I was released yesterday at 8am. They woke me up at 4:45am (oofta, early), told me to gather my stuff. I had breakfast at 5:30 (french toast w/ butter and maple syrup, banana, oatmeal, sausage, milk, and coffee), and got on a bus at 6:30. I was stuck in a small room (6' by 8' or so) with 9 other people for an hour, and then released.

Jail was relaxing. The first day, I was in just a normal holding cell, so I was bored. So I slept. Sleep is good. I slept straight, waking up for meals only, until the next day when I was transferred to NRF. NRF is the "North Rehabilitation Facility". NRF (everyone calls it "nerf" there) is a minimum security detention facility (like jail or prison), but it's more like a country club. There's a library, computers, cd players (and cd's from the library), a gym, ping pong, chess, risk, axis and allies, cribbage boards, decks of cards galore. You could also work and earn money while you're there, by working in the kitchen or in the laundry room or whatever.

I was in a dorm with 28 rooms and 35 people. My room held three, but the third bed was empty. We had your usual beds, pillows, sheets, blankets, etc. We didn't have to stay in those silly jumpsuits; we could wear sneakers/boots, sweatshirts, tshirts, whatever. They didn't like logos, but other than that pretty much anything was okay. There were no locked doors, or fences, or anything. The only thing holding us there was the threat of litigation if we walked out.

So, the long of the short of it is, the jail was much, much less of a punishment than the work crew is -- especially considering that I have to drag my ass up to Seattle to do it.

I'M FREE!!!

yay, me.

K, I'm gonna try to lj cut this thing, but here:

( Mary's letter to the judge )

Now, what really cracks me up, is that this letter did *so* much more good for me than bad. I got confirmation that Mary is indeed hurting herself (in addition to me), and it got me a lighter sentence! Oh, and get this. She wrote it to the wrong judge. Ha!

Well, I went and got sentenced yesterday. For the whole reading my ex-fiance's email thing.

Mary showed up. Mary is the girl responsible for turning this fairly small mistake into a huge fucking legal matter. Her father is a federal prosecutor, what can I say. Her father was with her, too, and so was her roommate.

She wrote a lovely letter to the judge explaining that it's all my fault that she lost 15 pounds, that she's doing badly in school, and that she's losing friends.

The judge ate it all up. Said something about how he didn't realize the extent of the damage I had caused, and that I'll be spending my time in jail.

Okay, let me get a few things straight here:

1. I invaded her privacy. That's what I did. I didn't stalk her, I didn't follow her, I didn't harm her, I didn't threaten her, I didn't harass her, I didn't spread lies around about her, I didn't break into her computer. I invaded her privacy. I monitored her electronic communication. For a day. One, single, fucking day

2. She was doing badly in school before I came intot he picture. She's really not all that bright. She's a cute little girl, and can get almost anyone to do almost anything she wants. I must admit, that skill has it's uses. But she's not very bright. Yes, she's in the Computer Science department. Someone else (this guy Ben) wrote her application essay. She's home-schooled, and so she thinks she's all that, and so do a lot of people, but not anyone that's actually seen her work.

3. I have nothing to do with her losing friends. She claims that she was too scared to use computers, and that was her only way to contact her friends. To which I say, bullshit. Some friends. She's losing friends because she's being a dipshit, and people know it.

4. She lost weight because she's a very messed up little girl with eating and sleeping disorders. Most poeple that know her are aware of these disorders. She's also mentally instable -- more on that later.

K, we got that straight.

She just sat there, watching her work. I don't even think the judge knew she was in the courtroom. Something tells me that she was violating her own no contact orders with that. I had to be there, legally. If I left, there would be a warrant for my arrest. She knew I would be there, and she came. Isn't that a little sketchy? She just watched. If she was there to serve some legal purpose, I could see it. But just to watch? Come on, people. Wake up.


