Jilli, is The Ghostly Equestrian Ball on your calendar?

I saw it on Jill Tracy's Twitter. Alas, there is no way we can go! But i can't feel too broken up about it, as Pete is taking me to Portland three days before that so I can go see Emilie Autumn and her Bloomer Brigade.

I'm told it's possible, but I've never been able to successfully navigate the phone system well enough to find out for myself.

Considering what happened when I donated my nonrunning car (and didn't know that I should take the license plates off), and it apparently was sold to someone in NY who went around loading up on parking tickets...and ended up getting horribly mean letters and phone calls from the City of NY (even AFTER faxing them the DMV printout that proved I hadn't owned the damn car for 3 years!)... Well, I feel for anyone who has to navigate that city's civil system.

There's probably an easier way to do it online now - Brooklyn only calls for jury duty every 7 years, so it's been a while since I've served.

(For people who want to do their civic duty but not actually get put on a jury, I'm told that July and August are the best times to show up. So many judges and lawyers are on vacation during that time that the number of cases goes way WAY down.)

When I was on-call for jury duty this summer, it was the first time they'd contacted me since I lived in Forest Park back in 2001. Before then, they'd had me on jury duty twice in 13 months.

The longest anyone I know has ever had to serve at once was six days, when a lawyer I worked with ended up serving for a murder trial down at 26th and California (one prisoner shanking another in the prison's barbershop).

I like your doctor, Tep.

He's awesome. He's a smartass, and very, very good.

smonster, how's the trapped nerve?

About the same, so better but still painful. I've been pondering checking out a new (to me) PT, so maybe this will be my motivator. I'm going to see how I feel tomorrow morning.

The one time I've been called for duty I accidentally didn't show b/c I had the date wrong (story of my life - I once missed an Ani DiFranco concert for the same reason) but they told me it was fine and I didn't need to report anyway.

I frequently have to have them do the ear lavage thingy at the doctor.

Ugh, I've had to have this done myself a couple of times. Not only does it feel disconcerting, but it's rather startling to see a glob of wax come out that looks like it's bigger than the hole it just popped out of.

I've also had an ENT use a hook to get particularly stubborn wax out. Not as uncomfortable as the nosecam he also employed, but still not pleasent, and boy do you keep your head still when that's going on.

The longest anyone I know has ever had to serve at once was six days

My first jury duty lasted two full weeks, most of that in deliberation. We could have been out of there in an hour, but one guy tried to turn it into 12 Angry Men so he wouldn't have to go back to work. (Not an assumption - after we finally came to agreement and notified the judge, he started bragging about how he really agreed with the rest of us all along but wanted to drag things out as long as possible. This experience may have soured me somewhat on juries.)

My second jury never went to trial - it was a civil case and they settled before the trial started. So I basically just sat in the waiting room for three days listening to podcasts.

I've also had an ENT use a hook to get particularly stubborn wax out.

I'm a freak - I find that one a fun experience. Seriously.

ETA:

I've been pondering checking out a new (to me) PT, so maybe this will be my motivator. I'm going to see how I feel tomorrow morning.

That sounds sensible. I hope it improves.

Earhooks.