i was called for jury duty this week, and, because i'm still registered to vote in the county where i grew up, going to jury duty meant driving an hour to the courthouse. so, instead of choosing to allot one single day to the adventure, i opted to call the "hall of justice" every evening to see if my jury group number would be called for the next day. i made my decision and sent in my paperwork reflecting said decision and have been calling every night this week, reveling in how high my number was and, therefore, how low my chances were of actually having to go in. fast forward to 7:45 am this morning, when i remembered that i hadn't called the jury info hotline last night. i called immediately, all the while still believing that my astronomically high jury group number would save me. alas, it did not. my number was up. i had fifteen minutes to be at a court house 60 miles away.
i flew out of the house, hair and (yesterday's) makeup all crazed, and i was so panicked about how late i was going to be that my hands shook so badly i could barely lock the front door. around 8:45 am, i'd made it to the courthouse and through the metal detectors and to the jury information window. the woman working at the window took one look at me and at my jury summons and the pathetic "i just came all the way from los angeles" look on my face that she agreed to check me in despite the fact that they'd already shut down for the day, due to too many people arriving on time. after looking up my name in order to do me this gigantic favor, she noticed in my file, i was labeled as excused from service for living outside the county. long, long, terrible story short, whoever processed the form i sent in noticed my new address, and, as this address is in los angeles county, this person excused me from duty, without contacting me in any way to let me know they'd done it. this morning, when i was told that not only was i not getting arrested for being late but also that i was able to leave, i didn't care at all that i'd essentially driven all the way up there for no reason. however, had i been on time and not so freaked out, i'm sure i would have been moderately aggravated.
as it is, though, i still have to go to the dmv and change my address, which means i can also maybe take a new license picture to replace the orangutan photo that was taken seven years ago.
