Stupidity 2008: World Tour
Right after I got back from SA, I had more than a few people say, "Brian, I'm so glad you're back," usually after I said something rather stupid... but uniquely stupid, I suppose.
Anyway, so far, 2008 has proven to be quite the year for me doing stupid things and making mistakes that I only plan to make once in my life, like staying out until 4 a.m. shakin' my groove thang when I had to be at work just six hours later.
And like getting my car towed. That was today's stupid event.
I had just gotten up into Tempe and parked in the free parking lot on Fifth and Ash that doesn't look like it'll be free much longer. They've paved the lot and put up signs telling you to pay... at so far nonexistent meters. But when I caught a friend at a break in his paper writing and made plans to have coffee with him at the other end of campus, I decided I might as well drive down there instead of walking in the 90-degree heat.
But here's where the lapse in my usually impressive parking intelligence comes in. Although there was parking at the coffee place, it would have required a five-point turn for me to get into it and would have put me uncomfortably close to another car.
Since I've already gotten a nice "There's not enough room to open the passenger door but I'm gonna do it anyway — and forcefully to boot" scratch on my driver-side door and some nice white-paint dust to go along with the "I don't know how to back out of a parking space" scratch that someone left on the side of my car's rear bumper in Tempe parking lots this month, I decided to go and park in the wide open spaces of the Brueggers that closed just when the MU fire made its services most necessary.
Sure, I saw the "Don't park here or we'll tow you" signs, but I figured they were from back in the olden days when they actually meant, "Don't park here without getting a bagel or we'll tow you."
As it turns out, I was wrong, and the owners of that property employ quite the speedy and expensive towing company. But about an hour of mandatory exercise (which, I've found, is the most effective kind) later, I was back in the driver's seat with one more thing checked off my list of mistakes to only make once.