Where'd Tuesday Go?

You are hereby summoned: Jury Duty.

The summons was for stand-by, which meant calling after 4:30 p.m. the day before to learn IF I had to trek nearly 16 miles to the county courthouse near Chicago's "North Shore".

The recorded message said, "if your last name begins with B as in Bravo through and including Z as in Zulu, you must appear." And so, I had to prepare myself for the trek. The public transpo website provided several public transpo options. All those available to me meant and hour and forty-five minutes travel time.

Thanks to several road construction zones, the commute actually took two hours and thirty minutes. Lovely.

Six hours after clearing security and checking in, I was released with the thanks of the court and a check for my time and trouble, $17.20. We, the prospective jurors were told that four trials were scheduled; two criminal, two civil. All four cases settled without the need for a jury.

The return commute home was shaved by only 30 minutes.

Worn out, I ate. Slept. Which of course meant that I was awake at 2 a.m. listening to (if not sneaking a peak at) "Jaws" on television.

A Tuesday lost. A weary Wednesday.

. . . to help out thEBalzie, the actor is currently in rehearsal for "Lobby Hero", he is playing William. And speaking of, he just closed a run of a Stoppard play and begins rehearsals for the next, August Wilson's "Radio Golf" days after "Lobby Hero" closes. In between, he's auditioning, auditioning, and auditioning.