NP: CMJ New Music Monthly, Volume 119

Okay, so remember how my landlord told me I could probably get out of paying my ticket? Maybe I should have pressed him for more information.

As I was walking across the street to drop off said ticket at the post office, I explained my plight to a co-worker, who more or less reiterated what Ed told me. The trick is that I already owned the sticker, and just hadn't put it on the car yet. Conventional wisdom is apparently that they'll let you slide on the good intentions, and that you've already given the city your money.

Of course, I had already pretty much made up my mind to pay the ticket and be done with it, and I'm not so good at reversing myself when I'm so close to resolving the situation.

Besides, the whole idea that they wouldn't come after me is at odds with the way the rest of the city allocates its resources. I mean, the police seem to have freed up so much of their time by using surveillance cameras in rough neighborhoods that they have to bust drivers for talking on cellphones and cyclists for not obeying stop signs just to keep busy.

So going after the low-hanging fruit of lazy car owners seems right up their alley. That or I'm working way too hard to tie a couple of disparate stories together.