Writing Wrongs

Couldn't get to sleep. Because I needed to wake up an hour early for jury duty. Or so I thought.

2:30 am I took a trip to the loo, and on my way back got dizzy and next thing I knew I was in the floor next to my bed. It took me a minute to realize where I was (I expected to land in the bed, not next to it).  Getting up, there were massive ocular migraines, which means low blood sugar. Shuffled to the kitchen to measure, 67. Klondike time. Then back to bed

I think by 3:30 I was asleep, and 10 minutes later, it seemed, Google was chiming me awake at 6:30.

Up and showered and dressed, ate a banana, took all the meds except the diuretic, and headed for San Jose. Almost no traffic at 7:30. Arrived at the parking garage about 10 minutes to 8, up one floor to the walkway, then down 2 floors and down the block to the courthouse.

8 am they opened the doors, the signs pointed to the 2nd floor. In about 5 minutes the check-in desk opened, I was first in line. Parking validated, checked in and on to the juror waiting room.

Had my tablet, read until announcements came over the speaker at 9, but it was all platitudes about how great is it to be a patriotic juror. At about 9:30 another announcement telling my group to leave the jury room, go downstairs, walk to the other wing of the building, and go to the 2nd floor. There was a sign in front of the elevator saying it was reserved for prisoner transport.  Pretty steep stairs, definitely not ADA compliant. The whole day not a single prisoner was taken up or down in the elevator, they were using a back stairway.

Waited outside courtroom 46, there was also 44 and 45 but they weren't early morning people.

Around 10 they let us in, only about 20 of us, seated in the audience area. Then magically  the jury box was filled with people. People who had been here since Wednesday and yesterday. After another set of platitudes from the judge, the attorneys played musical chairs with the juror box, and by the time we broke for lunch at 11:50, I was #24, seated in the front row of the audience along with 20-25. All 12 jury seats were taken as well as 6 alternate seats. There were no more potential jurors.

Lunch was a disaster, it was windy and rain mixed with hail, and there is no place to eat nearby, except one rather sketchy cart - the jail and court complex takes up 5 square blocks. Back inside, exploring the first floor, the opposite direction from the jury room and courts, was a stand with sandwiches and soft drinks. Desserts too. Reasonably priced. So I got a turkey and bacon on wheat and a bottle of water.

Had to go back to the courtroom wing to find a place to sit and eat.

Judge had said be back by 1:30, but they made us wait out in the hallway for 15 minutes. In the morning she also sent us into the hallway as she heard, one at a time, hardship pleas from this morning's juror pool. She granted most of them.

Then the judge had us new kids one by one give answers to 10 sets of questions on the reverse of our number sheet. The guy on my right was Israeli a long time ago. His accent was Eastern European.

And the lawyers played musical chairs again, until at about 2:30 pm when there were 12 jurors sworn in, and then she had #21 and 22 sworn in as alternates. 20 had been dismissed "for cause".

And then she gave jury instructions and the schedule for the trial. Finally the prosecutor pointed behind himself at us and reminded the judge that we were there. She should have dismissed us 10 minutes earlier, after the alternates were sworn in.

The whole thing was a study in how to be inconsiderate of We, The People. There was absolutely nothing provided to tell us how any of this process worked. Just platitudes. If I'm called again next year, I'll play the heart trouble/diuretic card.

Home, just early enough for traffic to be moderate. Got here at about 3. Too late to go to work, too early to do anything useful. Pruned my smaller Russian sage bush, which I think got poisoned by next door neighbors' woodworking & painting. Checked on all the plants all around. The roses especially love the rain, and there are bee's friend flowers popping out. One of the lilacs is reaching out. I need to move the ceramic elephant out from under the jungle.

Nothing delivered - was expecting a mechanical toy kitten. It is apparently lost in transit, UPS says. May not need it soon.

Down to the last 2 brownies, so baked a double batch in a single pan. Took 2 hours instead of 1. Letting it chill in the fridge before I cut it.

No PTI today, watched the Channel 2 news and X-Files. I'm guessing it was the end of the season, maybe the series.

Text from the appraiser, tomorrow is no good, how about Wednesday morning. OK. Texted back that I had forgotten to tell him about the new dishwasher & aircon. Forgot about the new sink. And the new bathroom tiles, though I did mention the new shower. And the new kitchen LED lights.

Plans for tomorrow:
Campbell orchid show
1 pm Dancing Cat appointment. Maybe adopt one. There's a big grey tabby male which is allegedly good with other pets. The other male cats are a bonded pair of gorgeous gingers and a blind orange tabby. All the calicoes are small females, probably not a good fit. I'll chat with the staff as I enjoy catterday.
Bringing my camera to both, this time the fast Nikon 55mm and maybe the Tamron macro zoom.