Sometimes I REALLY wish I didn't have a car.

Don't get me wrong, having a car can really come in handy, especially when you need to get out of town, or when you are buying/transporting something you can't carry, or if gets you from point A to point B quicker than public transportation. All of these options were easily accessed in good ol' Ohio or suburban Pittsburgh- Chicago is a completely different story. I didn't know how spoiled I was for the past 6 weeks, until today, the day that my complementary free six weeks of on-street parking expired. I could have gone to get a parking pass yesterday, but I used one of my five nights of overnight on-street parking instead, and boy am I glad that I did! I am also glad I had several hours to go about registering for a long-term parking pass, because the bureaucracy of city parking is a nightmare. Technically, I live in River Forest, which is located on the west side of Harlem Avenue, BUT there is NO long-term parking passes allowed on the River Forest side of Harlem Avenue, so I had to get a pass for the Oak Park side of Harlem Avenue, no big deal right? Wrong. Living on the River Forest side of Harlem requires me to pay extra $$ (yes two dollar signs) for a parking pass that is only available on the Oak Park side of Harlem, because it is for Oak Park Residents-o.k.. Well, I am also not permitted to park on the street anymore on the Oak Park side of Harlem because I am not an Oak Park resident. The only parking available for non-residents of Oak Park is in the MOST EXPENSIVE new parking garage about five blocks from my apartment. I mean, o.k., five blocks isn't terribly far away, I can do that. After all of the paperwork was filled out at Oak Park Village hall, I was free to hook up my transponder (which also costs me another $20), and affix my sticker to the back window. Finally! I am free to park and not be ticketed . . . or so I thought.  I proceeded to then use the new transponder in the assigned parking garage for the first time, and failed, because the transponder did not work! A very cold looking lady pulled up behind me in a convertible, and I got out and asked her what I should do. She pointed me in the direction of the office around the corner. I assumed she would back up so that I could pull out of the turnstile, but she did not. I had to get back out of the car and ask her to back up so that I could park somewhere else while I went into the parking garage office. She was not very happy that she had to back up (surprise surprise). I drove around the corner, paid for a parking meter, and went into the parking garage office. I spent another 15 minutes waiting for security to put my information into the system (because apparently it had not been put into the system yet). I then proceeded to move my car into the garage in the designated area for 24-hour parking. Phew. All of the fuss about using my car makes me never want to use it again . . . too bad I have to rotate my car to another space inside of the garage within ten days, or I'll be subject to a ticket.