So I'm sitting at a red light on High St and Norwich when the cop behind me flashes his lights and alerts me to pull over. After waiting several minutes for him to come out of his car, the officer informs me the license plate is registered to my old car, not my current one, which I bought in August and paid the dealership to transfer the title. I explain this to the cop. He understands the situation and really feels for me, but claims, "Sorry. I already wrote the ticket." Couldn't be ripped up? Couldn't be canceled? Guess not. The cop tells me I either pay the ticket or show up to court.

So I deal with the dealership and get my license plate in order. I look at the ticket, find out I have to call a number to see how much I owe. I get the info and write the check and mail it out. I'd rather just pay the fine and be on my way than dispute it in court. Case solved, right? Wrong.

Because of Memorial Day Weekend, I don't get a letter back until Tuesday returning the check and letting me know that I had a warrant out for my arrest, apparently I had to pay the fine AND go to court, despite what the cop said. A warrant out for my arrest? What does that really mean? The cops know where I live, they just sent me a letter. If there's a warrant out for my arrest, shouldn't they be beating down my door right now to resolve the issue?

Two days later I finally had the time to go down to the Municipal Court to hopefully get this resolved. Another phone number I was given told me to show up between 7:30 and 8:30 AM to get on the court docket and it was a first-come first-serve basis. I show up promptly at 7:30 AM (two hours before I normally wake up), get my number and wait. And wait. And wait. It would then take three hours to hear my case. I finally get to tell my case and the magistrate hardly listens. He checks my previous record and sees nothing there and tells me the charges are dropped.

Excitedly I go to leave the courtroom when the magistrate informs me there is a slight matter of court fees. Court fees? I have to pay $87 because I sat and wasted three hours of my time? Makes sense, about as much sense as the entire judicial system. I can't wait to graduate college and have enough money to throw at police offers to never get another ticket.