The Twit Experiment: Jury Duty

I woke around 6am. Truth was, I had never really fallen asleep. My eyes were so tired, and my body had no motivation, but I had jury duty, and so, like a good citizen, I got up. I slipped on a pair of charcoal-colored pants, my favorite beige sweater and threw my hair up in a pony tail. I debated for a moment whether to wear contacts or glasses, and decided on glasses. My sleepy eyes couldn't take the sting of contact solution. I knew it was going to be a long day. After looking in the mirror one last time, I grabbed a book, my phone and a my purse- there was just enough time to sneak in a bowl of cereal and head out the door.

As I was driving to the designated parking lot; I thought about what I could do to pass the time should I not be selected to serve as a juror for trial. Hopping onto the shuttle to the court house, I decided to experiment. I am not a Twitter subscriber, however, since I have Facebook mobile on my snazzy G1 phone, I thought perhaps I could update it every so often as to the events of my long day. Not that it was terribly eventful, but it was something to do. So in case my fellow facebookers missed it, this is how it all played out....

7:17AM- "Goin' from the parking lot to court hs in a shuttle bus...ppl look tired...its odd"
7:21AM- "Age demographics on this shuttle are not diverse..."
7:26AM- "Waitin in line to go thru security...gonna be a long day. Anyone got a snickers?"
7:30AM- "Will go thru security and to the 7th flr."
7:39AM- "Shhh...good thng I brought a book."
7:56AM- "People r still checking in. Yawn. Wonder when they get it started....more diversity iin juror waiting area."
8:05AM- "The 3 women next to me are chatting about texting like teenagers...haha...and they're twice my age."
8:16AM- "Back to book....this room is filled with people...how many do they need?"
8:22AM- " Its ironic I'm participating I the Amer. justice system while reading a book that talks about anti-Amer. demos in Iran..."[Note: according to the book, the demos mentioned were in the late 70s/early 80s around the Iranian revolution]
8:48AM- "The announcements are over...now we wait..."
8:55AM- "Apparently they keep you thru the day until courts are satisfied....eesh, wondering about work tonight."
9:22AM- "A very nice judge came down to personally thank us and explain that our sitting here is important"
**Melissa's Comment: Where are you sitting?-- Response: I was sitting in a chair...in a big room w/ a couple hundred other people...about 5 feet from the judge speaking.**
9:34AM- "I could use a sprite or something. Don't think I can go dow th hall to the vending mach yet..."
9:54AM- "A powerade and cinnamon poptarts..tasty treats."
10:32AM- "Lo bat. Will read...then update again soon."
11:42AM- "Almost lnch hour. 2 grps of 5 down. No call. Lo bat still."
12:52PM- "Nothin exciting. Frankly ready to go home and sleep..."
2:44PM- " Jury duty lagging only one of a dozen or so left...sigh."

They called the last of the jurors needed for a trial right after my last update. By about 3PM; my phone had completely died. I was in the juror's room until 3:32PM. I walked outside; it was colder than it had been before and it was drizzling. Great. One other juror waited at the shuttle stop with me for about 10 minutes. Personally, I was just grateful to be going home. It wasn't the most thrilling experience of my life, but at least I was able to finish a book I have started, Reading Lolita in Tehran. It was unfortunate that they kept so few of us another 45 minutes to an hour after they called the last of the people needed. But it was an experience, no?

I don't know that I could be a subscriber to twitter. Rarely do I have that kind of time or energy to dedicate keeping up with it. Facebook updates are enough for me I think.

I got home and crashed. I slept like a rock for about 7 hours and for that, dear friends, I am thankful.