Runaway Juror

I'm back from an amazing trip to Ireland, where I drank much Guinness and drove on the left side of the road. Not at the same time of course. And Guinness really does taste better in grand old Eire. More on that later. Guess what has happened to me?

I've got jury duty! Not just called either, I just returned from the courthouse where I was actually seated on a jury. My first time even being called, so very exciting. Obviously I can't write anything about it yet beyond these facts that the judge said we could tell people:

1. I have jury duty in Suffolk County Court.
2. I have been impanelled for a civil case.

And though it seems like a boring case, you never know what can happen. Maybe I'll have some fun things to write about next week. But maybe not. This should be interesting.

On the first day of being called I felt like I was taking an airplane trip. Waited around a long time with impatient people waiting to hear announcements, and then had to watch a video about the jury system that came across much like those pre-flight safety and info videos all the airlines show now instead of doing flight attendant demonstrations. Cheap video camera work and non-actors smiling into the camera trying to sound exciting while saying some of the most mundane shit in the world. I can't imagine how they got the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to be in it. Maybe it's in her contract, like movie stars having to do press tours.

I was sitting in the jury pool room today thinking how great it is that I live somewhere that a "jury of your peers" gets to decide the fate of court cases instead of some Grand Ayatollah or some fucked up military style tribunal or some tribal court that orders your sister to be gang raped because you stole a loaf of bread or some shit. But then my second thought was "is it any better to let a schmuck like me do it?" I mean come on, nobody even asked the jurors any questions like "are you a crack-whore?" I certainly wouldn't want a crack-whore deciding my case, so how do they know they don't have one in our midst? Well, I'm not supposed to talk about the case with my fellow jurors until deliberations, so maybe I'll just bring up the whole crack-whore thing in casual conversation during breaks. That's sure to be an ice breaker.