The day I saved $350

So, I never did tell the story of how I saved $350. Well, as some of you may know, I was slapped with a $436 speeding ticket on my drive down. Never speed in a construction zone! (fyi it was very unclearly marked, and dropped from 70 to 45 in a short distance). Lo and behold, I can strike the infraction from my driving record AND insurance for only the cost of an $85 class. The downside: I had to drive an hour to Amity, Louisiana to sign up in person, then return the next day for the 4 hour class. The class was very entertaining. Quite the cross-culture of society, young and old, wide array of socioeconomic status, etc. A 16 year old girl with a new license and a 70 year old man with tight tapered black jeans and blue cowboy boots sat next to me, for example. I especially liked the guy with the John Deere shirt that said "Been there, cut that." Outside the class, people socialized, mostly complaining about their ticket (example: "I swear there wasn't a stop sign there!"). Turns out over 1/3 of the people are there for not stopping at the train tracks. Apparently in Louisiana, not stopping for trains is a serious enough problem that they developed "Operation Lifesaver." I though it would be CPR training, but it's a program which has reduced train collisiions by 1/2 (maybe from 2 to 1 per year? I just don't see it "accidentally" happening very often.) Anyway, I got a kick out of Operation L, and the fact that we had to watch an after school special-type video about why you should not drink and drive.

Probably the greatest part of the class was learning what they do in other countries with drunk drivers. (I am not making this up). The lawbooks are still written this way (although doubtfully enforced, but anyway...)
1. In El Salvador, driving drunk can warrant execution.
2. In Australia, a wife must serve jail time with her convicted husband.
3. THE BEST: In Turkey, you are driven 20 miles outside of your town and forced to walk back into town.

And most importantly, I can drink 2 beers and not be to the legal limit yet! woohoo!

You might wonder when I'm actually starting to teach, since all I seem to be doing is dining out a lot and buying stuff for my game room. Believe it or not, I start one week from today! That's when my kids come. In the next 7 days, I will be getting very familiar with curriculum (3 curriculums, actually), designing rules/consequences/procedures, getting SUPER organized and psyching myself up for the biggest undertaking of my life. Horror stories are coming from every corner of the US where friends are teaching, so I'll need lots of inspiration! Send it my way!

Peace.