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Cootie Girl: two first
3.4.2004
Today was day 4 of my jury service. Yesterday 35 people were selected on a panel for questioning, 26 of those people were on their first day the remaining nine of us were on day three. You are only required to serve three days and if you are not selected you are excused from jury service for 4 years. At the end of day 3 the lawyers over our panel did not finish their selections, they told the 26 others to come back in the morning and out of the nine from Monday they kept 4 of us. I was a little annoyed because I was eager to get back to work and didn't like the fact that most of my days so far on jury duty were spent waiting and napping.
I couldn't sleep last night and around 1:30 am, I thought I couldn't breathe. I am not sure if it was a panic attack or not (I just think I have that idea in my head because my co-worker had one last week). Nonetheless, I didn't have a great night sleep and by morning, I just felt like something was wrong. I was nausceous on my way to court today and spent my morning fidgeting while waiting for word on our status. Around 11 am, I found out that I was one of the six chosen for this case and for the first few hours after I was in shock. I was told that I can go for the day but I had to report to another court building at 10:30 am tomorrow. I left the building in a sort of daze and called my boss to tell him I will be out longer than expected. I have been called to jury duty before but I have never been picked for a case. I remember the first time was back in 1994 (the year the Rangers won the Stanley Cup). Why I remember that is because my last day on duty was the day the Rangers won the cup. If anyone had taped, ESPN that night you can see me in the pre-game show sitting at the bar at Mustang Sally's with all my friends wearing my Sergei Zubov jersey and holding a puck in hand (yes I was a dork). The second time I served was in 1998 or 1999 (I can't remember the actual year). Both times, I was not selected for a case today was my first. I am not allowed to talk about the case but it is actually an interesting one (not one of those I slipped on a banana and I am gonna sue you for money cause that is what Americans do case). In a way, I am actually looking forward to the whole experience.
I made plans to go to dinner at Dok Suni (my happy place) because I needed to lift my spirits. I needed to kill some time in the afternoon so I ended up going to see that movie Miracle. I am not sure how many of you go to the movies by yourself but I never have (EVER). So another first for me, today of firsts, I went to the movies by myself. The only thing I didn't count on was that I really had the whole theater to myself. (Tip for moviegoers the UA Battery Park City Stadium theater is empty in the afternoon during the week.) It was kind of nice paying $10 to sit in my own private movie theater. The sad thing about the whole experience was that I knew the outcome of the movie yet I found myself cheering the team on, I even cried. OK so I can say the crying was in part due to shock from the morning, the touching movie and the recent NHL trades. What the fuck has gotten into me lately? I'm like an emotional rollercoaster. It's too early for me to be going through the changes right. That shouldn't happen until my 40's or 50's right.
Dinner didn't make me feel better tonight; in fact, as the night went on I was freaking out more and more. It is a lot of responsibility deciding the fate of someone. I couldn't help but think about the case and what was going to happen and how would I react and what should I do and how does it all work and why do these people trust me with these decisions isn't that what judges are for, didn't they go to school for this. I ended up chatting with a friend that works in/near/around the court system and he said these cases usually settle before it gets to deliberation. I just hope that happens in this case and it's not because I don't want to be on the case I am just freaking out because in the end, someone loses and it will be me making the decision. I know the guilty must be punished and the innocent will prevail I guess I just watched too many bad lifetime movies that I don't see me in that picture at all. What makes me qualified to do this job? Shouldn't one have special training for matters like this? OK I had better go to bed before I get myself worked up again. *breathe* In with the good *breathe* Out with the bad *breathe* ... repeat
Oh and speaking of hockey trades, I hope you are happy Pony, happy that you now have Leetch in a Leafs jersey. I am happy he didn't go from one losing team to another. Now I want him to win the cup and rub it in Slathers face. GO LEAFS GO!
