So today I work a full day at the office (which is good since I missed 1 1/2 days due to that darn Montezuma character). When I got off work, I headed down to the lobby and looked at the sky outside. It was downright terrifying looking at it.
Big black clouds. Not the heavy snow clouds of winter. These looked like massive thunderstorm clouds. I told several people at work that the clouds looked more like they were ready to drop tornados than snow.
Anyway, as I left the flakes did begin to fall. That Algore guy sure hit the nail on the head… But that’s not important. Instead, I stopped to get some dinner and there was a guy standing at the counter who said: “The clouds look scary outside.” I agreed, and he responded: “I used to live in Illinois [or possibly it was Iowa--I don't remember for sure now]. One day, we was driving and I saw clouds like that over the hill and I pulled the car over. My buddy says, ‘Why you stopping?’ I say: ‘See those clouds? I ain’t going over the hill. There’s a tornado coming.’ That’s what these clouds look like.”
So I stand vindicated in my opinion of them since, after all, some random guy I’ve never met before who claims to be from Illinois [or Iowa!] agrees with me. Take that!
But that’s not the point to this blog post either. In fact, you may be wondering if there’s a point at all. I’ll get to it.
When I got home, I found a lovely envelope sitting on the table where my roommies toss the mail from the mail box. This envelope had wonderful bold letters on the side proudly proclaiming: “Jurry Summons.” To which I thought: Wonderful, I wanted to waste a day of my life in the near future.
Near future = February 27 apparently. In any case, I read through the little survey they had at the back which I’m supposed to fill out before I take it to court. It asks, among other things, whether or not I’ve ever been involved in court procedings before other than in jury service.
Now here’s the part I’m not sure of in how to answer this. See, legalese makes no sense to me. I wish I understood how the system actually works, but then if I did I’d probably be a lawyer. In any case, my first reaction is to write “No.” But then I see that under the “If you checked ‘Yes’” options, it includes a category as a witness to a case. And that brings to mind my old roommate who was arrested for using my computer for downloading child porn.
He hasn’t yet gone to trial. If it goes to trial, I am probably going to be called as a witness. My computer has been confiscated already. Does this mean that I can now say, “Yes, I’ve been involved in court procedings” although they haven’t actually happened??? Like: I will be a witness in a case at some point when it goes to trial but will not have been one before this case? (Note: when they took the computer last June they said there was a 10 month backlog just to get forensics on it, so that means it’ll be April at the earliest before they look it over.)
Ah, our wonderful legal system. Something tells me if they didn’t give just boxes to check with no lines for explanation I could actually explain my situation to someone and they’d tell me whether or not I’m qualified as a juror. Instead, I have to go down to the courthouse and waste my time with it instead.
Unless, of course, I call the night before and discover that the case has been dismissed. That’s almost what happened the only other time I’ve had jury service. I say “almost” because the case was cancelled…five minutes before jury selection was supposed to begin.
C’est la vie. I blame Bush.
