Pass it on.
My true yogs & others,
Today was the close of a very long court situation stemming from a questionable parking ticket I received months ago on Bluff Street (left side of the street after turning right off Loras, a few blocks before the library), amidst a barrage of old and new signs that seem to confuse one another, rather than highlight clearly what U're supposed 2 do.
I want you to know that there was a rider on this final circumstance for me, personally. That was before the launched attack on me earlier by the people who raised me and before I knew I'd then be violated by Sedona Staffing Services/McGraw-Hill less than a week later. No big deal. I don't like you--today--so how 'bout I take your livelihood from U?
First, our taxpayer dollars are being wasted by the process of appeal in this city. After feeling that my good faith request for consideration wasn't even considered by Tim/his Parking Services Dept., not being able to get a straight answer on whether or not they had the power to overturn or show mercy in the situation, and being told that they couldn't see how I found the signs confusing at all, I decided to take this to court on principle, as always. I felt strongly it was the right thing to do. I felt almost in a burgeoning way that there have been other people taken advantage of or in the right in similar situations who've run scared from the "authorities" and their scare tactics and simply paid their tickets.
Our money was wasted the first time I met Crenna Brumwell in person (You will see her involved in the Safe Strides Human Rights case I opened earlier in the year, listed on the website), which I assumed was to actually see a judge and get some straight answers but, instead, was a wasted afternoon of waiting forever--way after the incident--in a courtroom full of people, only to get called up to sit with her and an unknown assistant, to hear, "So you do want a court date? Why would you want to do that?"
Seriously?!!!
That's a given! You're getting paid for this AND dragging this silly thing out even further now?
I have to mention that one of the last times I got in trouble for anything--other than in instances of getting killed for standing up for the truth alone--was when I received a parking ticket, I think in 2009 while I was still living in Los Angeles, I think in Hollywood. I intuitively sensed that there was something askew with the ticket, so rather than freak out, pay it angry, etc., I contacted Parking Services and explained that I had been visiting some of the clothing stores that day, had gone into one store, knew exactly how many minutes I had left, came back out in time, didn't check the meter, either way, & saw the ticket (not all quite that immediately, but pretty much) later. I just said honestly that I really didn't think it was physically possible for me to have run out of time because I was watching it.
They went and researched it, and I kind of thought there would be nothing I could do about it. I was already turning in my 401K to eat about a meal & 1/2 a day, and there wasn't a glimmer of hope anywhere in the country--job, yoga, or anything-wise, including back in the Midwest.
Imagine my, "Really?!!! That's amazing!!!" when I received a phone call from Parking Services stating that their investigation revealed that they had tracked down the meter at hand in my case and that it did, in fact, have a timekeeping issue, so my ticket was being cleared/voided!
Today, I did not find myself on the court times list. That's because Jenny, Crenna Brumwell (who I found out is not even the City Attorney but an "assistant")'s, assistant, told me that she'd moved my court date back to today, after some retooling it due to my McGraw-Hill schedule, but she didn't actually get that accomplished. When I came back to the house today, I found a letter stating that it'd been moved to January, leaving the letter late and still unclear as to whether or not it'd actually been moved or moved back, based on what Jenny had "confirmed" with me.
Apparently whoever the City/Plaintiff needed there was there, anyway, in the mix-up with dates/times. Otherwise, it would've been pushed off until January. Again.
My case was based on 6 points of contact with Parking Services that caused me to escalate this as something requiring a higher power (the Judge) to hopefully see that the world is not flat--that it is actually round:
1. & 2. The ticket itself. Standing underneath the signs, & then thru 2 meetings with Peggy in Parking Services, hoping to avoid going to court (which I couldn't afford) because Tim was conveniently avoiding me, I still did not honestly understand how to read the signs they had posted together, and I don't think I have to explicate that intelligence level or a desire to be in compliance were not the issues. It took that long before she was actually able to explain that the signs were to be read separately, not together. But it was that clear from the beginning. The 2. is that I got the feeling, too, as I mentioned, via intuition, that they were trying to pull a power trip on me, even though they could see what I was saying but wanted things their way.
