to me is that my $8000 lawyer, paid out of a future inheritance, wasn't able to do much better than an ambulance chaser or even a public defender.
The only "breaks" I got were avoidance of 30-days in jail, for which I had a note from my doctor saying my health wouldn't permit it anyway, and 2-years probabation vs. 4 and a reduced fine.
If I didn't know better, I'd consider myself lucky. But several months in institutions where I met plenty of really "bad guys" gave me countless anecdotes about how those who have done what I've done, and a lot worse, have gotten off more lightly.
No one in the same circumstances, or again, worse, have had their vehicle taken. I don't even have the option of buying it back, nor can any relative.
On the lighter side, things with me have nowhere to go but up -- I think. Here's just hoping I live long enough with my end-stage disease to rebuild my life, which is in total shambles today.
Don't drink and drive, even a mile from your house. If you suffer the disease of alcoholism, don't drink at all (duh!)
If you do get caught, don't waste too much money on a lawyer. The laws have become more draconian than one can imagine. You could make out better by choosing a different crime, even a more serious one!
With that I try like hell to live in the moment and put away the past. Easier said than done, but who knows, with a few more months of treatment, comitment and house arrest, I will probably have no problem brushing things off.
Thanks for hearing me out. Please spare me the "you deserved it" replies. I know, I know.