Friday, January 21, 2005

Watch This Space

Hi All!

The next phase of my life-reconstruction will start on February 1 when I will return home for the first time since October 3.

I will be begin 90-days of electronic monitoring, but after what I've been thru lately, "house arrest" doesn't look too bad.

As long as the transmitter on my ankle doesn't interfere with the computer, I will resume this blog with stories from the past 4 months.

Hope they will be an enjoyable respite from political writings of others. Come back in check me out.

Cheers!

Monday, January 03, 2005

Day of Reckoning

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.