3. Their exhibits/photos of my car & the signs that day, sent to me beforehand, were missing a stipulation sign stating to not park on that side of the street during certain weird days and wee hours of morning, which was the sign that made the rest of them confusing. The photocopy of my ticket conveniently was missing the back, which showed a (my) hand-written good faith not-understanding what the signs were trying to say, including the sign missing from their pictures.
4. Hypothetically, I asked Peggy, then, was there a hard and fast rule about parking signs? I mean, if two or more are there, are they always read separately or together? "No, there's no rule. Sometimes they are read together. Sometimes they're not." Wow. It's worse than I thought. How deep does the rabbit hole go?
5. Channeling the solution. Sometimes it's been said that if you're going to focus on problems, it helps to have a solution. Maybe that's why, as I was standing there, "Wow. This is b.s. There's something amiss about this," all of a sudden in dawned on me. "Wait," I said to Peggy on that second visit, "So you mean this?" I showed her how I would move the signs and eliminate one to make it totally clear and she, and the women in the office with her got really quiet, and she just said, "Oh." So did everyone at the house when I returned and showed them the clearer sign layout. So did the cop, Officer Lindecker, who'd helped me with the guy who'd tried killing me on my 125 with his vehicle, earlier in the year. He even tried going to Tim for me (I'm sure because it was so clear I was wrong), but he was trying while Tim was gone on vacation. So now everyone sees that the old clear isn't nearly as clear as the new, proposed clear. Yet the powers that be that created the old, foggy clear want it to be their way, because it keeps them in power, so I started feeling all sorts of violent intimidation & bullying about just paying the ticket even while on my yoga mat. I also saw myself winning the case from my mat. Maybe that was metaphorical.
6. And, last but not least, I felt that Tim lied. He all of a sudden called me back after I think I'd said, "Fine. I'll take it to court. I have to now." He called me to say there really wasn't anything he could do about it. I said, "U could overturn it. I think you're lying to me." He kept insisting I needed to go to court over it. I said again I couldn't afford to and was hoping he would admit he was wrong--that the signs were interpretable, at best. What was interesting is that everybody in this situation seemed quieted when I said I was from Dubuque but had spent most of my adult life in larger cities. I thought, "Is it possible that you're supposed to be able to grok what the crappy signs mean just by virtue of having been here the whole time & just 'getting' their inferior-but-in-power way?'"
That's exactly what happened today. After Crenna had cornered me in an empty room and greeted me by saying, "So why R we here today?" and basically attacking me when I answered, kind of like, "I'm gonna kick your a**, so why R U even going to try?" I said, "Because I represent the truth, and I still am unclear about how to read those signs, even now, and the citation is for violating 'clearly marked signage.'" She asked me what I was going to say. I thought the whole conversation was strange, firstly given her aggressive, bullying attitude, but based on what my life's been like in recent years, especially when it comes to law or wannabe authorities, I guess I was desensitized, but I told her. "Well, I'm gonna say (such-and-such), and you can't say what any of those other people told you or thought because that'll be considered 'hearsay,' and I'll strike that down." Wow. "You know what," I said, "Go ahead. Say it." She mentioned something about it then, but it wasn't until we were in court and I realized that she wasn't a neutral party on behalf of the city escorting me to the room--She was the attorney I was going up against and I was, in fact, representing myself (as always!!!).
That's when it hit me, based on some of the ground rules that were laid, and the realization of how corrupt this was all looking already, that I probably should've had witnesses, even though I felt my solution should've spoken for itself. Get rid of the old signs. Place better the updated ones. Don't let them all sit there together. Put them at the right height. Leave it at that.
Here's what I will say. My father always told me when I was little that I should be an attorney. He said it was because I liked to argue, which I always said was untrue. I always said, "I like the truth." What he didn't have to say but was understood between us is that he also noticed the % of times I was right, which was pretty much every time.
