The parking ticket gods have it in for me

I've gotten $135 worth of parking tickets in the last three months. The latest incident was today, when I was playing fast and loose with a 1-hour meter in Hollywood. Being a cheapskate, I parked at a meter in front of a Famima store instead of using a pay lot. Made a mental note to add more money at 12:15, sat down to lunch with a friend, and then forgot and blew deadline by 9 minutes. Ran the 25 feet to my car only to be greeted by the familiar sight of a pink slip on my windshield. I love the City of Los Angeles. Or rather, the City of Los Angeles loves me. Who wouldn't love someone who regularly makes out checks to you?

I am pretty sure someone up there doesn't approve of my skirting of parking regulations and is trying to teach me a lesson. Other dumb things I have done in the past few weeks, for which I have mostly been punished:

1. Parked in a UCLA parking lot twice with a parking permit that expired last quarter, to attend a free yoga class (Yes, I am that cheap.)
2. Failed to see a meter that was concealed behind a telephone pole -- at least from my vantage point -- and just assumed I'd found a cool, meter-less parking spot (Earned a ticket for that one.)
3. Misread a sign and thought that I could park without feeding a meter on Wilshire Blvd. after 4 pm (In fact, it was no stopping after 4 pm. That was a $65 ticket. Ouch.)
4. Violated my company parking lot's rule that employees must park on the roof and leave covered spots for visitors, by swiping my key card as though I was going to go on the roof and then backing up and taking a covered spot (The key card got deprogrammed or something as a result of that little maneuver, and I had to go 'fess up at the parking office.)

I think my problem stems from the fact that I think parking should be treated like a public good, like oxygen or sidewalk space. Or at least not be so restrictive and expensive. Like parking signs should be worded in a more friendly and understandable way (Example: Try not to stop here between the hours of 4 and 6 pm, as many commuters are trying to get home) and meters should give you at least a half-hour for every 25 cents, not just 7 and 1/2 freakin' minutes.

But I am resigned. Today, to appease the gods, I put a quarter in someone else's expired meter. Hopefully, that will improve my parking karma or at least buy me some extra time before my inevitable next violation.