My father asked me, "Do you regret doing that and losing your privileges?"

"No, Dad," I responded. "I regret little to nothing." 

It's funny how our personalities work. That we are driven by a sole force to make or break a decision and determine if we want to encounter the positive and/or negative consequences head-on.

As an Aries, I've developed a lessened fear to new and risky situations. Of course, I'm not going to parkour off a 20 ft bridge or run across a moving freight truck at 80 km/hr. Everything within reasonable parameters if I know I can get the most reasonable and optimal results out of it.

I ran into the law exactly two years ago driving home from Toronto's entertainment district downtown. It's amazing how vividly I remember the hour by hour breakdown of being pulled over, when the entire night at the club we went to flew right by. I was asked to do a breathalyzer, and I blew - well, nine times, just to get a reading.

I had no idea how to do one, and I was young, freaking out, and my girl friend was passing out in the front seat next to me. The female cop kept inundating me:

"Failure to comply to provide a breath sample is also a criminal offence...."

Like really? Do I look like a dangerous offender that you can just continue to repeatedly penalize? I was not recklessly driving or swerving in and out of the shoulder, if that's what you're thinking - I made sure to consume water and eat an hour before leaving the club to drive home. I was following the speed of other cars in the right-hand lane, and I was pulled over and targeted for being a young, female driver on the road at 2:30AM. I had two drinks for the duration of the three hours we were at the club.

I blew a 0.04 into the device. You are allowed 0 grams in your blood with a Class G2 license in Ontario.

Yes, it was on my own accord - I should have attained my Class G, by this time as I had been driving for almost three years quite regularly. But I didn't, and here, this Russian cop with the distasteful, mushroom-cap of red hair was issuing me tickets and calling for a tow truck.

I've done a lot of spontaneous things in my youth. Things that will not commensurate with value or good memories. I've slept on sidewalks until dawn, ventured off into random bars - losing my wallet and not answering my phone, ran head-first into a brick wall, etc. etc. the list compiles every year - but I rarely feel the need to comply and do something to fulfill my own self-attainment when asked by someone else out of peer pressure.

I was not asked or pressured to drink to my own content that night. I chose to and like I said, I don't regret the decision or appease my guilt.

I've taken everything I've done in life with a grain of salt. I regret little to nothing, regardless of how foolish it may have sounded in the minutes following such events.

I have rarely voiced this story to anyone - unless asked why I don't drive anymore. People still wonder why I take public transit and bike to do all my errands and surprisingly, I've gotten quite used to allowing a longer allotment of time to do things, just to travel. There are many things we just have to give up in life due to bad timing, false hope, or clouded judgment - but these things are momentary.

It is very difficult to pre-meditate that you will live on a bed of roses, and smell them every morning. It's more satisfying (for me, of course) to walk through a bush of thorns and pick them off one by one, knowing I can walk away with thicker skin and an appreciation for their beauty.

Canadian National Exhibition Fairgrounds, Toronto, 6:00AM