Familiarity

You know when you see something on T.V., that's shot somewhere you've been, and you have that instant, "Oh, wow! I've been there! I've really seen that in person!" reaction?

Whether it be about something as boring as the Hecht's at the Columbia Mall (now defunct; rest in peace, Hecht's [actually, what the hell do I care? Hecht's never had anything I gave two shits about, I'm just sad about losing another regional department store like Woodward & Lothrop (lovingly known as "Woodies") or Hothschild Cohn (Hoshell Cone's), or Bamburgers (scared the shit out of me with its 1985 stereo display of black mannequins with red band "Max Headroom" eyes and that "hot stereo" smell), or Hutzler & Co. (lovingly known as Hutzler's and a department store I probably remember from 1983...when I was 3.) or about something as cool as being in Tangiers, Morocco (it's a dump) or Kutna Hora, Czechoslovakia (long, hot walk from the train to the center of town, I can fucking tell you) or in the Azores or Tokyo or soemthing as mildly interesting as those places, and you do a double-take and pay much more attention to the subject matter?

Or like when you know a movie has been shot in your city, and you examine the background? Like, say if you lived in Baltimore, you'd look frame-by-frame at any John Water's movie that ever flickered past your retinas (Utterly useless for anyone besides people who have lived in Baltimore County or Baltimore City for a decent chunk of their childhood), or like if you lived in Miami?

You get my drift by now, right? Good.

Anyway. I was watching some lame ITT Tech commercial, and they're muttering about a "degree" in "criminal justice" and they show that picture of a courtroom?

I've spent TIME in that Court room! Five days in the same room! Staring at the curtains, the chairs, the bench, the wall, the thermostats... the way the light came through the windows... the "WE WHO LABOR HERE SEEK ONLY THE TRUTH" placard.

It's Courtroom 610 of the Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Margarita Esquiroz presides.

It was just one of those flashes, because it's not a long scene, a second AT MOST, but it actually warranted pausing TV (did you ever think people would be writing about "pausing" tv when you were younger? I sure didn't.) to examine the background.

And yeah. That room was my office for five days...

Weird, huh?

And, for the lawyers out there, weirder to think about a courtroom being your office... but... when you're in trial... it is.... ... ?

But like, out of all the rooms in the world, and out of all the courtrooms in the world... 610.

Strange.