I had dinner with a friend tonight - Good Conversation, Mediocre Meal

I don't know how much I should say about my friend SR, so I'll leave things as generic as possible.  Like me, SR is transgender.  Unlike me, she has had "the operation" and lives full time as a female.  Given where we are in life, she is young enough to be my daughter (that is, if I lived in Tennessee 😀)  But each of us has a point of view that complements where the other is in our transgender journeys.

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It's hard arranging to meet SR, as she lives in NYC but does not take mass transit, while I live in Westchester, and use mass transit as much as possible. So, Manhattan's Chinatown was the best possible compromise, even though the restaurant (Wo Hop) left much to be desired. Wo Hop is the kind of place that caters to tourists, and to people who'd be satisfied by a 1960's suburban New York version of what was called "Chinese Food." (I'm more a fan of places like Ping's, just across the street.)  I got to the restaurant before SR, but we went down the steps together.

SR is a person who leans to the right politically.  So I knew to couch my language in a way where I could acknowledge the valid points that the Conservatives make without dismissing any of the valid points made by Liberals.  Yet, for the most part, we understood where each other was coming from, and I explained how I look at the world these days: Jeffersonian at heart, and Hamiltonian by mind. Strangely enough, we talked about sexuality, and she mentioned things best left unsaid here. 

All too soon it was time to leave.  the meter was about to run out for SR's car, and I had to get home early enough to chat with RQS.  Before we parted, SR invited us to her party being held next year.  I'm not sure that RQS and I will attend, as it is being held on the same day as RQS's wedding anniversary.
 

Jury Duty - Deferral Requested

This is what a SDNY (Southern District of New York) Federal Jury Duty summons looks like.  The bottom part of the form has been cropped, so that my private information isn't made public.  This will be the second time I'm asking for a deferral, and I need it for two reasons: (1) I expect that we'll be very busy at the office dealing with headaches from a new customer. (2) I don't want to travel to Lower Manhattan during the summer on potentially overcrowded subway cars on the Lexington Avenue line.

Travel to this courthouse takes me about 2 hours.  If I find it hard enough to get up by 6 am to be at work at 8, imagine how much of a pain in the ass it will be for me to get up by 5:30, to be in court by 8:30.  People from Northern Westchester are expected to go downtown, while people North of me are allowed to go to White Plains.  This is not fair.  But we are stuck with a system that is geared to impose hardships on the jurors, and make it easy for every other stake holder involved in court cases.  No wonder why people try so hard to get out of jury duty.

The last two times I went to this courthouse for jury duty, I "served" by being available for a grand jury, but not being picked.  (I like to imagine that this grand jury may have been investigating some of Trump & associates' crimes.)  Last time, it was just before the pandemic struck.  And I wasn't going to give up $194/day (before taxes) to get a measly $50/day plus a 4 hour round trip commute.  So I asked for a deferral, and the pandemic gave me a year's reprieve.  Now, I am asking for a short deferment, so that my service can be scheduled for cooler months.  At that time, I will go into serve (dressed as Marian), and get this duty over and done with.  Since a winter jury duty service will excuse me from being called for 4 years, I figure that with the right use of deferment requests, that I might reach 70 years of age before I get a "Must Serve" request.  And if that's the case, I will have successfully avoided service at this god-awful location.