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This is going to hurt, but I think I should write it.
I was down in Atlanta, Georgia one time not long after I had bought a truck and had gone out on my own as an owner/operator. The truck ran wonderfully, but everything around the drive train was falling apart. It was summer and the truck needed a/c work. I had to do something because I could not sleep in it. I was sweating myself to death. I'm probably lucky that I didn't become dehydrated at some point. It was sucking the life out of me.
I put the truck in the shop and got a room at a hotel/truck stop. I learned that the truck needed more that a/c work and they were going to have to have it for a week if I wanted it fixed right. So, I rented the room for a week.
I bought a twelve pack of beer and made myself comfortable in the roof. After drinking the entire twelve pack, I felt like I hadn't had my fill yet. I had noticed a bar not far from the hotel so I walked over to it and proceeded to get totally ripped. I don't remember too much from my time in the bar. That's probably good. I just remembered that I got smacked really hard by some woman and it was time for me to leave.
I was so drunk by then that while I was walking back to my room I tripped and fell flat on my face. Literally. My reflexes didn't work anymore and I didn't even stick my arms out to try to catch myself. I didn't feel any pain, though.
When I got back to the hotel the exterior was locked up. My room key fit one of the exterior doors, but I accidentally broke it off in the key hole. I then had to go to the front desk to get someone to let me in my room, and that someone turned out to be a security guard. He let me in my room, but when he noticed the damage to the door he tried to kick me out. I told him to go fuck himself and crashed.
Not long after that a cop showed up at my door. I said something along the lines of, "Go fuck yourself you motherfucking cocksucker," to the cop. I ranted and raved and cussed at the cop some more and then crashed again. They could not enter the room because I had it locked on the inside with one of those latches that hotel rooms have. The cop needed a warrant to bust in the door and remove me.
So, the cops got the warrant by about 9 o'clock the next morning and busted in the door. I was in bed laying on my stomach and that damned cop had his gun pulled and was ready to shoot my ass. He had a partner by this time. Well, they cuffed me and stuffed me asking if I cussed at the cops in Ohio.
I spent about 12 hours in a large holding cell with what looked like at least 100 other guys in there. I went before a judge, by this time sober and respectful, and he let me go on a signature bond. I'd never heard of those before, but I guess that in Georgia if you are not considered too much of a threat, they will let out of jail on your signature and with a promise to come back for the trial.
And I did come back. I was charged with criminal trespassing and at the time, for a first time offender, it carried up to a maximum penalty of 6 months in jail and I think a $1000 fine. I did not have a lawyer because I could not afford one. When I got in the courthouse I had a talk with the prosecutor right before I was to stand before the judge. He said he was going to recommend 16 months probation. I wasn't thinking right and I didn't know anything about the law so I said okay.
I got before the judge and she asked me how I wanted to plea and I told her guilty. She looked at me and asked, "You aren't from around here are you?" I told her I was from Ohio. She looked at the prosecutor, sighed, and fined me $300 out the door.
Yeah, I used to be an asshole, but I wasn't like that on purpose. At the time I was suffering from the symptoms of a mental illness called schizo-affective disorder. That was 1998 and I was 26 years old. I would suffer from the illness for 4 more years. I'm really quite fortunate not to have a longer criminal history. Lord knows I should have one.
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