jury duty

And not the fun little witty movie starring Pauly Shore. Today I did my first round with the infamous Jury Duty. My husband, beforehand, assured me that the first day is really just the morning. No...got there at 8:45. Assigned to jury panel that met at 10:00. spend the next 30 minutes waiting to get in the courtroom with 47 other people. Then spent the next hour and half listening to prosecutor explain certain laws and interrogate people who don't understand the concept of hypothetical questions. If someone says...the punishment for this crime is 2 - 20 years...would it be possible for you to consider that punishment, can you think of any possible set of circumstances where you could consider a punishment within that range, you can't say...I don't know I'd need to know all the facts first.

"No ma'am...we're not asking if you think this particular crime deserves a 20 year sentence, we're asking if you'd be open-minded about considering a 2-20 year sentence should the defendent be found guilty...could you consider it?"

"I'm not sure, I'd really have to have the evidence to determine that."

Am I the only one that understands that these people aren't getting it? I know it doesn't sound like much but after a grand total of 3 and half hours of people responding to questions like that, I wanted to gouge my eyes out. at about 3:20(we did stop for lunch), the judge asks us to take a 15 minute break then wait in the hallway and people would be called in one by one to speak with them. at 4:40 we were finally all asked to come back in. At which point we were told by the judge that after the break the attornies approached him to work out a plea bargain. A jury would not be needed after all. (sigh)...he explained to us that our answers and discussions that day had helped in determining the specifics in the plea bargain and the decision to do it at all. We had all provided a great service that day. I'm so glad.

The culprit

well, I got the test results back from the doctor and it turns out I was positive for Salmonella. Naturally I called my mother and told her to which she exclaimed, "Oh my God, someone was trying to poison my baby! People can die from that sort of thing. Where did you eat?? don't you eat at that school cafeteria again!" Hehe. mothers. So I got a case of food poisoning. Who knows from where. I keep insisting to my mother that the bacteria in question could have come from my own home. She's not buying it. Someone in the food service industry is apparantly trying to do me in. It's amazing how much better I feel now that I know what the problem is...now if you'll excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.

Sick!

I hate being sick. I've been all nasty sick for the past three days. Headache, bodyache, chills, fever, stomach problems. And I'll tell you the biggest mistake I made, and it's not the unidentified meat taco I bought from the street like you might think. I called my mother at the beginning of my sickness. All these years of experience of being sick as an adult should have taught me to call my mother after the fact. Not saying anything for all you other mothers out there. You may be perfectly calm and rational when your grown child with spouse gets sick a couple hundred miles from you. Slight fever and stomach bug might warrant 2 or 3 calls a day until the sickness is over to give some helpful advice and see how he/she is doing. My mother has called me and/or my husband 6 to 8 times a day to check on my well-being and command me take take baths in cool water and alchohol, take tylenol, and orange juice, and plenty of water, and orange juice, put the cool towel on your head. what's your temperature now. How about now. Did you get that tylenol. Why are you home? why aren't you at the docter. Your temperature is 100 degrees! What are you thinking being at home...go to the emergency room! Where is your husband?? James!?!? JAMES!!! Why is my daughter at home? take her to the emergency room. NOW ! Now James. She's sick! Do I have to come up there??? Don't make me come up there?!?!? (10 minutes later) Is she dressed? Is she in the car? How is she now...has the docter seen her....

She calls me at 7 am...promises to call me on her lunch break, then calls me at 8 am and on her lunch break. Doesn't she know sick people are supposed to rest?

I love my mother. I really do. And I respect the fact that mothers get a little excited when their children are sick and they are not there to take care of them. But for crying out loud...did I really have to go the emergency room? I went as requested, but when I realized the wait was going to be 3 to 4 hours, I decided it wasn't worth it and went home without seeing the docter. The next day my dad took me to the clinic and I was prescribed some antibiotics. My mom was upset with my dad because he didn't make it to the emergency room the night before. My dad seemed to think i was'nt that bad. Just sick. She told everyone I was like deathly ill. One of my aunts even called me last night because her daughter told her my other aunt told her that I was in the hospital.



(sigh). In the past when I'm sick or even when I go out of town, I find it's best to tell my mother towards the end. When I starting to feel better or when I'm safely at my destination. She always freaks, and in my opinion goes a little overboard. I don't know what made me think this time would be different. I really did feel like crud, but you know...people get sick. My husband is perfectly capable of taking care of me and of notifying my family if it's anything serious. Well...if nothing else, at least I know I'm cared for. thank God for that:)