Jury Duty

So I had the wonderful opportunity to complete my civic duty by serving on jury duty for the past week. Although I was called to jury duty for the entire week, I never actually managed to make my way into the courtroom. It's kind of a bummer to know that I was on jury duty, but never truly experienced the roll of a true juror. At the same time I am kind of grateful because then I wasn't stuck in a courtroom all day long, and I still had some time of my own to accomplish some things around the house. On the other hand, I did manage to nearly read the entire Artemis Fowl series (by Eoin Coifer). I started the first one near the end of last week, and I am half way through number 4. Here's a recap of the weeks events

Jury Duty Day 1: Check in 9:30 am. Read 3 chapters in Artemis Fowl Number 1. Listen to some instructions on tape about jury duty. My number wasn't called and I was dismissed for the day. I returned home and finish Number 1

Jury Duty Day 2: Arrive at 8:30 am as instructed. Start Artemis Fowl Number 2. Read for half hour, get checked in at 9:00. The director said she would return shortly with instructions for all of use. It kept reading. 1 hour later (I am more than half way finished with Number 2), she comes back and says an officer will be down in a minute to escort us to courtroom C. I keep reading. 30 min. later, the director says the judge is here to speak to us. He mentions that the 12 criminal cases we were supposed to review today ended up in the plea bargain and no court needed to be held. The criminal decided to plea guilty and hash out the punishment. I was dismissed at 10:45. I came home and read the remaining 2 chapters of Number 2.

Jury Duty Day 3: Arrive at 8:30 and get checked in. Open Artemis Fowl number 3 because I know I may be there awhile. 30 minutes later, the director comes and escorts half of us to Courtroom B. I was not one of them. The director says she will be back with another officer to escort the rest of us to Courtroom C. I continue reading Number 3. I get to page 70 when the director comes in and says, "Well that was fast! Your court has been canceled for the day, mostly because the defendant didn't bother to show up. We can't have the court case without the defendant. That's not a good way to avoid going to court. You are dismissed for the day." I return home, spend the next couple of hours finishing number 3 since I missed my opportunity to read in the courthouse.

Jury Duty Day 4: I was not asked to appear at the courthouse! I read a couple of hours of Artemis Fowl number 4 just to feel like I fulfilled my civic duty.

Jury Duty Day 5: Dismissed. My services are no longer needed. You can imagine what I did for about an hour. Yes, Read Artemis Fowl Number 4. I am more than half way through.

What was supposed to be my civic duty ended up with me enthralled in a world of fairies, dwarfs, elves, and pixies battling and teaming up with the boy genius Artemis Fowl and his criminal mastermind. At least I got something out of it! :)