Reason not Excuse

Last October, okay, maybe it was September; I received a jury inquiry letter on my front door. I assume it was put there by the local deputy sheriff. It is after all, their job to do such things. I quickly filled out the paperwork and turned it in. And then my waiting began.

            In December, when I still had not heard anything from the clerk of courts, I called them to inquiry about the status of my potential of being a juror. I was informed by one of the clerks that the paperwork I’d filled out and turned in was for the year 2016. I was relieved. Then, in the midst of January I received a subpoena for the month of February. Upon my first look at the paper I was a bit elated. Which is an emotion most people don’t have when they get summoned for jury duty.

            You see, I’ve been a voter for over thirty years. Local elections, state elections and federal elections; I’ve tried to vote in all of them. As a matter of fact, I believe I’ve only missed one turn at the polls in all that time. In all this time I’ve seen friends and family get called for jury duty. I was always a bit stunned I had never been called. I want to serve on a jury. Not to judge the innocent or guilty, I just want the experience. I want to be part of the judicial process in an impartial manner. Hear the stories from both sides in a legal and litigious manner. Talk over the facts with the eleven other jurors. It just seems like it would be a pretty cool experience. Well to me at least.

            Now, through this entire hurry up and wait experience, I finally received a new turntable to play my albums on. Okay, the turntable isn’t really new. It’s an early 1980’s Sears model. It needed a new belt and the needle was bent so I ordered both from a large online retailer. The belt arrived within a week and when I put it on the machine it fired right up. I then tested the bent needle on The Blues Brothers “Briefcase Full of Blues”. The music sounded amazing blasting through my JBL studio monitors.

            This small addition to my office has actually improved my work productivity. Since I don’t want to leave my office and working while spinning your favorite records is a great way to lose yourself in the pure enjoyment of music while you work. Seriously, you spend about twenty five minutes of working, then get up, flip your record, drop the needle and go back to work for another twenty-five minutes. You literally get a break from work while choosing what you want to listen to while you work. It is quite pleasing.

            As of the writing of this blog, I still have not gone through all the records I have in my office, let alone what I have hanging on the walls in picture frames. I’ll get around to pulling them off the wall one day and putting them on the turntable for endless hours of listening pleasure.

            Amongst this mess of jury duty and record listening, I was asked to perform in another play. Much like the one I was in a couple years ago. I get to play an angry, abusive father and husband. Basically, I get to be the bad guy. Again. Which is cool. I know it seems almost stereotypical but at least it is something I can do. As a matter of fact, my first practice is tonight, after my doctor’s appointment. An appointment that is going to be primarily dealing with my heart.

            Oh? You didn’t know about my heart? It’s swollen. Inflated. Inflamed if you will. Which means, to me that is, I care too much. I need to stop caring about anything and everything. I’m the Grinch at the end of the movie and I need to get back to being the Grinch at the beginning of the movie. But in all seriousness, I do need to take care of my heart better. I’ve spent too much time in the hospital as it is and I don’t want to spend any more time there than I have to. Seriously, who does?

            On top of this, I’ve got two stories being published this year, and I’m also scheduled to do another public reading. A reading of a story I have not written yet. We’ve already had two meetings about this event and a third is quickly approaching. So I guess I need to get busy.

            I’m sure you’re asking yourself right now, “Why is Skip divulging all this information?” The answer is simple, I missed last weeks blog and I barely have time to write this blog. So I figure I’d give you guys, my dear readers, the opportunity to see what sort of insanity is going on in my life. This blog is not an excuse, it is a reason why I have not written much lately. I just seem to be so busy that I can’t even find time to sit down and be creative.

            It seems to me that my experiment of slowing down has failed and I need to reinstitute a new practice. If I can figure out how to implement that new practice I’ll let you know. Or, if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Have a great week.