Parking Ticket at Astronomy Class
Our local junior college has an astronomy class with a reputation for being very good. The school has a decent-sized telescope, and the instructor co-wrote the textbook they use. He’s not quite Carl Sagan (“billions and billions of stars in the universe…”), but might be close. People of all ages flock to his class.
With my daughter having pretty much run through the high school curriculum, she decided to take the class. I drove her to campus two weeks ago to buy the book (I’m a wallet!) and to figure out where she should park.
She insisted on Lot 5, and sure enough, it was right next to class. Only problem – it’s shared between students and professors.
“Make sure you don’t park in a space marked faculty,” I said.
“Okay,” she said.
Last week, she and a friend drove to the school for their first meeting of the class. They parked in Lot 5, making sure not to park in a space marked faculty.
After class, they went to her truck and found a ticket on the windshield. My daughter was bummed.
“Did you park in a space marked faculty?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“Then contest it.”
She read instructions off the back of the ticket and learned how to fight the ticket and not pay.
“I better double check the space wasn’t faculty,” she said.
“Good idea,” I said.
Next class, she drove and checked the space out. She texted me:
not faculty, but it’s yellow.
Um… did she not learn in driver ed that yellow means loading zone?
Or maybe with all those billions and billions of stars in the universe, and her looking up in the sky, getting primed for class, she was too distracted by the wonders of the milky way to properly park.
Carl Sagan would have been proud.
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Comment by The Exception
| October 2nd, 2009
Star gazing can do it to you every time – that are wishing on the first star of the night! Those little lights and all they represent are quite amazing…
Or she was so worried about the sign that wasn’t there that she forgot to regular stuff…
Or… there was a hot guy walking by…
The Exception´s last blog ..Revisiting Old Friends
Comment by Mindy/Single Mom Says...
| October 2nd, 2009
Good lesson to learn. At least she had the sense to double check before she contested it!
Mindy/Single Mom Says…´s last blog ..Jon Gosselin: Opportunistic Narcissist or Caring Father?
Comment by Paula
| October 2nd, 2009
It won’t be her first one, Dad. Colleges are known to be ticket happy.
Comment by BigLittleWolf
| October 2nd, 2009
Wish I may, wish I might, have a tiny fine tonight… Yep, the tough lessons are the ones that stick. But we’re headed into good star gazing season, aren’t we?
BigLittleWolf´s last blog ..Narcissistic relationship? Use it or lose it.
Comment by T
| October 2nd, 2009
Live and learn right?!
I LOVED astronomy class. There’s something about being in pitch black and staring at the stars. Of course, its more fun as a grown up.
;)
T´s last blog ..What the human body can do
Comment by vinomom
| October 2nd, 2009
Thats too funny – she parked in a big yellow space? Whoops! Guessing she won’t do that again. You know, I remember getting through drivers ed and having my license for at least a few weeks when I came to a yield left turn on green and had NO idea what to do! Luckily the passenger did. I might have sat at that green light for hours!
vinomom´s last blog ..Theres a Long Road Ahead
Comment by Senorita
| October 2nd, 2009
I remember doing something like that the first week of school last year after searching the lot for 40 minutes for parking. Luckily they didn’t hand out tickets.
Well, at least your daughter learned something.
Senorita´s last blog ..A Bull In Bear Market
Comment by Keith Wilcox
| October 3rd, 2009
I got a ticket 13 years ago at OU that I still haven’t paid. I’m afraid to go back to Oklahoma for fear they’ll lock me up! :-) Yeah, yellow definitely loading zone. ooops. I guess she can chalk it up as a learning experience. Or, you know, run away and never pay it. hahaha
Keith Wilcox´s last blog ..Reading Progress: 5 year old Alan
Comment by notasoccermom
| October 3rd, 2009
I really hate when you get that great parking spot and think to yourself “what are the chances?” and then find out that the chances are slimmer than you could have imagined!
Oh well, pay it and learn I guess.
Hope you didnt tell her ‘I told you so’.
notasoccermom´s last blog ..September 2009- Autumn’s dawn
Comment by Andrea
| October 4th, 2009
Maybe she was too busy thinking about the cosmos of life to remember.
Andrea´s last blog ..I got something back today…