So tonight was interesting. My car was towed. So was my friend's, who parked behind me. In the street where I've been parking every time I've gone to Helios for the last year and a half. Let me preface this. At church, I was approached by a rising 8th grader and her mother, interested in LifeTeen, because I "work with LifeTeen, don't you?" I gave her all the info I knew, which was everything expect specific dates, because really, I haven't paid attention to dates of anything happening after I'm going to be gone. Then, swing dancing was really fun. Allison is engaged and soon to be married to someone with whom she's super duper compatible. My dancing was good. And the music kept going because the dj didn't feel the need to stop. At 11, I finally headed off to tango, followed by Amy's friend from school Mary Carmen and her mother Mary Carmen, both of whom are cool. We arrived at 11:20, had fun dancing until midnight, went to get our cars...and the street was empty. Apparently there is a sign that doesn't allow parking between 6pm and midnight mon-sat or noon to midnight on sunday, unless you have a special permit, i.e. you live in the fancy shmancy condos around the corner there. Their money and phones were in their car, and my wallet was in my car, but luckily I had kept my cell phone on me. And luckily a really cool guy named Alaafia helped us out (in the Houston Press, there is somewhere that you can vote for his band called Drum for some music awards...do so, because he totally needs to be repaid for his generous driving and advice). I got the run-around on the phones, given four numbers that I wrote down and more that I got from signs, not to fix the problem, but just to find our cars. Apparently, the tow truck drivers have two hours to report the cars they have been called by the police to tow. And you know what? It was my fault. Do you know why? Because despite my parking there every time I went, there was a no parking sign that I did not see and did not read. It's like driving faster than the speed limit because you never know the speed but always drive the speed of the guy in front of you on that stretch of road. And one day, you're going that speed, and you get a ticket, because you should have known. So let this be a lesson to everyone else: Don't pay $200 dollars to get your car back, and a $65 parking ticket. Read parking signs, every time you park anywhere that isn't your own driveway. [sighs]