I seem to learn all of my lessons the hard way. My mom has always said that I am my own worst enemy. Any negative events that have happened in my life, are usually a result of me, myself and I. Translation: Other people rarely harm me, and I do some stupid shit. As a result, I always learn my lessons the hard way.
When I was 22, and a senior in college, after 17 speeding ticket violations, the state of Rhode Island FINALLY took my license from me. When the sentence was handed to me, I cried for four hours. I though that life as I knew it (bye bye wheels, hello hot pink bike) was over. If I had just stopped speeding after the first time that I was pulled over, (or the second, or the eighth time,) I would not have had to spend the better part of 2006 riding a hot pink bike with a bell and a basket. But alas, I learned my lesson (don't speed) the hard way.
When I was a freshman in college, I was loving my new found freedom, fake id, classes of 500 people+, and professors who had know idea who I was. Six months later, I nearly got myself kicked out of school. Had I listened to warnings from my parents and from professors, I would have saved myself lots of aggravation, stress, visits to the dean, and tears. Ultimately,I was not kicked out of school, but it was a very rough patch between me and my parents, that took a lot of mending. And for that, I learned my lesson the hard way.
In college I was given a credit card for the first time. At the time, I saw this card as free money. Oohh, I like that shirt! (I'll take it in four different colors). What do you mean I have to pay for that eventually? And with interest? I simply thought, hm, no big deal. When I get a job, I'll pay my debt off immediately. This was before I knew that I would be paid in peanuts (on a teacher's salary). This was also a much simpler time, a time when I thought that you were paid your annual salary in full, at the start of your job. (Yes, I can be a little slow at times). Well, here we are 6 years later, thousands of dollars in debt, living life as the richest homeless person you know. Had I gone a little easier on the spending, after numerous warnings from Little Mimi and Dad, things would be a lot different for me now. I learned my lesson the hard way. There were some other lessons that I learned the hard way too, but they involve boys, relationships and STD's, so I will save those for the book that I am currently writing this summer.
This past week, I learned a very, very important lesson, and that is to always read the fine print. My roommate and I were excited and ready to move forward in our lives. It was time to graduate from Murray Hill to a further downtown section of Manhattan. (For those of you reading this that do not live in NYC, Murray Hill is reserved for 22-25 year old Jews, who all attended the same 7 universities, and went to the same 5 sleepaway camps). Bonk, (that's my roommate) and I were ready to sign a new lease, for an amazing new apartment. After days of apartment hunting, we had found the one--and at unbeatable price! We were so excited, I had my certified check in my hand, ready to sign our new lease... when the unthinkable happened. A call from our current property holder confirmed for us that we had not signed a one year lease ending in August 2009, but we had actually signed a TWO year lease, ending in August 2010. THAT'S RIGHT, LADIES AND GENTELMAN. My roomate and I signed a two year lease, and had absolutely no idea, until TODAY, when we were about to sign another lease. Go ahead, call us stupid, call us idiots, call us fools. You can't say anything that we haven't already said about ourselves. So, now as we desperately try to rent our aparemtent privately (If you know anyone who needs a place in Murray Hill--we are here for you!) We are left, feeling distraught, and dissapointed about the apartment that will ultimately slip through our fingertips. It was graduation day, and we are being left behind. We are left with the new found knowledge of a very important lesson, one that we truly learned the hard way: always read the fine print, or else you learn, as my good friend Jared pointed out, "you're a re-re."
21 speeding tickets
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