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it was flu shot day at work...i went with a group of six co-workers and two funny things happened along the way:
1) as i sat down next to the nurse, i made the standard nervous "i'm about to get a shot" chitchat..."ooh, you have lollipops", i said..."why, yes, we do", she replied...she asked me to let my arm hang by my side completely limp, then she pulled up my short sleeve and said (i kid you not), "what a big man muscle"...!...then, of course, she stuck a needle in my man muscle...god damn, if i wasn't about to get a shot, i would've died laughing...
2) i was first in line out of my troop of co-workers to get stuck, so as i walked out of the room, i passed some of them...within earshot of everybody in the place i looked at one of my co-workers, the dirtiest guy i know (mentally), and said, "don't take your pants off, this time"...apparently the nurses all laughed and even repeated that line out of my earshot...
so there i was spreading joy and man muscle all over the vaccination clinic...
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the trial is over, so i can talk about it now...you'd think there would be a sigh of relief, too, but that hasn't happened yet...i was a juror, doing my civic duty, this week...that fact alone was a bit of a shock, since i thought the phd thing was the perfect anti-jury countermeasure, guaranteed to get me booted...but, alas, i was picked as the last alternate...i suppose i should've said some crazy shit in response to the attorney's questions during jury selection, like some folks did, but i'm a sucker for honesty and played it true...
this case was tough on my soul...thirteen counts of statutory rape, statutory sodomy and child molestation against a man for abusing two of his grand nieces, thirteen and fifteen years old...zero physical evidence...a delay between the incidents in question and the reporting of the incidents to the victim's parents...the evidence we were presented constituted testimony from the two victims, one victim's mother, one detective, and the defendant himself...it wasn't exactly "he said, she said" but it was close...there was no smoking gun (those cases typically don't make it to trial)...
i could tell lots of stories about the past few days, and what i heard in that courtroom, but all i'm feeling now is the weariness of it all...i didn't get to deliberate (which if you know me, means you know that was a little frustrating in itself) but my emotions pale in comparison to what transpired in that room...he was found guilty of ten of the thirteen counts this afternoon, and will be sentenced in late october...i saw a man tried and convicted of heinous crimes...this wasn't tv...it was very, very real...
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i know, two blog posts in a year, i'm on fire...but i thought this was an amusing juxtaposition...
i'm sitting here watching an episode of the heart-wrenching show Intervention...this particular episode is about an alcoholic and a heroin user...and while i'm watching it, i'm drinking a couple of beers...so naughty...
i can't really turn away from this show, it's so intense...so devastating to take in somebody's life story for 45 minutes just to watch them try and fail to conquer their addiction (or even avoid trying at all), but it's also so uplifting when they succeed...damn, i'm blathering, that's a sign i need another beer!
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happy birthday, mom
i've spent too long thinking about my relationship with my mom over the years...that relationship has been the single-most dominating factor in my development as a human being...i'm sure i'm not the only person who feels that way...i mean, after all, lots of serial killers had overly domineering mothers as well...hah! the older i become, though, the more perspective i gain on those early years...i don't see mom as a force of nature anymore, but a human being, flaws and all, who did the best she could with the tools she had at her disposal...
anyway, thing is, mom has been fighting an illness for a long time now...in fact, a real long time...she's been surviving on blood transfusions for about 5 years, and she's doing very well considering...last year, she even had a heart attack and required a stent, and with her condition being blood related, any type of surgery is a serious risk...so tomorrow she turns 70...she never thought she'd see this day, and frankly she had me convinced she wouldn't either, but here she is, still fighting...
so no matter how many hours (years) i need to spend on a shrink's couch to exorcize my childhood demons, i'm still extremely proud of how hard she's fought through these health problems...her condition can't be cured...but she's a tough woman, and she has held up far beyond even her own expectations...and so for that, i wish her a very happy birthday...
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