The year so far:
Jury Duty: I have jury duty. Here in Arkansas, that means I have jury duty for four months. Every week, I have to check a website and see if "my" case is going to court or not. (My case is the one my jury panel is serving that week.) If it is, I have to report in at nine a.m. the next day, me and about sixty other people. Then 24 of us are selected at random. If the 12 jurors are chosen from those 24, the rest of us get to go home. So far I've had to report one week and been sent home the other week.
Since the period of jury duty runs concurrent with my spring semester, I will almost certainly miss some classes, and there is almost no way to tell when or which. It's a little annoying. On the other hand, civic duty. On the other, I can't imagine why it's necessary for juries to serve for four months. Everywhere else I've lived, you serve for a day or two. Maybe it's because the population here is so small?
New Semester: I'm teaching grammar again this semester. You know how happy this makes me. Also fiction writing and a comp class. Because I taught an overload last semester, I get a course release this semester. That also pleases me. More time to write!
The Kid goes back for their new semester tomorrow. They're taking the second half of studio art, a world lit class, a music class, and something called university perspectives, which is supposed to teach them how to do college, I think.
Laundry: Our washing machine busted again. At some point, we'll have to buy a new one, but so far getting it repaired every year or two is our strategy. This time it was the pump.
While the machine was down, I spent time at the laundromat, which I always enjoy. I think I bonded with laundromats as a small child, since the one my mother took us to when I was little had a play room for toddler, and also she would always buy us candy from the machine there. Candy plus toys means the smell of steamy air and detergent always makes me happy.
Also, laundromats are prime places to observe humanity, drink coffee, and write things. If they had better tables, I'd hang out there all the time
Weather: It was fiercely cold here all through the end of December and early January. It's warming up a bit now. Our house has terrible insulation, so even with the heat on -- and I hate having the heat on, because of how it hurts my head -- even with the heat on, though, it never got much above 65 in here.
Cat: Here is an entirely gratuitous picture of my cat:
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| Jasper 2018 |
6 comments:
Re: the heater-- have you tried a humidifier? We just got ours out about a week ago and I swear it's helping. (Or do you think it's allergies? Vacuuming the vents might help if you have a forced air system-- I let DH do that for me.)
Heat has always hurt my head -- but you're right, we probably need to clean the vents!
Thanks a lot. You made me think, "I used to get called for jury duty all the time, but haven't been since I said no during leave" which, of course, meant I got a summons today. I got called 5 times in one year before I left for leave! (And served once, but not long enough to excuse me from other service.)
It's another criminal court full of sordid cases too. Just what I need, another day of listening to a lawyer try to convince me that a child wasn't raped or neglected. I hate voire dire so much.
That's the only trial I've actually had to report for so far -- a child abuse case. Other than that, they've all settled before trial.
Five times in one year! That seems entirely out of line. Isn't it supposed to be a lottery system? I've been called up three times in ten years, though this is the first time I haven't been excused.
(They used to excuse us because we were professors, and couldn't miss class. But now they won't. Suck it up, they say.)
I wish they could all be traffic court cases...
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