The gods were smiling down on me yesterday; well, maybe not smiling, more like Mona-Lisa-smiling, that half-smile or beginning of a smile. Or something.

Anyway.

I went back to the courthouse yesterday morning at 9:30, but the judge had us recess immediately so he could talk about some legal matters with the lawyers. So I went down to the jury lounge and read from The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (from which I ended up reading 130 pages by the end of the day). They called us back up around 11:00 and continued with the jury selection, which was one of the most boring experiences of my entire life. They would select a prospective juror at random, have them sit in the box, and ask them a bunch of questions like, "What is your job? Have you heard anything about this case prior to reporting for jury service? If the evidence and law support our case, could you give a substantial verdict in our favor? Do you agree that I smell like an unwashed panda?" (Though I'm pretty sure I hallucinated that last one.)

We broke for lunch at 1:00, came back at 2:30 and continued. The judge recessed us again for about 15 minutes at one point, and they picked the final juror at 4:00. But, they still two alternates to pick. So the rest of us in the audience squirmed in our seats for the next half-hour, silently praying we wouldn't be called. (The plaintiffs in the case expected the trial to last three to four weeks, which would have been a major problem for me.) After the second alternate was approved at 4:30, we all exhaled in relief, and I even heard a few people go, "Woo!" and "Yes!"

So, to celebrate, Jamie came over last night and we went to see Confidence at the $1.50 movie theatre, and I really enjoyed it. (Actually, we were going to do this anyway, but it turned into a celebratory thing.) The film was like a combination of The Usual Suspects and Ocean's Eleven, but better than both, imho. It's a great crime/con movie starring Ed Burns, very well written.

And now I'm back at work. I'll try to get "Last Fare" finished up tonight, so I can send it off to Leviathan 4 by Monday. I only have about 2K words left to go, and I'm hoping I can swing it. I'd really like to submit to this anthology.

This weekend I'm also taking care of Neli, my parents' pet rabbit, since they'll be out of town at the beach so my mother can shoot a few stories for North Carolina Now. And I have a wedding on Saturday evening, for which I still haven't bought a present. Busy busy busy.

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Now Reading:
The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto

Stories Out to Publishers:
13

Books Read This Year:
24

Novel Word Count:
9200