December 17th (1) in Whatever Will Be Will Be

BECAUSE today is December 17th, I am personally guaranteeing I will write more than one entry today!

That said, I should start this entry with last night! The temperature again went from “in the 40s” to “in the 20s” so… picture me- tossing, turning, in pain, unable to sleep, getting frustrated, slathering my legs/back/shoulders with Icy Hot, watching 3 minute clips of Girl Meets World, and trying desperately for just a little shut eye!! NOW… if things had gone according to plan.... I would have woken up at 6:30, taken a shower, gone to the office, done an hour of work, and then gone to my eye appointment. But things did NOT go according to plan. At about 5:08, I finally started to get some sleep. So, in my deep unconsciousness, I told my 6:30 alarm to get fucked. So when I woke up at 8:30… I realized that I could not go into the office before my appointment! I got dressed, drove to the eye doctor, checked in 9 minutes before the appointment was scheduled. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Ultimately, I waited in the lobby for a FULL 63 minutes before I was seen by ANYBODY! And that seems really fucking aggravating. I showed up to an eye appointment ten minutes late once and they made me reschedule. I show up ten minutes early this time, and I’m made to wait OVER AN HOUR? I’ll revert back to the Dog Grooming complaint: Why in the fuck do you require us to schedule appointments in advance; if you are unwilling or unable to HONOR those appointment times?! It seems rather like quite a heaping pile of steaming BULLSHIT to schedule something and then just… get around to it “eventually”. Luckily, the eye appointment went well over all. My pressures are stable at 19, my nerves show no signs of deterioration. Ultimately, every exam confirms more and more what I previously suspected. My early Glaucoma was a side-effect of the Fibromyalgia drugs I was taking. While I stopped taking them for… Men’s Health reasons… as the previous chemicals have been flushed from my body thoroughly, the Glaucoma has halted completely. Damage is done, but contained and prevented from expanding. Eye Doctor even said if things remain as they have, he’ll even consider putting me on an Annual Appointment schedule as opposed to an Every 6 Months schedule. My appointment was scheduled for 9:30. Despite the full numb eyes and dilation, I jump in my car and race to work arriving at my desk (finally) shortly after 11:30! I instantly dive into the work. I have one and a half pages left to prepare for today’s docket. Eyes dilated, I still get that done. Then I shift to make sure I have everything prepared for this afternoon’s hearings, print what I need to, and respond to the e-mails and voice mails concerning this afternoon’s hearings. Recognizing that I essentially missed the entire morning, I work through lunch and get as much done as possible. Mostly… making sure TODAY and FRIDAY are prepared for, finalizing the last subpoena for 2024, requiring myself to stay late at work tonight in an effort to get tomorrow properly prepared, and recognizing that… maybe I come in to work for the Christmas Holiday? Considering what I have to do, how much I have to clean, and everything else work related? I sent my boss an e-mail saying, “I can cover hearings over the Holiday if needed.”

So that was my “morning scramble to be productive and get shit done.”

The afternoon hearings were… fucking plentiful as ever!! But still got them all done before 3:30. So… literally hundreds of hearing minutes resolved in under 120 minutes! Including waiting on the jail to shift inmates when needed. But then that sets me up for going back to the office and trying to figure out other people’s issues and resolve.... proactive does not always help me.
Clerk put a case on my desk worried about it. I inform Defense Counsel that the case needs to be scheduled for 12/25 or 1/01 which… is impossible. What solutions do we want to investigate? District Associate Court illegally schedules the matter for 1/8. So, we seek out the magistrate who re-schedules the matter for 1-30. But the 1-8 order assigns Generic Attorney instead of Attorney Previously Assigned the Case. So now we have a single case with multiple attorneys and multiple hearing dates but not all of the orders are still active they just… all contradict. Bureaucracy and Jurisdictions… all nets that must be dealt with! And of course in preparing for tomorrow.... ::overt physical shudder::. I cannot believe how they are stacking Wednesdays. And the HORROR of what is to come. Because Wednesday, December 18th has 82 hearings and FIVE TRIALS!!! That would be an abysmal, unacceptable overload for TWO attorneys… and I’m just ONE dude. Just me! Wednesdays are built for 20 to 30 hearings with 1 to 2 trials. That is how they were built in the schedule. Occasionally a 38 hearing day or a 3 trial day. MAYBE a day every few weeks with 40 or 50 hearings. THIS IS 82 FUCKING HEARINGS!! I mean, I get that the next two Wednesdays, the Court is closed. I get that. But the next Wednesday we’re in session has 58 hearings and 2 trials. So… by normal week standards “that’s a lot” but by “ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE, THAT COUNTS AS ABUSE!!!!” we have 82 hearings tomorrow!!! 82 hearings in one week is literally insane. 82 hearings within a few weeks is a lot of work. This is… this is just… this is insulting and offensive to consider this acceptable especially in a One Man Department!! It’s fucking wrong is what it is!!! That… ugh! That is one of those “YOU have GOT to be shitting me” moments that just… does stuff. Like… I’m going to sit here and get through the work. But knowing it is excessive and past the point of being in any way close to reasonable kind of makes me think “Fuck everything else!”
In fact… it is so bad that after Rocket Docket.... just writing down the names and case numbers of the hearings for tomorrow took the rest of the workday! So…no case details, no plea offers, no information at all. Just NAME and Case Number.... took an hour. Actually getting the case information IN is going to take… so many hours!! And I am operating on a total of 3 hours of sleep and zero food for the day!! This… is bad. (And of course most of these cases are Shoplifting Alcohol, Assaults, Public Intoxications, Speedings, Trespasses, Driving with No Insurance, or straight up Driving While License Suspended. In other words, “I do what I want!!” behavior in abundance!

I’m going to have to take a break, hit Taco Johns or something, then come back and keep working!! DO expect another entry after I’ve burned through all of this excess work. Today is December 17th, after all.... which requires additional recognition and mention.