went for a tan at the pool yesterday and to do some reading. and when i left the pool, i saw the car park attendant uncle at my car. he was about to leave. and on my windscreen, a car park fine...
damned it! it was just 2 days before the auspicious lunar new year and i am getting a fine. damned it! and my first natural innermost response was one of anger and hostility. one that was targeted at the uncle. and i cursed him and everything associated with him, he deserved to be condemned, to be burned in hell... i did not try to explain to him why i was late or cook up some excuse. he would probably give me some lame answers or worst still tell me that being a car owner, i can easily afford the fine (yes! this happened to be before. and i thought the uncle that said this was superbly mean. but that was another story). furthermore, i do not have the habit of cooking up stories. not me at all. anyway, the uncle saw me coming. and he quickly packed up, mounted his scooter and rode off. and my eyes tailed him and my mind continued all the hostile thoughts about him...
but as my hostile thoughts cooled off, i took it objectively. yes, it was a fucking sour and lousy feeling. but it was a fact that i had overparked by 15min. and it was a fact that the uncle was only doing what he was paid to do. i guessed i was angry with the whole notion of being fined. and i was also angry with the fact that the phrasing in the fine suggest that i do it on purpose. that i had a deliberate intention of wanting to cheat. but then again, that is the tone used for all fines - parking fines, speeding fines, etc... it is all part of the system. just have to accept it and move on.
i came home. logged in to the internet and paid up the $6 and quickly got rid of the piece of fine. although i am not a superstitious person, it still irked me big time to have such a piece of paper in my house over the auspicious new year period. and as ryan said, 小财不出,大财不入 (direct translation for small fortune don't go out, big fortune don't come in)... and 破财挡灾 (meaning losing monies to avert a disaster).
:-)
damned it! it was just 2 days before the auspicious lunar new year and i am getting a fine. damned it! and my first natural innermost response was one of anger and hostility. one that was targeted at the uncle. and i cursed him and everything associated with him, he deserved to be condemned, to be burned in hell... i did not try to explain to him why i was late or cook up some excuse. he would probably give me some lame answers or worst still tell me that being a car owner, i can easily afford the fine (yes! this happened to be before. and i thought the uncle that said this was superbly mean. but that was another story). furthermore, i do not have the habit of cooking up stories. not me at all. anyway, the uncle saw me coming. and he quickly packed up, mounted his scooter and rode off. and my eyes tailed him and my mind continued all the hostile thoughts about him...
but as my hostile thoughts cooled off, i took it objectively. yes, it was a fucking sour and lousy feeling. but it was a fact that i had overparked by 15min. and it was a fact that the uncle was only doing what he was paid to do. i guessed i was angry with the whole notion of being fined. and i was also angry with the fact that the phrasing in the fine suggest that i do it on purpose. that i had a deliberate intention of wanting to cheat. but then again, that is the tone used for all fines - parking fines, speeding fines, etc... it is all part of the system. just have to accept it and move on.
i came home. logged in to the internet and paid up the $6 and quickly got rid of the piece of fine. although i am not a superstitious person, it still irked me big time to have such a piece of paper in my house over the auspicious new year period. and as ryan said, 小财不出,大财不入 (direct translation for small fortune don't go out, big fortune don't come in)... and 破财挡灾 (meaning losing monies to avert a disaster).
:-)
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