BITS & PIECES

Jury Service

I completed my civic duty. Kinda, sorta. Called Monday night as instructed. Told that my service had been postponed and to call back Tuesday night. I did. Told to call back Wednesday night. I did. Told to report Thursday at 8:30 am. I did. Took twice as long to find a Jury parking lot as it did to drive there in morning traffic. Went threw Security check and reported to Jury Room. Found a seat. Listened to the Jury rules and instructions. Two young males were sent home (jury duty to be rescheduled) because they wore shorts. 9 AM. Eighty names called out to be considered as jurors for a criminal trial. My name was among them. We were instructed to wait. 9:30 AM. Second group of names called. Told to wait. 9:45 AM. My group called and told to take a forty-five-minute break. 10:30 AM. Back in Jury room. Second group sent to their courtroom. 11:00 AM. My group called and told to go to lunch and report back at 1:30 PM. Back in jury room. 2:00 PM. Sent to courtroom. Checked in by Judge’s clerk. Enter courtroom. See marshal, court reporter, two men in suits standing beside different tables and bearded man in white dress shirt who is smiling at us and trying to hide the charm bracelets on his wrists. Yeah, bad guy. Excuse me, the defendant. Judge enters. Explains his rules. Tells us the trial will last at least one full week. (I start to sweat.) Asks if anyone has a felony records. No one does. Asks if anyone has trouble understanding English. Three hands go up. He asks each if they took the citizenship test and are now citizens. All say yes. He states the test was in English and they can stay. He excuses all full-time college students. Tells the one person who has a business conference next week to report back to the jury room and have their service rescheduled. Two people have medical conditions. Woman with colostomy bag is excused. Man has bad back. Can’t sit for long periods. Judge asks what he does when it bothers him. He replies that he has to stand to relieve pain. Judge says if chosen he can stand up when it bothers him. One man says he’s part of a specialized team that cleans up ocean spills and he is currently on stand-by because of a possible spill in Long Beach. Judge informs him that if chosen his team will have to work without him. (Sweating more now.) Judge asks if anyone has a job that does not pay for time away while on jury duty. My hand and 17 others go up. Our names are taken. I’m waiting for him to ask us individual question and berate the companies we work for. Judge excuses us all. 2:30 PM. Standing at shuttle pick-up point. 2:45 PM. Back at car. Jury service completed.

There has to be a better way than this to select jurors.

Distraction -- First Draft

On my two days off, from work and jury service, I finished the first draft of our thriller screenplay currently entitled “Distraction.” It turned out pretty well I think. Emailed it to my collaborator. He’ll read it over this weekend and get back to me with suggestions and necessary rewrites. Not bad for a first draft though. I’m also drained. No idea on what to work on next. Need to let my creative system rejuvenate. Okay, my little brain hasn't completely shut down. In my fantasyland, I'm picturing Charlize Theron or Carla Guigino or Jennifer Garner playing the main character -- pickpocket and street thief Hannah Logan.

TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE BEAST

Received an email from Armand Rosamilia at Carnifex Press. He is mailing a proof of the science fiction-horror western novella to me to review. Plans on releasing it at the end of March. March? Next March? No, next month. I’m tickled.