my priviledge as an american citizen

so, i havent blogged for awhile. Though, i do have a bit of an excuse. I had jury duty on Monday and Tuesday. It was quite an experience. Exceedingly boring. Well, the second day was worse than the first. There was a gal there on Monday that i actually knew! Her hubby and my hubby both play baseball in the same "league." So, we stuck together the whole day. and it was nice, b/c then we went out to lunch together. The courthouse is in Lancaster CITY [yes, there's a city in lancaster, full of the same type of problems you'll find in other cities], and i wasnt going to go out by myself. But since she was w/ me, i didnt feel too scared. Well, she was on a panel the first day-- they take 40 people into the courtroom and the judge/lawyers ask them tons of questions. From that group, the lawyers then pick 14 people to be jurors. She wasnt picked for the case, so she went home and didnt have to come back tuesday.

Lucky for her! [although, the case that she was being considered for was about a crime against a child. she said it was heartwrenching to be in there... so, i'm kinda glad i didnt have to be in there and see the guy.] Tuesday was a whole lot more boring. It didnt help any that i was up past midnight and thus was exceedingly tired. I did get to talk w/ another girl though, who was also a stay-at-home mom. She was rather upset to be there, b/c she had to put her daughter in daycare which was costing her $50 each day. i was fortunate that my darling sister Abby was free to watch erica. [thanks abby!] there was also some older ladies around and i talked to them some too.

i felt SOOOO bad for the people working there. There were 2 older folks working in the juror's lounge. They were retired but did this just to earn a bit more $. There job was just to make sure we were all there, that none of us skipped out, and to tell us when/if we were being put on a juror's panel. It was BY NO MEANS their fault that things were running so slow. But as tuesday plodded on, the people were getting more and more disgruntled. and they started complaining and really giving the two workers a hard time. I felt so bad for them! Another person asked: "are other groups of jurors as mean as this group is?" And the lady replied: "actually, you guys are pretty good. Most are much worse." Thats so sad. I would HATE having a job where people were getting mad at me for stuff thats not my fault.

Tuesday at 12:30 i was told that i'd be on the next panel. THANK GOODNESS! finally something a bit more exciting than sitting around on my duff! well, we didnt get into the courtroom until 4 [and we're supposed to be able to leave at 4:30-- i didnt get out until 5:30]. The case was about a guy caught dealing drugs and doing something to police officers-- i didnt quite catch what they said he did to them. So, they ask tons and tons of questions: do you know the witness, do you know the lawyers, do you know anyone who even works in the courthouse and in law enforcement in general. Since it was a drug case, they asked if we or one of our loved ones has ever suffered some sort of consequence to drugs. A very broad question. And we also had to answer if we or anyone close to us has committed a crime.

WELL-- since just a month ago one of my cousins was arrested for beating up some cops while high on drugs, the lawyers didnt quite think i'd be an "impartial" juror. So, i didnt get picked.

I've always thought it would be fun to be on a jury, but i'm still glad i didnt get picked b/c i was really starting to miss my daughter. when i got home tuesday, i just sat and played with her all night. Andrew said she should probably go to bed, but i just didnt want to take her up to her crib b/c i wanted to play with her!

Now life is back to normal. Until Saturday. andrew's leaving saturday for a whole week. He and some others are going to mississippi or louisiana to help some people fix up their houses from the hurricane last year. Isnt it astonishing [and sad] that there are people who's homes are still a wreck???

so, i'm spending the week w/ my parents and sister and sister-in-law and her son. YEAH! i'm really excited. I'll try to keep blogging while gone though.

Happy thursday everyone!