Need a Drink Part 1
Recap - Part one of looking back at 2006 - Part One
I deeply respect the power of alcohol.
I have seen what damage it can do to a persons life if one depends upon its delusional power to get though life.
But I am not a puritan by any means and I do enjoy a good drink. Over the years I have created ground rules for myself regarding alcoholic consumption, first I do not drink during daylight hours. Even in the summer I will not touch a drink if the sun is out. This even applies if I am indoors, at home or under any other circumstance. I do not drink when its cold or flu season because I feel alcohol suppresses my immune system. Weekdays I limit myself to a single glass of wine or a beer with dinner if I am in the mood. If I have a few at a social gathering during a Friday or Saturday night I will go dry the next day or so. I try to keep tabs on my emotional state regarding the delirious pleasure of a good drink, making sure I am not avoiding issues or becoming dependent upon the delirium.
Following any set of rules to the letter can cause issues when you follow them but disregard the spirit of the rule. I have broken the daytime probation three times this year. Once was the fourth of July Bar-b-Que at my brother’s house where I grabbed a beer with my burger. The other time was during a wedding, I felt it would have been ungracious to not participate in the festivities.
This blog is about the third time. The one time this year I felt I needed a drink during waning daylight hours, alone.
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“ In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law”
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I wondered in the downtown LA Central Library for a few minutes emptily looking at the new books - glided over the media center with slightly glazed eyes.
I step down to the red line station - the sunlight is arcing over the gash that is the Red Line. Mostly its business people and the working class trying to get home. A few stops later I am at Sunset and Vermont. - the stop is infrequently used and has a black on silver motif - commemorating the Griffith Observatory with a starlight pattern. - cold.
Wandering outside of the station I look - the Hollywood sign is obscured by the massive Kaiser Medical complex - down the street a purple building promises “FREE TESTING” - L Ron’s messianic delusions make zero impression on me - I walk to the the nexus of Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd.
Past the Vista Theater -
To a small building surrounded by the KCET (Public TV) studios -
The Torches are not lit -a blowfish hangs from the ceiling - the actual light of the day is arcing its way to its final movement - the Turtles are playing - the cluttered Polynesian look is stained with age and tobacco smoke. Clicking glasses and genuine communal cheer among the patrons.
Tiki Ti
The only bar in the city of Los Angeles that can legally allow smoking indoors. A direct descendent of Don the Beachcomber. In its 45th year of operation.
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The notice came in the mail. It had been about 15 years since I have served. I had moved a few times and was underemployed hardships for all of the other times.
Superior Court Summons
Fine or jail time if you don’t reply.
Jury Duty.
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The tumble of work has me in its claws in my brain - I want some sort of excuse to get out of the office but not have to “plan” to have a good time Vacation - with hotels and overpriced tourist prices and hurried sightseeing.
I need time - time to mentally exhale.
This may be a key - a few hours per day and I am home by 5pm.
I fill out the form and give them no good reason to not pick me - I drop it in the mail.
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The bar is L shaped - I slide into a left hand lip corner. I drop on the stool and assume a slouching position with my cheek resting on my half fist and my elbow at the table.
The man in the bright Hawaiian shirt is moving in a whirlwind - pulling a glass then digging into a ice chest, dropping into a modified metal shaker several squirts from a multiple unmarked bottles that then it rapidly flipped its contents into a glass - then to his rear he pulls a few bottles of alcohol and liberally pours several shots into the cup. Its set under a mixer (similar to an old fashioned milkshake mixer) for a moment then strained into a glass with a foamy head.
It happens in less then a minute. By memory he has keep the drink recipe - one of the 80 on the menu (and others not mentioned) available on the bar with a napkin and garnished with a toothpick piecing a slice of pineapple. A heir in a lineage of mixology that dates back to the repeal of probation.
A couple is sitting next to me - they have to be working or aspiring for the industry. Only a couple aspiring for initiation into electronic deification can be built in this way - they tower over my slouching self and I am 5’11. A living homage to modern nutrition creating humans in the image of Apollo.
He was tall with a streamlined muscularity, slightly wrinkled sneer and a bald head, she was as feminine as an amazon proportioned women can be, blond as well
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I start the day by walking onto the bus, then I take it and fall in line. Two grouping later a room having a DMV feel and is filled with people who are ardently board and anxious to get back into the derby of life.
On the piped video a “1984” ish vibe comes on as a judge talks about how we have the best system in world for defining guilt and innocence. My cynical snarky side flips with an inner eye rolling - if I hear any more “America is the greatest nation” crap I will gouge my eyes out just to have the pain distract me from my inner disgust.
I guess I was on the short list - less then one hour later I appear in the a courtroom.
The ADA ( DA) has a white boy republican look - tanned OC type. (I miss the days when the nation was run by people like them - and I would never think I would ever type these words) The PD was a fit blond women with slightly haggard look caused not so much by her age as her vocation.
The judge keep courtroom operations rout - if not push button efficient. He was nice but a trace colorless.
“When people at cocktail parties find out I am judge then on one the first questions they have is how do I avoid Jury Duty?”
“I tell them don’t be a US Citizen”
He then explains that this is one duty to civics life we have to fulfill. In every other nation a jury trial is not an option. Guilt is decided by a panel of judges.
To be continued...
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