Ok, I’ve got my proof-reader! Or rather, readers! Three, actually. I’ve got to email them back now.
GOOD NEWS! I’m finished with jury duty! I went in today and had to sit in the courthouse waiting to be interviewed half the day. Now, this courthouse isn’t like how you see in movies or TV… it wasn’t a beautiful white building with columns or statues of Justice or wooden benches with nice plants. No, this was an UGLY, 70’s-ish, cement and brown interior building. There were these huge round holes in the walls, that were supposed to be cool, I guess… but they just made me want to run around inside them like a hamster or something.
And the waiting room, oh god, the waiting room. It was like an airport, with these hard metal chairs and little lighting. It was near impossible to do work. So from 9:30 to 11:30 I sat in this horrid room in this horrid building with nothing to do. Finally a baliff came out and told us we could go to lunch, and come back at 1. So I did that. Dad and I drove around and looked at downtown, it was nice. I came back a bit early and had to go through security this time. Blargh.
Anyway, after I got back, we had to sit in there until 2. FINALLY they called us in to the courtroom, and once again it was NOT like on TV or movies. The court benches and the jury chairs were orange, and the walls were wooden. And it was a very small room. The judge seemed like a nice woman, she apologized to us for having to wait so long and all that. Then they called up 12 people to begin interviewing (out of 45). I was in the first group. First the judge asked our jobs, our ages, marital status, etc. Then the attorneys got to ask questions. Things like, “Have you ever been the victim of a crime?” and stuff like that. I never said anything during this time, because none of the questions applied to me. I wasn’t really paying attention anyway, it was stifling hot and there was a painting of a judge that looked suspiciously like Matt LeBlanc hanging on the wall. Suddenly the prosecutor said, “Do you agree, Ms. -me!-?” And it was like being in class again. I guessed and said, “Yes, sir!” Luckily that seemed to be the correct answer.
Then the other two attorneys asked questions… or, rather, they talked a lot about innocent until proven guilty and all that. The crime was aggravated robbery, btw.
Then, we all sat there while the attorneys wrote down which potential jurors they wanted to be rid of. The first to go was a retired policeman who knew one of the attorneys AND one of the witnesses. Next was a woman who had been mugged recently (AKA, aggravated robbery). Next was this woman who had not only a medical problem, but 4 brothers who had murdered people, a son in jail, and she herself had been charged with manslaughter before. Out she goes.
And who is next, you ask? Me.
It wasn’t the prosecutor (who noticed I wasn’t paying attention too much) who got rid of me either. How do I know this? From across the room I heard my last name from the white haired attorney (who was representing one of the guys charged) while they were writing. He whispered it to his client. I don’t care what their reasoning was, because it meant I was through with jury duty for at least another 10 years! Whoo hoo! So, now, I’m… uh… going to play with the sims for a while then work on SD6 :3