It's been awhile! Let's have some catch-up:
1) A two-day trial for jury duty finished today, my second service as a jury foreman. A criminal trial, we acquitted on the one count. Without going into detail, I can only hope the defendant finds a less criminal element to hang around with in the future.
1a) This may be the fifth jury on which I've served; at least two of my five fellow jurors had never served before. One had a J.D. degree, which made me wonder why she wasn't chosen as forewoman. She'd've done a much better job.
1b) An emergency is when an ambulance needs to be called. An emergency is not when there is no gluten-free lunch available. Let's choose our words a little more carefully, yes?
1c) I could feel myself veering into Old Fart territory when the discussion in the jury room (not during the deliberations) turned to the use of pronouns.
1d) What is so valuable about jury deliberations, though, is that everyone noticed different things. One juror picked up on the dynamic between one attorney and one witness that made me see their interactions in a different way.
2) Each day after jury duty I came home, flopped down on the bed and slept soundly for two hours. This cold just will not end! As Greta Garbo said in either Grand Hotel or Camille, "I was ffrrrrrrrraaannnnnntick!" at points during the trial trying to suppress my coughing.
3) Among other things, I'm in the middle of both Doctor Zhivago and The Swimming-Pool Library. Somehow this is the right time to revisit both those novels.