random stories and musings

Those who know me are aware that I love stories, especially true ones. There's nothing quite like the unbelievable truth. Here are some brief random bits and pieces that I've picked up over the past few weeks that are all true.

I nearly set our kitchen on fire when I left tortilla chips in the oven for too long. I did this because I got sidetracked when I discovered that I would have to report for jury duty on my final assigned day. I had to make several phone calls in order to get someone to work for me. Meanwhile, the tortilla chips became little flaming black lumps of coal. My husband grabbed the fire extinguisher and put the fire out. The fire extinguisher emits a powdery chemical that in turn coated every surface in three rooms. We spent hours cleaning up chemical powder. All the food was ruined and we ended up having to go out for dinner.

I had to report for jury duty. The case was somewhat farcical - it centered around a marijuana dealer who had been arrested nearly 2 years ago. Three hours were spent selecting the jury. I decided to go in with a positive attitude and treat it as "life experience". As it turns out, this day was quite revelatory as I discovered that I have prejudices that prevent me from serving on a jury. It's not at all what you might think (I was not even aware myself). Turns out I don't trust police officers. Don't trust 'em, don't like 'em. The judge actually brought me in for questioning by himself and the attorneys after the courtroom was cleared of all jurors and police officers. The prosecuting attorney questioned me and I answered with sincere honesty. I was quickly struck from the jury list, though the defense attorney and his team thought I was perfect.

My husband has a coworker who is in the process of buying a townhouse. She narrowed it down to three townhouses. Each townhouse was very similar and all were within $1000 of the same price. She eventually selected one. I would think that she might consider parking, might meet the neighbors, etc, when making a final decision. She chose a unit based on the staircase. Each townhouse had two stories and each had a staircase between the floors. The unit she chose has a small landing in the middle of the staircase. She figured that if she falls down the stairs, she would have a shorter distance to fall. This was the main factor in the decision to buy her townhouse.

My guitar instructor plays in a covers band (I have never heard them). He was telling me that they were going to play a show but that it was indefinitely postponed. The reason for this is because the bass player shot his own finger off. The guy was on his lunch break and decided to use the opportunity to clean his gun. He got in his pickup truck and started the cleaning process when he got distracted and made a mistake. The gun went off and blew off the majority of his finger, then the bullet ricocheted off the sideview mirror and shot out into the busy boulevard nearby. Fortunately no one was injured except Mr. Clean My Gun In My Truck. The man now might be able to play again in 8 months or so. Meanwhile, the doctors are apparently taping the gnarled up remainder of his finger to the adjacent finger with the the idea that the damaged finger will fuse and start growing tissue again. My guitar teacher kept referring to the muscle and tissue as "meat". He was on and on about how the guy blew all the meat off of his finger and how they are trying to get the finger to grow more meat. I laughed throughout the entire story though it was not told to me for comic effect. I just kept apologizing for laughing but he didn't seem to mind that I found this to be hilarious.

That's all for now. I'll post more little stories sometime soon.