Anyway, I got sentenced to 15 days in jail, and fifteen days work crew. Actually, Mary did me a favor. The judge was giong to give me 30 days work crew, but Mary convinced him to give me the jail time for half of it. Think about it: 30 days of jail would suck. 30 days of work crew would suck. But splitting them up lets me get rid of half of my sentence right off the bat, without working my ass off. I can catch up on some reading. I get free food. It's really not that bad of a deal. And I can get the rest of it done in a month. 30 days of work crew would have dragged on forever. Also, since the Seattle jails are so overcrowded, and I don't have any bail, they've been letting people go after only serving half time. So, 'cause I've already spent 3 days in jail (before the trial), I might get out after 5 days. 5 days in jail is much better than 15 days work crew.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. People following my story will remember that I was picked up on a "failure to appear" warrant because I didn't show up for my arraignment. I didn't show up for my arraignment, because I don't have to unless it's a DUI or a Domestic Violence charge. So, seeing as how there was no violence, and I wasn't drunk, I filed paperwork instead. Actually, my lawyer did. This happens every day. It's the norm. Until yesterday, I figured that it was just some paperwork mistake that I wasn't notified that it was a DV charge (which is why the warrants got issued, even though I filed the paperwork). Well, yesterday, I got to see the case docket -- I was asked to carry it to someone.

The prosecutor asked that it be changed to DV court at the hearing! And, once it was transferred, then I was supposed ot be there.They switched it on me, without notifying me, without me there, and then claimed I borke the law by not coming when I should have. Bastards. They also raised the bail from $1000 each charge to $5000 each charge, because I wasn't there and they could. Wow. Talk about a corrupt system.

K, I need to give my bro a ride to some party. I'm done ranting for now.

Peace out. Visit me in jail.

Well, my week sucked. I was tossed in jail due to a paperwork "mistake" on Lindsey's part (her lawyer, rather) on Wednesday. I got out on Friday at 6:30pm, after my dad posted $20,000 cash for bail. I never knew how much my family loved me until this happened. They weren't going to let *anything* keep me in there, not even $20,000 dollars. I did the math, and financing the loan will cost a little under $300 dollars. I guess that's not that bad. Coming up with the $20k in a day was a bitch, though.

Anyway, I'm moving. I'm getting the hell out of here. I am sick and tired of people thinking I'm following someone I'd really rather never see again in my entire life. For pete's sake, I'm moving to California with my girlfriend in August -- that is, assuming I'm not in jail.

Karma is a blessing. Here I am, sitting in jail, thinking, "no one is going to care *why* I was in jail, they'll just assume the worst." I knew my family would still be behind me (it's not like I did anything that remotely deserved me being in jail), but what about my friends? And I knew that Karma would still be behind me. Somehow, that meant more to me -- my family sort of has an obligation. Karma didn't.

Jason, though, really did more than I ever thought *anyone* would do. He liquidated all of his assets -- stocks, retirement funds, etc. and almost came up with half of of the bail money himself. He didn't tell me about it, though, my mother is the one that told me. Now, how many people do you know who would do something like that for you and not even brag to you about it? Jason is a jewel in amongst the sand. I hope he knows how much he means to me.

Let me tell you, that's a huge change from my last relationship -- if I wasn't absolutely perfect to the rest of the world, I was a bad man. Lindsey didn't want me to carry condoms (which I've done since I was 16 -- at my mother's suggestion -- just in case I or a friend needed it suddenly and a store wasn't convenient), because someone might go through my coat and find them and get "the wrong idea". I never understood that, especially since it would have been the *right* idea in my eyes -- Lindsey and I were engaged, and very sexually active. Better to be safe than not, I say.

So, I just finished packing all of my stuff from the basement. Well, everything except the currently operational computers. I'm leaving those there for the time being. My room is almost entirely packed -- wow, I have a lot of books. I filled four crates (that bananas come in from Safeway), and I still have books flowing over. I packed up one of my closets (yeah, I have two double-door closets -- I'm going to miss those) and the other was just filled with boxes anyway, so it's pretty much packed too. I sold my really nice couch to my roommates to help offset my rent. That, and I felt bad about taking it. I mean, it's mine -- I bought it and all. Well, Lindsey bought it. But she told me I could keep it when everything hit the fan. That, and anything else she left here. This includes a very nice rug, a television/vcr combo thingy (with a remote -- spiff), a lot of yarn, a half finished blanket she was making for me, and quite a bit of cooking equipment. At least I got *something* out of it besides painful memories.

Och. I have to get up at noon (not all that early, except when you consider that it's already 5:00am) to go see my lawyer and come up with a strategy for saving my ass.

blah.