will work for yoga, part 3

of course it had to happen.

i finally got summoned to appear for jury duty this past friday. not only that, but i was selected to sit in the jury box for what is expected to be a 2-3 day trial. actually, at this point i have a good chance of being selected to be on the jury; jury selection continues on monday and, so far, neither of the lawyers had an objection to my staying on the panel. it's amazing that with an initial pool of about 50 potential jurors, they couldn't find twelve citizens who could be considered unbiased enough to render a fair verdict! i could go on about the acting skills (or lack thereof) of those who were eventually excused, but i'm not allowed to talk about the case...

as is the procedure for all those who serve as jurors in los angeles superior court cases:

"California pays jurors $15 every day starting on the second day of service. Jurors also receive 34 cents for each mile they travel to court. The mileage payment, only for one-way travel, also starts on the second day..."

according to mapquest, the distance from my front door to the civil court building is around 15 miles (and should only take me 18 minutes?!? have they forgotten to factor in the normal stop-and-go traffic on the los angeles freeways?). so adding the $15 per diem to the $5 one-way mileage reimbursement gives me a whopping $20 A DAY. given that the current minimum wage in california is $6.75 AN HOUR, it sounds to me like i'm getting paid sweatshop wages :( and aah-nold the governator thinks this is acceptable?

of course, it can always be argued (by the court system, of course) that i'm doing my civic duty and that i should be honored to be able to play such an important role in the criminal justice system. yeah, right.

anyway, my daily stipend will be just enough to buy me a cheap lunch and a yoga class. after having to spend an entire day listening to both sides accuse the other of lying, i probably will need that yoga class to de-stress and re-center myself at the end of the day...

since i'm going to be on that side of town anyway, it's going to be the perfect opportunity to take classes in or around downtown.

speaking of which, i did just that last friday after my first day at court. ever since matt reyes stopped teaching at maha yoga, i hadn't had a chance to take any of his classes since it was such a schlep to get to his studio in los feliz. so not only was it nice to see him once again, but it was also a pleasant surprise to find out that his classes are now filling up quite nicely. good for him!

anyway, as much as i appreciate the yoga financial aid that i'm getting from the government, it would be nice to get my days back so i can start blocking off my time again with things i'd rather be doing.

i'm keeping my fingers crossed that by this time next week, i would have been thanked and excused by the court for my dedicated service... unless, of course, they're still trying to select a jury. at that point, would it be inappropriate for me to claim mental and emotional instability?!?!