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2:58 PM - Sat 02.11.23
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The Good News, The Bad News, And The FOMO

Welcome to my weekend.

When I last wrote, on Monday, I was about to check if I had to go in for jury duty the next day.

So I checked.

And I did.

It was interesting... didn't want to do it (And not just because I was worried about auditions - I felt anxious about the whole process, for some reason), but when I saw I had to go in on Tuesday, I calmed down almost immediately.

(Made me wish I'd just started with the "calm" part and skipped the "anxiety" altogether. But anyway...)

One of my worries was that I was going to be bored, so I brought a book, a journal, drawing stuff, and chargers for my phone and my watch, in case I ended up in the waiting area all day.

But I actually got called in fairly early - I was in the third group of potential jurors - so happily, there wasn't as much waiting around as I feared.

They assigned the group of us numbers and ushered us into the courtroom.

The Judge gave us a little "Thank You For Your Service" talk, introduced us to the defendant, his lawyer, and the prosecution (Who looked like the "Kingpin" from Marvel comics), then asked if anyone had any reason they couldn't serve on the jury.

And a lot of people had reasons they couldn't serve on the jury, mostly having to do with "financial hardship" (I was a little shocked how many jobs get to not cover you for jury duty).

I idly played with the idea of claiming "financial hardship" myself but figured it would never fly - There were people who would lose actual money from their actual jobs if they served, or would have to pay someone to care for an elderly parent or their kids, or were either self-employed or the sole employee at their job. So my possible loss of potential income if I would have gotten auditions, and booked something during the trial, didn't seem to stack up against all that (Besides, just losing money wasn't the only criteria for "financial hardship" - You had to be in a position where you wouldn't be able to pay your bills if you served. And, happily, that's not me).

Then we broke for lunch.

When we came back, the judge released most of the people who had given excuses, then started questioning those of us who were left (Well, half of us who were left - There were too many of us to question all at once. I was in the second group).

That was interesting - Not so much because of what I was listening to (Though some folks have had some fairly terrible things happen in their lives), but because I was thinking about my own answers when my time came.

Like with the "financial hardship", I was thinking about answers that would possibly get me out of serving, some more "serious" than others.

But listening to people answer the questions, I realized that, in most circumstances, I'm the kind of person you want on a jury (At least if you're a defendant - The last time I was called for jury duty, I was released by the Prosecution for being a little too skeptical about the po-po).

But the day ended with us not even halfway over questions for the first group (The Judge wasn't finished with hers, then it would be the defense and the prosecution's turn).

The next day we started almost an hour late - Partly because people were sort of dribbling in, and partly, I think, because of machinations that were going on behind the scenes.

When we got called in, I felt like something was up, because the court assistant told us to just sit anywhere, seemingly dispensing with the two groups of the day before.

And when we went in, the "Kingpin", as well as the Defendant, were missing - There was just the Judge and the Defendant's lawyer in court.

The Judge welcomed us back, then said, "I've got some good news and some bad news...".

The "good news" was that the Defendant had taken a plea deal (Of 15-to-Life, as I found out later), which meant our services were no longer required.

And what was "the bad news", you wonder?

The judge apologized, basically, that we'd had to sit through "the boring part" of a trial ("Boring to you anyway", she said. "I kind of like it"), but were going to miss out on "the interesting part".

(I felt okay with that.)

To celebrate, I spent the rest of the day dozing and watching TV.

Sadly, for the remainder of my now "free" week, there were no auditions.

But since the Judge estimated the trial would last two weeks, I'm hoping I'll get some auditions next week that will justify my F.O.M.O. at the beginning of the whole thing.

And on that note, I don't really have anything else to write about (And feel somewhat apologetic that you've had to read through "the boring part" and there is no "good part". But what can I do? This is the thing that happened this week).

Till next time...



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