Please forgive me for going on this rant, but I’m truly disgusted so I had to share. I just saw a news broadcast that simply blows my mind. I like to think I’m pretty open minded, but I just can’t handle this.

Lauer Custom Weaponry is painting their guns with bright candy colored paints? They are available in colors such as red, blue, green and purple. They look like toys!! Check them out:

This is apparently some propaganda by Lauer to take a stand against Anti-Gun Regulations being proposed by Michael Bloomberg, but I think they have just gone too far. Now, I don’t know a lot about Bloomberg’s laws, and I do believe we have the right to bear arms (hey, I’m Texas born and bred). But this is the most insane thing I’ve seen in a long time. Toy guns already sometimes look much like play guns, but now we’re going to make real guns look like toys? I can’t imagine a child coming upon this gun in a house. Any lessons in gun safety they’ve been taught would surely not even be thought of in such an instance. And what about our law enforcement officers? This will make their life even more difficult when they have to decide if a gun is real or not instantly to know how to react. They do not have time to think about it (not even for more than a second). I simply see no one but Lauer who benefits from these brightly colored guns.

Ok…Maybe I’ll step off my soap box for now. Thanks for reading.

Well the good news – my Spring Break sort of lasted an extra day. The bad news this was because I was selected to serve on Grand Jury Duty! This was a really strange experience for me. I didn’t know what to expect and couldn’t find ANYONE I knew that had ever participated in a grand jury before.

It all started last Tuesday. The mail lady pulled up and honked. I thought it meant a package and couldn’t imagine what had arrived at my house (I use a post office primarily).  It was because I had a letter that had to be signed for from the Sheriff’s Department. Well that really freaked me out…LOL I couldn’t imagine what I had done (that I didn’t even know tat I did) that would have me receiving mail from the Sheriff’s Department!! It probably only took me a minute and a half…maybe two to sign for the letter and go back in the house, but that seemed like FOREVER!!!

Inside a letter saying I had Grand Jury duty today! I got this last week..you know while on Spring Break…while I couldn’t tell the school I needed a sub! Talk about being poor timing and causing major chaos from the onset.

Well I went in this morning and there were 18 of us sitting around…no one really happy to be there, but everyone trying to make pleasant small talk. You know the feeling?  Everyone was thinking the same thing I was I’m sure: “18 of us? That means very few will be released.”  Plus really none of us knew anything about it so we didn’t know for sure if any of us would be released. We all listened to the judge as he described to us what being on “grand jury” meant and then told us we could thank a friend or associate of ours because we were all there because we were recommended. Next came roll call. There were 7  people not there (yep…I counted), and I was the 15th person they called that was there. (ok..why did I count those? I don’t know..I’m neurotic…I admit). 

Finally he tells us that 12 of us will be selected to remain as official jurors, and two will be chosen as alternates as this is a 6 month committment.  Then he says that the first 12 people on the list will be those 12 and the next 2 will be the alternates (there’s no questioning or striking people like regular jury duty)…I began to get excited. I knew 12+2=14 (yes…I may be an English teacher, but I can still do basic math). And I also knew if I counted correctly I was the 15th person on the list!!  Yes, Yes…things were looking up. But don’t get too excited…maybe I counted wrong! 

Nope. I didn’t count wrong. I was released – free!!  Now don’t get me wrong. I’m usually hoping to be selected for jury duty. I actually think it’s kind of neat to be a part of the process – I’ve only been chosen once though.  However, I seem to have good (or bad depending on how you look at it) luck though as I think I’m called every year. And serving on the grand jury sounded even neater (now you know for sure – I’m weird).  But this was the worst possible week for me. I have obligations that go beyond normal teaching (academic extracurricular activities) Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week. I had students and teachers and other schools depending on me. I was really scared and stressed as I didn’t know how I would even cover it if I had to do this and it lasted into tomorrow.

So there you have it.  I want to learn new things. I want to experience new things in life. And today I did – Grand Jury Duty. I’m still clueless as who would have ever recommended me (I really do not participate in anything in the county I live in so I’m not sure who that would have been considered “important” enough to pick people would know me), but I’ve done my duty. (Oh and I noticed another interesting fact while there.  Of the 18 of us there, I know for a fact that at least 8 of us are or were involved in education – different schools, different times, but an interesting probably meaningless fact nevertheless).