It was only half my fault. I had a run of bad luck while I was at the Y, and got a couple of traffic tickets (I think both speeding) in a couple of weeks (yeah, I'm a bit of a speeder, but not crazy or anything). Anyway, I eventually went down to the courthouse to pay them. The lady at the desk told me that I was too late to ask for a reduced fine on the first, but I could go ask for the reduced fine on the 2nd just down the hall. So I walked down there and they were out to lunch. So I didn't pay it yet and came back the next day. Apparently it was a holiday or something, the building was closed.

Anyway, by now it was finals week, I was busy, and my mind was preoccupied.

Fast forward a few years later, I was living in Idaho after graduation and had driven down to Provo for a football game. On the way back, I got pulled over up near the north border. The cop got my licence and registration and said he'd be right back. But he wasn't. He took a long time. After something like 10 minutes, he comes back and says there's a problem and I need to step out of the car. He walks me back behind the car and tells me he's got to arrest me. What for? An unpaid traffic ticket. I got cuffed behind my back (not comfortable at all), rode some 30 minutes in the squad car back to Tremonton, and good booked. I couldn't just pay the fine unless I had cash, they wouldn't let me run to an ATM, so I was stuck until someone could come bail me out. And they took my phone and all the numbers I had on it, so I had to call the only number I had memorized, my parents, who scrambled to find someone who could get out there. Eventually, they sent my uncle from Ogden to save me.

What a stupid system.