And today, I listened to this looney lady hear my story, as clearly and honestly as I've been telling it from the beginning, stating that I wasn't there to be adversarial and that if I honestly felt that the ticket was well-meted out, I would've already paid it, regardless of my circumstances, if it was within my power. I watched as she held with her mental power all things in place, like a spoiled child, just as I'd watched a much worse court case (mentioned on the website) unfold about me down in Phoenix regarding being slaughter-ticketed and bullied on a 107? 110? degree day on the pavement by a scary, scary Officer Jones, "This is not a case about solutions!" she said to my clearer sign exhibit. I was silent. "Wow, did she just say that?" I thought. Let her lead the people, for sure--not me.
I could tell I was making an impact on the Magistrate, but I could also tell she was affecting him. That's when the hideousness of our judicial system (and this is a pretty innocent situation, but when evil's there, it's there. No hiding it) totally hit me. It's possible for a pretty perfect citizen to come into a case, tell 100% the truth, be probably as deserving of leniency/consideration as anyone, and, on top of it, have something of value to say that could help bring increased clarity to the city infrastructure, and here's this lady, seemingly old enough to be her mother, trying to take her out, even though she'd heard the words, "homelessness," "overqualified," "unpunished corruption," "prolonged under/unemployment," "clarity, "improved signage," and "good faith???"
It was about the time that she started running around, following some of the cross-examination points and questions I posed, putting her witness back up on the stand, then asking her questions in a voice that seemed to want the judge to hear what was being said but not me, including asking the ticketing agent to speak to how the signs in the pictures were TURNED (Are you SERIOUS?!!!), that I was proud as punch of the way, when I heard Source calling me in 2000, I followed, and have never walked astray. You should've seen her run to find new questions when I looked at the ticketing cop, after they assumed I wasn't going to ask any questions, & said, "The turning of signs to indicate meaning--a little towards the street or a little towards the sidewalk--would I find that in the law books?!" "Uh, I don't know." "It sounds like the nuances of someone's personality, not our laws," I said. Never before has it been as clear how lacking in power the "justice" system has become and how superior God's laws are, how humbling it is to watch their slow but inevitable roll in and thru our lives. If we are wise, we exit the karmic system and see that if we are responsible for evil, not the truth, we are held to it and do receive the boomerang back, in a way that makes sense 2 us on a deep soul level, if we R honest.
I have never felt more that the material world was inferior to what I have found.
In the end, I was scolded, again, like a child, for accidentally referring to something somebody had told me in Parking Services when I asked if I could finally get a clear answer on it. The judge caved to Brumwell's soul-less militancy and 3-year-old-who-wants-a-suckerness and, when I said, "Wow. This is looking really bad. For all of YOU. Not me," there was no response. Because that's exactly what it looked like. Not even the law. Our opinion in our small town, small-mindedness. We're not ready to see the world as round yet. That means your vision rules, not ours (1.10: I think I meant the opposite way around. There R a few other typos uncorrected in this & the previous piece. I'm hoping U'll catch & roll thru them since this thing has been acting weird when I try to edit). And even if that means taking everyone down with us, why in the world would we do otherwise?
The reality was, beyond the rules of law, they could tell who had supported already what I saw but were simply not there to say it and, if nothing else, I was telling the truth and had no other motives than that.
I got vocal once the judge basically said, "Yeah, I mean, I see what you're saying, but it's fine the way it is." I said, "What you're upholding is someone's personality preferences about what the signs mean, not ensuring that they're universally clear. I'm telling you they're not clear, and you're saying you're not only not going to change the signs now but are going to fine me, anyway, instead of paying me a consulting fee." I turned to Crenna, "And, Crenna, I didn't appreciate your backing me into a corner before we started basically telling me to not fight you!"
Perhaps why I sensed them really deeply stalling off and on during this case was that riding on it was a deep soul decision on my part. I told myself that if I experienced any of the bulls**t I'd experienced in other parts of the country there, or with them, I was officially disinterested in contributing to this society and would take my soul power elsewhere.
When I burst out of the courtroom, she said, "You forgot your helmet!" I went back, grabbed it from her, & said, "Like you care!!! Total corruption...I'll be sure to tell everyone. Don't worry!"
