Yesterday sucked.
Well, Mr. Exuberance is at the vet’s office getting neutered, and Eskimo Mutt received his exam. Both are in great shape, considering they’d been at the animal shelter for a while.

Wish I could get a better picture of them, but once the flash goes off, they run outside or jump around.
Yesterday, I had jury duty, a very enlightening venture. It proved this truth to me once again: Dogs are better than most people.
Yes.
Yes-turd-day SUCKED.

I’ve been in my comfort zone too long. My family, people at work and every companion at home all make me feel (for lack of better words) “almost normal.”
I was at the courthouse for jury duty from 8:30 until until 9:45 a.m., where 100 potential jurors waited as if the casket was going to arrive any minute. Worse than someone dying was the fact that it that felt like 32F in there.
Need to get out of jury duty? They don’t let people call on the phone anymore to say, “I’m a dying pregnant felon with 15 kids at home,” or whatever the problem is. No — you have to send a medical excuse to them. And if you don’t, you have to form a line to talk with the judge privately.
.I don’t know how you feel about it, but I felt like one of the attractions at a side-show.
.
Standing in line like a 6-year-old waiting to go to recess wasn’t my first humiliation.
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When I entered the building, I was told to take off my dark glasses and hat. I refused, showing my driver’s license (you can’t take a picture with dark glasses on unless you have a medical reason). The officer (a woman) insisted. Again, I said no.
.
Dear God! I didn’t have this much trouble going through the TSA line! I wondered if groping was going to be next. As I searched for the letter from my optometrist in my purse to show her the note I’d used in the TSA line, I said I’d be glad to speak with her supervisor about it.
.
Yes, I was nice.
(for once)
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She considered what I had to say (personally, I think someone told her in an earpiece that she was out of line — or possibly her supervisor was the man standing behind me and gave her some sort of signal) and then she told me it would suffice if I looked toward the camera, which I did:
.
Right up into the fluorescent lights.
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Yes, it gave me a headache that got progressively worse, so I took an Excedrin migraine pill hoping I wasn’t going to regret leaving my prescription migraine meds at home.
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As I mentioned earlier, the courtroom was FREEZING (glad I had a sweater with me). Stress makes the tics worse, and apparently I was the entertainment portion of this funeral for a few prospective jurors. There were 3 “women of color” sitting on the bench in front of me that kept looking back at me and laughing. One pointed and laughed some more. I wanted to tell them to stop, but they would have denied any wrong doing — and I would have looked more like a crazy person (than I already did) with a hat, dark glasses, face contortions, and hunched over while shivering my @$$ off.
.
When I got in line and finally talked with the judge, I told him that I wasn’t trying to get out of jury duty, I just knew from experience that I wasn’t going to be called. I explained that the tics would be distracting in a courtroom, and the grimacing might be misinterpreted by lawyers or their clients.
.
I had been summoned for jury duty at least 10 times in Florida, and was never called to serve once. The judge (who seemed to be a very kind and compassionate man), smiled and said he was willing to accommodate the disability, but he understood my point. He gave me the choice to stay or go. I chose to go, stating that I didn’t really want to stick around for more humiliation.
.
I didn’t know how greatly this experience would affect me. I ended up crying my eyes out in the bathroom, and then I cried some more while I was at work. When the 3 women kept looking back at me and laughing, I felt like I was back in elementary school. I hope they get picked for grand jury duty, have a high-profile case that takes 6 months to finish and it inconveniences the hell out of them.
.
Better yet….
No, I’ll get to that later.
.
I know it was not the time or place pick that battle. If I had been in a grocery store line, I would have asked, “What the hell is your problem?” If you wonder the same about me, that’s easy to answer: I don’t like to be in a room with so many unhappy people dressed in pajamas, designer jeans that resemble rags, size 56 strapless stretch shirts and short shorts, or had just come from shoveling manure at a horse farm. I didn’t point at any of THEM and laugh.
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Jury duty is a high honor, one that I’ll never have the chance to participate in. I chose to wear a dress, but there are some things a dress can’t hide; like Tourette’s.
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Added to that minor foray into hell, I forgot my yoga pants and shirt so I couldn’t go to yoga on Monday. It was like a Tsunami of little “bad stuff” building into a frenzy. My mantra for the day? “You’re not living in a third world country drinking brown water and watching your twenty children die of starvation. Get over it!”

I’m not proud of my reaction to the situation, and especially disliked being mentally transported back to elementary school again, but it was quite an eye opener.
If only the migraine would let me open my eyes.
I have an island of stability surrounding me at home, at work, and when I’m with family (and that includes my 4-footed ones who don’t give a flying fandango what my flaws are). Yesterday I had the opportunity to see just how fortunate I am to have so much love and protection.
I am thankful but….
Karma, dearest, I have a job for you.

tranporting headache to humiliating humans in 3….2….
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The world would be a much better place if we didn’t have to share it with other people.
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There are times when I feel as if dogs are meditations mascots. 🙂
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It’s their ignorance … and you know you are way more intelligent than they are ……..
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Isn’t it strange, though, how something like that can transport a person back to elementary school? I might have handled it differently if I wasn’t fighting a headache from the fluorescent lights.
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What a perfectly crappy day. I didn’t know you are dealing with Tourette’s — which apparently you deal with very well. When other people can’t handle it, however, that’s rough. May today make up for yesterday!
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Thanks. 🙂 It felt good to let it all out.
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😦
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Ughhh. I have it next month, which I wouldn’t mind at all if I were retired. Hell, I would go twice a year! But it’s really tough as a working person in a small busy office.
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When I would feel that way I kept thinking, “What if I were on trial for something I didn’t do?” I’d want a smart business person looking at the evidence and making an intelligent decision based on fact, not biases.
I had jury duty one time in my life, in another state in the early 1990’s, before the TS got worse. It was an incredible experience.
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I got picked for 2 weeks of jury duty. I was on a drug dealing trial. 6 months later I got called again for another 2 weeks. I showed up to the county court house, sat around there for 2 weeks but did not get chosen. Sure enough, six months later I got the notice again. I showed up at the courthouse with the papers showing my last 4 weeks of it. The lady said I could go home, as she would take me off it. True to her word, 25 years later I have never been back!!!
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My long hiatus was not so intense as yours. I was called once a year for many years in a row.
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Once a year is too much by far, in my opinion.
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“When you’re whelmed, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.”
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I often wondered about that, so now I know. “whelmed” is moderately stressed. “Overwhelmed” is 2 braincells away from a rubber room. 🙂
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Thankfully, never been called up. However, I think the chronic pain and being unable to stay seated for Long periods of time might work let alone the can’t keep my eyes open all day could do the trick. The best thing about karma is once you let it go. The uinverse take s care of it for you. Cheers,H
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Karma is a blessing or a b!#ch, according to which side of it you’re on. 🙂
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Sorry you had to experience this. Jury duty is right up there with the DMV in my book. Happy to see you got out of it.
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If I were on trial, I’d want someone capable of putting thought into the cases presented and coming up with an intelligent decision.
That’s the hardest thing to remember.
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OMG, I’m shocked to hear that people can be that ignorant. How sad/pathetic that those folk are obviously so miserable in their own lives that they have to behave that way towards others.
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What was hardest was the fact that I felt as if I had been transported back to elementary school with everyone laughing. Such a strange feeling of powerlessness.
It also served to help me understand how fortunate I am to have people surrounding me who are so supportive.
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Good, at least it sounds like you’ve put it into perspective. 😉
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