So I completed my jury service on Friday. Actually, I came within fifteen minutes of completing it on Thursday. I spent practically all of Thursday sitting in the jury assembly room...basically just sitting there for eight hours or so. It's sort of like sitting on an international flight, without the added benefit of being somwhere else when the waiting ends. Anyway, I sat there staring at the wall, gazing out the window, and, probably for the first time ever, reading the Los Angeles Times from cover to cover. I think it's safe to say that I know everything that happened in the entire world on October 30. So, as the clock approached 5:00, it seemed more and more likely that I would make it through the day without being placed on a jury. At 4:45, however, my name was called and I had to go to one of the selections. Since it was so late in the day, they told us we had to come back on Friday to do the selection.

So, Friday morning I arrived at the courthouse and, much to my delight, was told that the defendant and the state had reached a plea bargain, so I was excused. And I'll be getting $15 for showing up for like ten minutes. Hooray.

Well, jury duty was not, in fact, the most exciting event of this week. That honor probably goes to the Halloween celebrations on Thursday evening. I arrived home from the courthouse at about 6:00. As I was watching Jeopardy, there came a knock at the door. I opened it to discover two trick-or-treaters standing there. I awkwardly told them that I had no candy, largely due to the fact that I have not ever had a single trick-or-treater here. I did a quick search of the kitchen to see if, perhaps, there was something I could give them, but there was nothing so I had to send them packing.

After Jeopardy ended, I searched around for something that I might be able to use as some sort of costume. I grabbed the wig which some of you no doubt recall from my infamous alter ego, Foam. Well, the wig took on a far more sinister persona this Thursday as I was slowly, over the course of the evening, transformed into the character of Juror # 4, complete with serial killer sunglasses and Juror I.D. badge.

I drove to Los Feliz to meet my former coworkers from the Shoah Foundation at Danielle Lupkin's house. Nearly the entire gang from last year's Halloween festivities was there: Angelica Ochoa, Mischal Diasanta, Danielle Lupkin, Blake Heller, Brittany Lichtig, John Antolos, Ling (whose last name I don't know), Meghan Lee and yours truly. The funny thing is that, over the course of the night, my half-assed costume came to be voted as the best of the group. It was really quite unintentional, but I think Juror # 4 can be considered my best costume ever.

Anyway, in spite of the fact that nobody in the entire group actually wanted to go there, we ended up once again at the carnival in West Hollywood. Throughout the course of our time there, I think I heard each person complain at least once about how they would rather have gone to a bar or club or Third Street in Santa Monica. Hopefully, next year, someone with a little more gumption will speak up. It's not likely to be me, however, since I like to avoid confrontation whenever possible.

At any rate, the carnival was just as bizarre and hedonistic as last year. Although I've never been to Mardi Gras, so I can't really compare, it seems to me to be a similar type of environment. It's also kind of strange that people will bring their kids to this carnival, so at one point you'll see a few six year olds walking by with their parents, and then at the next moment you'll see some man dressed as a cop wearing ass-less pants. Only in West Hollywood, I suppose.

So, we left the carnival at about 12:30 or 1:00. After dropping a few people off, I made a quick run over to Ryan Cox's party in Pasadena, arriving there around 2 am. Surprisingly, the party was still going on- I thought I would have missed it completely. I stayed there for about an hour, and then headed home, since all the hot chicks had left soon after I got there. (I'm hoping that's merely a coincidence.)

It was a good thing that the trial I was on was settled by plea bargain, because I don't think I could have handled an entire day in court after only having four hours of sleep.

Saturday night was yet another fun-filled evening, as I attended yet another Halloween (it was also Christy Shay's birthday) party at Katie's house in Monrovia. There was quite a large turnout- larger than any of us actually expected, I think, and it was quite fun. At the same time, however, there was this weird palpable angst that permeated the party as several minidramas all sort of collided in a sort of microcosm of our lives. (Yes, I know that statement sounds like complete nonsense...but those who were there and experienced it will know what I am talking about.) I arrived home from the party at about 4 am and slept until about 1:30 Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday evening I went to church and, afterwards, joined Shane Ross, Christy Shay, Katie Pearson and Jamie Orellana for coffee at Kaldi in South Pasadena. So, suffice it to say I have had quite a few busy days this week and am currently quite exhausted. I am contemplating if I will just go directly to sleep now or if I will try to get through some of Kerouac's Desolation Angels. I've been working on this book for quite some time, and am having trouble getting through it. I've read several of Kerouac's books and have never had this much trouble getting through one. It's not that it isn't good...it's just hard to get through for some reason.

At any rate, I think I've rambled on enough. It's now after midnight, so I think I'm going to opt for just going to sleep.