Inevitability

It finally happened. I always knew it would eventually, but I'll admit there was a part of me that took a little pride in the fact that it hadn't happened yet, a part of me that thought I might end up being the one exception to the rule, the one person who managed to avoid it through a combination of watchfulness and good luck. And I did stave it off for a solid 17 months of living in this city, which is pretty impressive, even if I do say so myself. But this week, my streak came to an end and the inevitable finally occurred: I got a parking ticket.

The annoying thing is, I can't even get upset at the city about it; it was totally my fault and I deserved it. The only thing I can chalk it up to is my own tiredness. I drove home on Wednesday evening, knowing full well that I would be riding into work with Kristen for the next two days, knowing as I pulled onto my street that I needed to find a spot where I could leave my car parked until the weekend. But somehow this knowledge did not manage to play out into my actions. I pulled into the first spot I saw, which happened to be on the Thursday street cleaning side, and didn't think twice about it until I decided I would drive to the Richmond tonight rather than taking the bus.

I suppose it's good that I made this mistake -- my vanity can certainly stand all the lessons in humility I can get and my perfectionism now has one less foothold -- but I think it's also one more piece of evidence that I need some de-fragging this weekend. Apparently my boss knew what he was talking about in that pep talk yesterday.

Ah, the inevitability of my own humanity!