I'd prefer not to put all of my secrets in one basket, particularly not a basket that spends so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort.

Anonymous, if you want a pony, you should email me: bellatrixburrows [at] hotmail.com
Or you can send an anonymous message here. 


Took a nice photo of my 2 newest additions--Baby Lofty and Lemon Treats--with all of their adoring fans.

More ponies coming--I have discovered a couple more doubles whilst taking photos for a new and improved ponies gallery on my website. And I want to go antique shop hopping, so I might acquire some more over the weekend (had no luck last weekend, got up too late :/) So that means another My Little Pony giveaway!! 


The MLP's from the last post will be sent out at some point in the near future. I'm not being more specific than that because then I'll feel bad about still having the packages sitting on my dining room table 2 weeks from now. [I am very easily distracted. I tend to put things like packages for people, and phone bills down somewhere and forget about them because something shiny catches my attention, and then something even shinier distracts me from that and..... It's a long and arduous cycle in which I bounce from one random thing to another with the speed and erraticism of an epileptic squirrel on meth-amphetamines. -____-]


A perfect example of why a person such as myself should never serve on a jury.  Which brings me to What Happened Yesterday.


Jury Duty.


On Monday night, I had my writing workshop. When I arrived home at 10.45 that night, I discovered I had a flat tire. 

Like really flat. 


I can't change a tire. I know HOW, in theory, but have never successfully put it into practise. Mum doesn't know how. Neither does Little Sis, and Step-Dad is in no fit state to do any kind of strenuous activity. 


>:(


No big deal. I decided to just take the train. Mum could drop me at the station, and I could get off at Essex Street in Hackensack and walk to the court house. So I checked the train schedule. 


I had to be in the courthouse no later than 8.15. There was a train that would get me to Hackensack at 8.10, but I figured that wouldn't be enough time to haul arse to the courthouse by 8.15. The next train before that? 6.53. Putting me in Hackensack a full 45 minutes before the courthouse even opens.


>:(


But shite happens, and you just have to deal. 


So I got to Hackensack at around 7.20 in the morning yesterday. Figured I could go get a Dunkin Donuts cappuccino (with skim milk, of course) and a double shot of espresso. I wandered around a bit, then found a CVS and went to get ciggies and inquire as to the location of the nearest Dunkin Donuts. 


The nearest Dunkin D, the lovely girl at the register informed me, was about a mile in the total opposite direction of the court. JUST FAR ENOUGH that I would not get there and back to the court in time. 


>:(


So I got a skanky cup of weak coffee at some hole in the wall deli.


Jury duty itself was uneventful. The security guards made a spectacle of me in the lobby, because I kept making the metal detector beep. Their wand things kept freaking out near me as well, even though I had no belt, no jewelry, no metal of any kind on my person. 


[This is why you may never want to travel with me--airport security comes to a standstill for half an hour because I set off every metal detector in a half-mile radius.]


So after they released me, I went to the jury room where they made us all sit for a while, then watch a video about being jurors, then we sit some more, then they brought in the Keurig machine and we all beasted the K-Cups and all the half & half in under 5 minutes. Then we sat again. 


I was in the first group that was called down to a trial. They called like 30 of us and brought us down to a court room, and I disobeyed the no cell phone rule to text Boss the name of the Judge. 


Then they herded us into the benches in the court room (I've never been to court, despite being a legal secretary--it was kind of fun for like 2 seconds). Then we sat. And sat, And filled out a little juror questionnaire. And sat. 


When the Judge finally came in, I was in the first group of 14 people to get called up to the jury seats (Juror Number 6). The Judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney all kind of interviewed us, one by one. The first question was "what do you do for a living," so of course as soon as I said legal secretary, they stopped and questioned me about that, like would my job make me biased, etc. But in the end they decided I was Impartial Enough and sent me back.


So they interview everyone, and then the prosecutor and the other lawyer have the chance to excuse jurors without having to give a reason. As they start doing this, I notice the Judge's clerk come scurrying out of her office with a fax in her hand. She hands it to the Judge, he tells her something, and she goes and gives it to the prosecutor. 


And the prosecutor says he'd like to excuse Juror Number 6. 


Boss does have his nice moments.


It still kind of sucked though, because you can't just leave. You have to go back to the waiting room upstairs, sign back in, and then just wait. You have to stay there the whole day so your service as a juror can be officially over (and god help you if you get stuck in some civil trial, you could be stuck being a juror for WEEKS). I finished the book I brought (Among the Barons) in like 45 minutes. I didn't get called in the next group, so then for the lunch hour I walked half an hour in one direction, and then turned around and came back (exercise). 


I didn't get called in any of the other groups either--thank god, and they let us go early (3.15ish instead of 4.30), so it wasn't that bad. I figured I wouldn't actually get picked for a trial because of my job (and my Boss harassing the Judges).


This is a good thing, because people like me should not serve on juries. They need some kind of psych-evaluation to weed us out.


For real, the whole time were in the court room I did not pay attention to a word that the Judge or any of the lawyers said about the case. If I'd been picked for the jury and had to actually sit there for a whole trial (it was a drug thing, too--not even something exciting like a murderer or a terrorist), my mind would have shut down within seconds. I'm good at that, because I don't get that glazed over look in my eyes like a lot of people do when they're spacing out. I can hold a serious I'm-totally-paying-attention look so no one suspects that I'm not listening. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
These Light and Fit things are really yummy:

So are any of you doing anything for St. Paddy's Day? Mum and I are going out to eat. I'm terrified, but I'm setting my sights on the steak salad. I've been doing ok going out to eat. And I love getting drunk with Mum. 


OMG guess what!!! 


I have not binged in TEN days. 


I don't think I've gone that long since before Halloween. I've been eating up to 1200 (::gasp!::) some days, less if I don't exercise enough. Or less if I get stressed out about something and the Not Eating makes me calm down. I'm not really losing any weight though, so I'm not sure how I feel. Frustrated? Enraged? Idk. This evening, I had a panic attack about being fat, so I did an emergency salt water flush. 


That is to say, I frantically chugged a litre of salt water and then had some stomach-rumbling, but nothing else. Because salt water flushes no longer seem to work on me. 


Must go catch up on all your blogs. I've been super busy and distractible of late, so I'm sorry if I'm missing some of your posts! :( I try to comment as much as I can. I'll get there. I'm hoping Boss is in court tomorrow so I can play on the internet in the morning....


<3