Psycho Sensei

I knew in my heart of hearts that there was no way around it. One day, despite my attempts to avoid it, I would have to file a lawsuit on behalf of a client in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County. Then I found out that all state officers are closed tomorrow for something called "Lee/Jackson Day," and again on Monday for Martin Luther King Day. This made our already happy state offices, so much more happy one could hardly stand it.

So, I get to the courthouse, bringing quarters for the nice parking lot that isn't too far a walk from the building. When I got to the area where the parking lot used to be, I found a rather different sight. The whole Judicial Center was surrounded by fences behind which were huge mounds of virginia clay, coupled with deep holes in the ground. It then took me several circles of the area to find the teeny tiny signs telling mere members of the public where they could put their cars. The new public parking lot likely has a different zip code from the Judicial Center, it being seeming miles and miles away.

Once through the maze of parking garage to sky bridge to other parking garage to elevator, to maze around the mud to the actual entrance, I was greeted with a smiling Deputy holding a hand wander who just KNEW I would set off the metal detector. She was right. I guess that the airport isn't the ONLY place where one should not wear an underwire bra. Then the other happy deputy asked to go through my purse, confiscating my cell phone because it had a camera in it. They gave me a little red disc with a number to get it back.

The line for filing was quite deep, many people wanting to file things prior to the 4 day holiday. Silly me then stopped into the Fairfax Bar Association offices to pick up a new procedural manual, not realizing that the book is HEAVY, especially when walking uphill both ways back to the parking garage. While I was in the office, I found that it was possible to fill out a form and be exempted from searches by virtue of one being a lawyer. Huh? A mere bar card is enough to get you around searches, and then you can bring a phone/camera into the court? The mind boggles! While it is clear that in most cases, courthouse shootings and the such like are almost always committed by defendants or parties to suits (including divorce suits), what's the point of having a rule stipulating "NO CAMERAS" if lawyers can bring them in? While, of course, I'll fill out the form and stop worrying about what bra I'm wearing, I have to wonder what kind of security that is.

In any case, I got back through the maze carrying the Encyclopedia Court Manual, my regained Treo, and my date stamped filing copy, made it to my car where I had to take the ticket back to a happy fun payment kiosk then get back to the car to use the newly validated ticket to get out of the place, and then on to the next challenge - the DMV!