Gavel/Planet/Pipe
Tonight BEGINS the minimum of two weeks of Jury Service. The following is my new routine:
1. I must call the courthouse each evening, around 7pm to see if I need to report the next day.
2. Regardless of the outcome of that call, I then have to write e-mails to all of my students in all of my classes about the details of what the "plan" will be for the next day.
3. If I do not have service, the day will be as "normal". (And I will have done a sh*tl**d of extra work for nothing.)
4. If I do have service, I have to a) link one or more of the video lectures I have been creating (in my "spare" time since before Christmas) to my electronic classroom, b) try to pin down potential "Zoom" office hours I may be able to hold in the evening to make up for missed regular office hours, and c) fill out idiotic paperwork for the administration of my "absence" so that it can be submitted each day.
5. I also have to have plans for what I can do regarding my evenings as well. I need to be at band each week, I should try to continue the church group during this period of time, and I paid for the non-refundable guitar lessons (signed up and paid before knowing about damnable jury duty).... so I should do that with my wife as well.
6. I called the courthouse and asked for a return call.... because NOWHERE on their damnable website does it say what I can BRING with me to the damn courthouse. I do not know if I can bring a laptop with me to potentially TRY to do work while I sit around in a throng of people all waiting around to do
But, if I do get called in consistently.... even my best laid plans will potentially spiral out of control. The plans and enacting them make me feel exhausted just thinking about them.
And, because there are vague ambiguities about what TIME I need to report (again, only revealed the evening before) on days I do serve.... this leaves me rather ambiguous and frustrated about what impact this may have on my running as well. I am fearful that b*llsh*t timing issues with the courthouse will make it extremely hard for me to get to the 50+ miles (80+ km) I need to stay on track with my vows/goals. I am a bit worried I may have to have some/many shorter days and be forced to try to compensate to get my miles in by running on both Saturday and Sunday. That too sounds exhausting.
* * * * *
So, I do not feel "chipper" at the moment. I feel actually rather aggravated..... 9 damnable times !!!!
* * * * *
Perhaps our hardest new piece in band that has me a bit nervous is Gustav Holst's "Jupiter". Do not get me wrong.... it is an absolutely beautiful piece... and even if you do not know a lot of classical music, I suspect you will recognize this piece. But, to be frank, it is in some ways testing my skills and abilities in new ways.
I do love the song, however. My favorite part begins around the 1:30 mark in the above video if you want to see my favorite section of the whole beautiful work. The last minute of the video is ALSO especially worth a listen. It is a cacophony of beautiful sounds... but my part and the speed of the tempo of that section feel awfully damn difficult... and the limits of my meager abilities may be exceeded.
* * * * *
I would also like to spend time discussing the deep pipe tobacco longing I am feeling, but at some level I believe folks tire of hearing me whine and complain about it, so I have been trying to be more "frugal" in my discussion of the pipe. I could meander and muse about every minutia of the avocation that I crave, desire, want, wish I was immersed into, and all the recollections of the beautiful past memories of my active participation from my memory banks. I do, I believe, need to let those thoughts, feelings, and memories out, at least on occasion.... because they build and build if I do not. Talking about them keeps things more even-keeled.
PipeTobacco
4 Comments:
That is a long time to be on the hook. It doesn't happen that way here, at least not in the more rural regions where we don't have too many cases.
Perhaps, along with Iwan Ries and your father's grave, you could add "the courthouse" to your short list of places where you can smoke your pipe? After this short tour of jury duty, you surely won't be there again very often, if ever. No doubt you would have to indulge in your pipes in a designated smoking room or somewhere outdoors, but if there were a workable strategy you might be able to make lemonade (or lemon marmalade?) out of this lemon of a civic duty.
I grew up with classical music and love it. Your favorite part is so expansive and dramatic; it reminds me of Jupiter. As I've mentioned before, your set up for jury duty is terribly unfair. My county (state?) is much more understanding.
We can switch jury time around. Like teacher here who have jury during the school year. Can then do in summer months.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home