For anyone who cares and reads my blog, Jury duty is fine thus far. You can move along now if you have the attention span of a druggy because this is "one of those incredibly long posts of mine" [like I have any short ones].
The first day I found the parking garage okay and got to the Court House. There was this huge line stretching outside which I unhappily stood in. This is where I met my first friend [I can't remember his name so I will call him juror number 247 (not his actual number)]. He noted that I was shivering and didn't have a jacket [bright]. As we crawled nearer to the door, I saw the reason for the long line. In order to enter through the main door, you have to go through security much like that in an airport [with the exception of stripping down]. I now use the door to the basement, which has a security checkpoint consisting of one guy sitting at behind a desk looking about as bored as I soon would.
I then waited in another humungorious line to the waiting room [waiting to get to a waiting room, ironic] where I got a little book on what a juror should know and then sat down and waited for about 45 min when they told everyone to get in line again to check in [going through a line twice?].
I have come to the understanding of why jury members seem to know each other. It is because it is so boring. All day, just sitting there in uncomfortable chairs in a building that is either too cold or hot. Lucky for me however, there is a few forms of entertainment. Although I am one of the few who is willing to play ping-pong with 50 people watching and without feeling bad about letting the whole bored group (including the old guy, who in the midst of the silence, groaned out, "I'm so bored." -very funny) sit there and hear, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, (I'm sure they were thrilled), bounce, bounce, bounce, , whack (this is where one of us would hit the ball of the table and it would go flying through the air until it hits someone (a bald head gives the same bounce as the table). We only hit it to the far wall 5 or 6 times. I think the way it is set up is kind of dumb that they have a ping-pong table in the middle of a bunch of seats, but that's the government at work.
I haven’t been picked to serve on a jury yet [remind me never to even hope to win a drawing] so it has pretty much been me waiting until lunch [most of this time is spent trying to sleep in one of the uncomfortable chairs (my back hurts)] then after lunch waiting again until the voice from the ceiling let us go [somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00].
My PPP [Ping-Pong Pal][I can' t remember his name either, I will call him Eddie (name of his son)] got chosen for a jury yesterday at 4:15 [the rest of us went home at like 4:30]. Today the judge didn't call Eddie's "panel" back to the courtroom till 3:30 [that's when the rest of us went home]. He said there is like a quadrillion witnesses and they might have to stay until next week [that would stink].
So, over all I would say the whole jury thing has been an experience [not great, good, or bad... just one].
P.S. Thank you for your concern Becky, but I am more worried about the building caving in, rotting in the basement, or being massacred by a fellow juror who loses it in the waiting area [possibly after being hit in the head with a ping-pong ball] then have a miraculous repeat of a defendent stealing a gun [from a guard that was like half his size, imagine that] and shooting me in the courtroom.
P.S. I know that the majority of my occational readers [consisting of one] might be out of town, BUT just because I have posted twice within the last year [opposed to once] doesn't mean you can skip the last post. I am curious as to your response.
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