felony status.

ok so if you read my last blog, you know that i'm in some shit right now. but, its actually a little worse than i originally thought it was. apparently, the state of new jersey is really cracking down on a lot of offenses due to rises in gang violence, etc. what i got in trouble for this weekend, would have been a misdemeanor with a fine a few years ago. now, its actually a felony, which makes this charge a whole lot worse.

if they decided to throw the book at me, i could actually do a short period of jail time. i have a good lawyer, so that's not going to happen, but i'm in some real financial strain right now. my boy bailed me out with his rent money for this month, because i was under the impression that i'd go to court, plead guilty, pay a fine and then i'd get the bail money back. turns out, it's an indictable offense, so it's getting transferred to the county court. this means that i can't get the bail money back until all of that is done. so now i have to find someone to lend me a 1000 bucks to give back to my boy because he has a wife and 2 kids and he needs this money for his bills like ASAP.

on top of that, i just got myself a lawyer. thank god for good friends, because my friend's dad is a retired lawyer and recommended me to his old partner is who doing my case for about 2000-3000 dollars less than i would get it anywhere else. he knows all of the judges in the county, all of the prosecutors and will definitely get my charge knocked down to a misdemeanor. i'll have to do probation and pay a fine, but i shouldn't have anything on my record after that.

it just really sucks. i have my boy's wedding coming up in march, and i already didn't have money for that before any of this happened. i really wanted to go on some kind of trip this year, which i'm almost positive is not going to happen now, since i won't have money and probably won't be able to leave the country and/or state if i'm on probation.

wrong place. wrong motherfucking time. what a whirlwind of shit. but whatever, i'm grinding right now. picking up extra freelance work, and just hitting the pavement and handling my business. yeah this shit sucks, but ain't nothing ever gonna keep me down or keep me from getting mine. i might have to put some shit on hold temporarily, but i'll be back on top in the end. right now i'm just gonna concentrate on my art and design work, and important shit like my friends and family.

big shout outs to my brother for staying up til 2pm the next day trying to get someone to get me out, bobby and stacey for bailing me out, dawn for always putting a smile on my face during this whole shit, and to maura, tara, mikey, thaddea, andy, dave, jen, freddy dingo, carson, eric, jim, greg, ruben and all my other friends who reached out during this shit. i have the best group of friends anyone could possibly have and you all mean the world to me.