When Jury Duty is the Best Part of My Week

"We'll get a funnel cake.  It'll be the highlight of my week." - Nicholas Cage as Jack Campbell, The Family Man

Whenever I can quote The Family Man, I will.  I can't believe the movie isn't more beloved.  Let's just say I'm more than a little obsessed with it.  I may have to watch it after writing this.

This week has been the kind that makes me look forward to the calendar rolling to Sunday so we can call an official end to it. 

If you're in the SoCal area, you know that we've had unseasonably hot weather.  I know Phoenix is hotter, I know the East Coast has gotten it badly too (and with the added bonus of humidity) but coastal SoCal is not used to temps pushing (and into) the 90s.  Especially when you have no a/c. 

It's been uncomfortably hot, making sleeping a chore.  This kind of heat also brings out the fleas and my dog apparently is the tastiest little morsel on the block.  He's had four flea baths in the last two weeks and I'm trying the second flea preventative in the same number of weeks.  Worse, fleas also apparently love carpeting (mine especially) and various bedding and blankets.  I discovered this on Monday night and had to wait until Friday morning to get an exterminator here.  Lovely.

Two days before I moved back in June, I received a jury summons.  Lucky me, I got called for Thursday.  It turns out that jury duty was the best part of my week.

For a writer, reporting to jury duty offers a wealth of possibilities.  The people watching potential is off the charts.  Can a bathing suit cover-up be considered "business casual?"  (Apparently it can based on someone in the security line in front of me.)  Why do some people bring a rolling suitcase to jury duty?  They do know they will be going back home by the end of the day, right?  Am I the only person who had no idea there is a game show called Catch 21 on the air?  And that Family Feud still airs multiple times during the day? 

I wasn't chosen or placed on a panel - - making for a long and boring day - - but I took plenty of notes on my fellow potential jurors.   Traits of some of them will make for fascinating characters.

Today I am doing very little, other than laundry and writing.  And I'm good with it.  Some days you just need to relax and recharge. 

How about you?  What are you doing this quiet Saturday?

What The *&$%?

Do you ever feel as though the universe is conspiring to either hit you with a 2x4 to get a message across or you have really pissed someone off in a past life?

This week has really hit the suckometer for me.  My commute is really trying my patience (the price we Southern Californians must pay), I am still dealing with post-move fall-out, my dog woke me at 2 a.m. one morning barking at . . . something (and he is not a barky dog generally), work has been hectic and I dropped my iPad and shattered the screen.

The last one is a dagger through the heart. I love my iPad.  It goes with me everywhere.  Okay, it went with me everywhere.  I have tons of books downloaded to it, audio books for my commute, pictures, I check my email and do my banking on it and I have downloaded my favorite music to it.  I do have days where I need to listen to the Stones, Fleetwood Mac and/or Metallica on repeat in order to start my day.  Now my iPad looks as though I hurled it at someone's head (according to a co-worker.)  Sigh.

To add further insult to injury, I am finding that I don't have the time I used to have to devote to writing reviews.  I still love writing them but the process is becoming more of a chore than an enjoyable task and I hate feeling as though I have let someone down because I haven't posted a review or it's late.  I am thinking that maybe it's a sign that I need to step away from the scheduled book reviews.  I'll still read (of course!) and I can post reviews on those books I feel like reviewing or have the time but put more of my time into my own writing.  (So why do I feel as though I'm being soooo selfish right now?) 

Any thoughts on this?  Please share.

I did just order a desk for my new writing space (formerly known as the dining room.)  It will go next to my floor fountain, which is supposed to provide me with some much needed feng shui awesomeness.  I'm excited about the desk and having a dedicated area to work on my creativity versus just wherever I happen to plop down.   That's the silver lining to this week.

Notice my picture above - - that's the Minion that sits at my desk at work.  Yes, he came from a Happy Meal.  I didn't buy the Happy Meal but one of my co-workers, knowing of my adoration of all things Minion, gave me the one that came from her son's Happy Meal.  And yes. . . it does sound like the Minion is saying "What The *&$%?"  Making him a perfect Minion for me and the title of this post. 

Is it Friday yet?