Overall it was a pretty good night—ate good food, saw old friends, played frisbee in Hermann Park, and saw Simone (which was not a highlight of the night). However the tough part came during the last part of the night, when Joe, Rene, and I went to see the movie. We took two cars instead of one or three, because I had driven to the park with Joe and Rene met us there, and to not leave a car at in the park we decided to take both cars. The problem came when we got to the Edward’s Cinema on Weslayan and neither Rene nor I wanted to pay the $2 for parking, because we’re both a little low on cash at the moment. So we drove around the theatre, and all the spaces were taken on all sides, so I had the brilliant idea to park behind the strip mall across the street from the theatre. There were only a few cars there, probably belonging to workers at the restruants and such, but I didn’ see any signs and we were only going to be in there a few hours anyway. Rene was nervous about parking there but I assured him that there wouldn’t be any trouble, and that if he was towed I would pay for it.

He was. There’s nothing quite as frightening as walking out and seeing absolutely nothing where your car used to be. Rene was a little hysterical, but we managed to think through the situation logically. Luckily Joe was there with his car and we drove around till we found the “No Parking” sign that seemed to have alluded us earlier, and we called the number, was redirected, and found out that the car was at a lot at 45 and Ennis (not a good neighborhood) and could be picked up for a small fe. So we all went back to Joe’s house to get my car, and I went to the hardest part of the night—getting the money from my parents. Thankfully my Mom was very understanding and in a short while I was back to pick up Rene and head to the place. One hundred and twenty dollars later Rene was back in his brother’s truck and I began the long drive home, utterly exhausted from the events of the night. Picking the car up was pretty easy, and nothing compared to the long car rides home and back when my mind went over every detail of the night thus far and thought of a thousand things that could have gone differently and prevented the whole thing. $2 would have saved $120, and I think the moral of the story has been burned pretty well into my head. Don’t declare liability for any risky ventures :). Oh, and parking where it’s legal wouldn’t hurt either.