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?