Strangely Socialised

There’s a part of me that really enjoys the drama group I’m in, and there’s a part of me that resents that people make assumptions about what I will or will not do and there doesn’t seem to be a graceful way out of it. I hate using the phone, I hate having to call people for any reason, so please don’t assume that this is something I would cheerfully be willing to do just because I said I’d send out some emails. I loathe prompting, and will only do it when there’s no one else, so don’t tell someone else that I have it covered.

Life hasn’t been particularly interesting lately. Huge snowstorm last week and I should probably put some pictures of when I can remember where I saved them. It’s back up to being lovely out again now, even though there are still piles of snow in parking lots that’ll take a couple more days to melt all the way down.

There was a huge thunderstorm on Saturday night, and I went to see The Corporation with Lisa and Juli, which I’ll have to review in the other section when I really sit down and think it through. It’s a documentary that really sits you on your ass and makes you realize what’s going on, but it’s also only one perspective on a situation, and tha’ts something I go to great pains to remind myself of. That’s probably why I don’t have a great passion for a lot of political things, other than to be passionate about people being involved and having their say–because I tend to see multiple sides of everything and can’t blind myself to that.

Picked up a new (used/antique) book today and am very pleased even though I spent too much money and now will not get to eat out for the rest of the month probably. Not that I really do that much anyway. But book! Books will always win that battle.

Have come to the conclusion that I drink too many chillattes from Second Cup. But they’re so good! I have bad luck with getting watery Frappuccinos from Starbucks (well, all two of them, since we never used to have Starbucks here) but the chillattes from the place right across the street from my office are to die for. I need to be independently wealthy, and skinny, so I can have one every day and not feel the slightest twinge of guilt about it.

Spent the weekend out at mom’s farm, which is always nice, even though the actual reason I was there was for a board meeting yesterday. A board meeting that was short by our standards (“only” four hours) but which did not go well. Trouble is brewing and I don’t think I’ll be able to stay out of it, much as I would like to. Not much sense going into it here, since it is both uninteresting and not something I’m going to want to remember about years down the road, but it involves a board member taking advantage of her position and that’s just not cool.

It was 35 yesterday, without factoring in humidity, and I was longing for just one air conditioned room in the place. I had to settled for stripping down naked (uh, after the meeting) and lying in front of a fan. It did the trick, even though there went an hour I didn’t get to spend with mom. My visits there are never long enough, but there’s a fine line, for us, between enough and too much. The wedding is next Friday, though, so I’ll be back there soon.

Which reminds me, should probably start seriously thinking about finding myself something to wear to that.

Wrote a couple of new scenes for a story I’m working on during my trip. Which sounds good, but really isn’t when you consider I was on the bus for a total time of about five hours, and should have been able to write a hell of a lot more than a couple scenes. But a couple scenes is better than none, and I should probably be thankful for that. Sometimes these things come, and sometimes they just don’t.

I have all this downtime at work right now. I should really be updating more often, instead of dicking around and looking for something to do. Of course, then the majority of my entries would be about dicking around, looking for something to do, so maybe not.

Last weekend was spend up in Dauphin at the annual ACT Festival, where I got to watch more than my fair share of amateur drama, most of which was surprisingly good. (Not that I think amateur drama is bad — I’m involved in it after all — but I’ve seen all of these groups perform in previous years. Nuff said.) I’ll probably write up a little blurb on each of the plays later, most for my own purposes, but also to demonstrate how utterly un-witty I can be when trying to describe a set made up entirely of cardboard cut-out animals. And really, that one should be easy.

Those who know me know that, for the most part, I don’t drink. Due to a medical condition, I have virtually no tolerance for alcohol, and when I am drinking, I have a self-imposed two drink limit. Which makes this weekend such an anomaly because not only did I scarf down wine, beer, vodka, rum, peach schnapps and rasperry sourpuss, in combination, but I didn’t get the least bit ill, and remained more sober than most of the people around me. Hooray for finally being on the right dosage of my medication! (Or so I presume.)

I brought my camera to the Friday night party, where one of the groups showed up all in matching kilts. The camera was quickly stolen from me — by the vice president of the board, no less — and stuck up under one of the kilts to get a picture of whether or not they were being worn correctly. Um. They were. And like it or not, I now have photographic proof. I think the main reason the batteries were dead on my camera by the time the Saturday party rolled around is because everyone heard of the picture the next day and wanted to take a look. (And for the record, in case anyone is scandalized by this, the “victim” of the picture was a perfectly willing one.)

On the downer side, during the first performance of the day on Sunday, there was a medical incident on the balcony (where I was sitting). Halfway through the play there were suddenly shouts from next to me of “Help!” and “Call an ambulance!” House lights went up and the play stopped and I rushed across the aisle to help and it turned out to be someone I knew, from my hometown. He was unconscious and they were trying to find a pulse, and we managed to get him laying on the floor — not an easy task when you’re in a cramped theatre balcony. At first they thought he’d suffered a heart attack but he regained consciousness about a minute later and was lucid and said he was in no pain, though he had no energy whatsoever. One of the other members on the ACT board is a doctor, so he rushed up there to get a handle on things while we waited for the ambulance to get there.

He’s fine now, and home, and spent less than a day in the hospital in the end (it was hot in the balcony, and he had suffered fainting spells in the past). One of the most difficult things was that he was a member of the theatre group that had been on stage at the time, and they were all a wreck, in tears over the whole thing. But much to their credit, once it was established that he was okay, and the ambulance had left for the hospital, they pulled it together and got back on stage and finished the performance. I’m not sure many people would have been able to do that.

So, in general, a good weekend was had by all. And I did, in fact, put my seven hours of bus time to relatively good use,

So yes, jury duty. Talked to the co-ordinator today to get everything set up. Had to talk to five different people at my company just to find out if I get paid while on jury duty or not (I do) and most of them were in HR. This is really the kind of thing that they should just know, if you ask me.

I think I’m probably going to keep a running log of the experience, as much as I can, just so I remember it later on. Any experience builds character, and I’m sure that I can use this in a story at some point in time, so I’m paying attention. When I went to my supervisor to mention that I needed the time off, he sat me down and we chatted for a while about when he was called to jury duty. He wasn’t selected for any juries, which he attributes to his “scornful looks” at the defendants.

Apparently they’re selecting for three juries, for trials lasting anywhere from 4 to 20 days, some time between April 7 and May 16. Which means, if selected, I may have to miss the ACT festival. That would be rough. I got detailed instructions on how to get past the metal detectors etc. and where to find jury registration, but something tells me I’m gonna get lost anyway. Put me in a shopping mall and I have perfect direction sense, put me in a cubicle maze and I’m lost. Probably a skill honed by the fact that I like to get in and out of malls as quickly as possible. Then again, I’m pretty good at navigating airports, which are never well marked, so I guess we’ll see.

I’m interested to know the cases that they’re selecting juries for. Shall find out on the twenty-seventh, I guess. I don’t think I’ll be having any more contact with them until then. The people working the jury management office, by the way, were universally pleasant. That can’t be an easy job, and must have a lot of annoyed people calling all the time, so kudos to them.