I ran across the street to the police station & ended up talking to 2 officers about what I'd just seen. I told them who I was, where I've been, and what I've seen in other parts of the country. They were supportive, encouraged me to call the City Attorney ("Crenna's not the City Attorney?!") and the City Manager, whose wife had high praises for me and my writing while we met via e-mail when I was stuck in Phoenix, you know, and tell them what happened and have them look into how Crenna behaved, as well as present my ideas about the signage if no one else was listening.
Both Crenna and the judge, separately, got me further confused as they explained (I'm pretty sure incorrectly) today what the signs actually meant. So, by their own explication, they were not A.) interested in the truth but in me doing what I should've telepathically got was "the way" of the weird & wacky signs, B.) were not there to see if what I said had any legitimacy and consider solutions based on my testimony. & C.) said that basically compassion doesn't exist in American justice. Just power trips, lies, and ganging up on people--Oh! And they don't exist to provide correct answers to things: "So the main liaison between the Director of Parking Services was unable to explain how the signs actually read until halfway thru all my interactions with them, implicitly agreed my layout was clearer, & also couldn't provide any clear policies on how to read single or grouped signs, so who has the actual answers since you don't either?" Just competitiveness, as-long-as-I-win-even-if-I'm-less-right-than-you-are, & an inhumane disconnectedness from other people.
I am inspired to take the LSAT now & spend the rest of my life consciously decaying.
So I've written Mike VanMilligan, have a meeting with the CEO of Sedona Staffing Services & the HR Manager from McGraw-Hill on Friday (at their request)(because I'm kind & could also care less now in maximized strength--the CEO is aware of what happened today), & am now looking at where enlightenment could best be grown.
It certainly can't be on this hard & wretched soil.
God's Justice To All That Exists.
Dream Interpretation: The Grand Master Hoods
It came to me to tell this story, and I needed to do something before polishing this off.
Some of you have been speaking to me lately about vivid or poignant dreams you've had recently, which I've talked about in some of the last E-Updates.
I, too, have been having a lot of dreams/somewhat nightmarish dreams recur I'll say in recent months, including 1 cake topper I'll call the story of the "Grand Master Hoods."
When I was very small, I had a recurring nightmare I may have squeaked word of once or twice to my adoptive mother, to which, I'm sure, I was likely dismissed or something like it. When I had it, I would wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in my own sweat, at least once bawling, sobbing from the deepest soul place in terror and sadness.
I guess it was supposed to be our house, but in some scenes, it seemed more underground railroad times-ish--like in the deep south, but I think it was pretty clearly this house. It was night, and I think I received word that there were evil forces coming for me. For some reason, I feel that there were human/supernatural/possibly even animate animal-type helpers for me in this scenario, but the bottom line is I was little in the dream, as well, and soon there were huge, all-Grand Master Ku Klux Klansmen approaching and trying to invade our house. Their clothing signified to me that they were somewhat super-powered and more important within their ranks but came from two separate kinds or branches, so to speak, since some wore all red, some all royal blue. I cannot remember if my adoptive family was there or not, or if they helped or not. My feeling is that they did and were scared, too, but I don't recall they did anything directly helpful. I assumed that they, too, were in danger.
I do think I always ended up escaping, and I wondered why all those powerful Grand Masters would be coming for one small child. The dream always ended up unresolved, as in I always sensed that they would continue to come after me, like those who sought the Ring from Frodo Baggins.
I also wondered why they wore red and blue.
This past election season, I had a certain flash of that nightmare during my yoga practice one day. I felt grounded and somewhat sullen at remembering it, but that was it.
Then, somewhat like the Darwin Barney experience in one of the past E-Updates I sent, I was walking by a television that was on some days later, on my way to the shower, and some kind of heated something about the heating-up election was on. Huge on the screen was something about the two parties. Huge on the screen was red. And blue. And, in one of the most strange and powerful alignments of the cosmos, all coalescing within my mind, my body, my heart I felt and realized in a way that had no words, but if it did, it would've said:
"Oh. My. God."
Celestial power,
Ananda.