Today I was called in for Jury Duty. There were approximately 200 people there. I had a fairly high assigned jury number, and after filling out a questionnaire, was one of sixty people (5 jury sets) chosen as a possible juror on a criminal case. A serious case. Very.

The selection process was painstakingly long and tedious, answering a lot of general questions (raising your hand if it applied to you) while sitting on hard wooden courthouse benches, then told "Okay everyone can leave, come back in an hour and a half" followed by more sitting on hard wooden courthouse benches, and standing for an eternity in a hall, followed by more sitting on hard wooden courthouse benches. There were 5 rows in order of jury number (low to high) and I was in the 4th row. There were more specific questions asked of those who answered yay or nay to certain general questions. We were dismissed again for another break and came back and sat on....yeah. After what felt like an endless amount of time watching them passing a sheet of paper back and forth between the prosecutor and the defense attorneys, they eventually had their jury. It consisted of 12 people picked from the first two rows. I was completely astonished by one of the jurors they picked. He was an absolute nut. For reals. But one side must have particularly wanted him for that reason, and the other must not have minded. Who knows. Anyway, almost all people swear to the fact that they are sooooo bothered by even being called in and absolutely can't waaaait to be released, but I sort of felt mixed emotions. The waiting sucks, as does the hardwoodencourthousebenches, but it's also intriguing and an honorable duty to me.

This particular case was so heavy, though, that in some way I'm also relieved I wasn't chosen.

I have no idea what will happen this week. I'll keep you posted.

** update: We were given a number to call today with a recorded message, instructing whether or not we were to report in, and if so, what time. The message relayed thanks and that we were all excused for the rest of the term (which is for this week); also, that we will shortly be mailed a certificate of participation and a check for yesterday. I don't know how much $ they will send, almost positive it's something close to standard minimum wage. So... 'tis the end of my adventures in jury duty.