In 2024 on the way to Timmins I received a speeding ticket. I actually did not know how fast I was driving as I was following traffic and chatting with the boys. I got pulled over and was given a ticket. I tried to get it reduced but they put down that I wanted to go to trial and the date was set for today. I had spoke to the prosecutor prior to the session and has it reduced to not obeying signs. I still had to pay the fine, but I am not losing as many points. People has said that I could pay to have someone represent me but it would cost a couple of hundred dollars to fight it. It was interesting to see how many people had legal counsel representing them. Everyone ends up settling and no one actually wants to go to trial. From what I could gather there was no difference between those who had legal counsel and those that represented themselves. One person almost tried to argue why he was. Or guilty but after a couple of minutes and questions the judge told him why his arguments were invalid and it stopped. If you had legal counsel then you were first and if not you had to sit and patiently wait your turn. It took approximately 90 minutes before it was my turn to go. When we drove up to Timmins this year Mel actually drove faster than I did and at more times. She was not speeding excessively, but with the speed limit in those areas it is quite over when you are driving. It was my first ticket in probably 10 years or so. Mel had received 3 or 4 tickets when the speed cameras went up in our neighborhood. The speed limit was 50 and they dropped it down to 40. We use to drive 55 or so in the area so Mel got hit with tickets. The amount that we had to lay for her tickets combined is higher than mine. Everyone at court was pleasant and the amount of patience with that judge was amazing.
Today while I was working I was chatting with a student and we were talking about the strike. We got onto the topic of teaching and I had mentioned that a lot of professors do not like to teach and see it as taking away from research time. He asked me if I liked teaching and it was assumed that my preference would be for a smaller select groups. I love teaching, but I have very low tolerance for ineptitude. With the change in culture now I am not sure if I would survive in academia. When I was involved and teaching things were a bit different. I had a reputation for being quite cold and mean. Something that I did nothing to try and alleviate. If students tried to talk to me during non office hours I was rude. Mel for so mad at me one time because I treated her like all of the other students and told her to not bother me. We were dating secretly at the time and no one in the program knew. They would have never suspected it with the way I treated her. She demanded special treatment and obviously she did not get it. If students tried to stop and talk to me asking me questions in the hallway and it was outside scheduled hours I would say to them, “I am sorry, did I give the impression I cared” and walked away. I was jaded by being constantly bombarded with stupidity. I had my favorite students and my proteges, but all of them knew when they could brother me and when not to. As I have grown older I have more patience now because of Mel. I have grown soft in my old age.
As I did not expect to be so long on a Zoom court case and I did not know when I was going to be called I was hesitant to get off the call. Luckily I had a spoon in my office that I was saving for an emergency. You never know when you will need a spoon to eat yogurt or pudding. I try and keep one handy just in case. I was able to eat some, but not to the amount that I would have liked. Immediately after I had a crumpet with honey butter and I was off to take Xavier to an appointment. He has been having some knee pain, most likely due to the physical strain he puts on his body as a goalie and growing. We are doing preventative therapy to make sure it does not get worse as he gets older. As it was getting later in the day, we stopped quickly for some food. We ate a bit in the car and then when we got home I ate some more. The key for me is to portion control things prior to me starting and sticking to that amount. That is what I had done previously and it works for better. I do it push myself beyond boundaries if I portion it out before. It takes discipline to do it and it will take some work to adhere to it. I need to focus on my weight, but I can not obsess about it. There are little things that I need to do in order to achieve the end goal. It will be a lot of little things in conjunction that will lead to growth as opposed to trying to hit a homerun each time. Next week I will be starting physiotherapy so we will see what new strategies I can utilize.
Q