On another note, the semester is finally over, the grades recorded,  and I think I’m finally starting to recover from the worst semester I’ve ever had.

On yet another note, I got a letter from the AARP a few days ago asking why I hadn’t registered with them, even though I was “fully eligible.” Kinda depressing… I guess 22 is the new 50.

On yet another note, I’ve noticed that it’s really, really hard to find chicken-shaped cookie cutters. When I was younger, my brother and I would use a chicken-shaped cookie cutter at Christmas (along with other, more seasonally-appropriate cutters), with me cutting out the cookies… and my brother chopping off their heads. (I’m still mad about that, by the way!) Now, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas without the chicken-shaped cookies, so I’ve been looking everywhere for one. I’ve found every other shape EXCEPT chickens. What kind of world is it when there are no chicken-shaped cookie cutters to be found?!

The final I had today was really easy, and I finished within 10 minutes. However, the professor requested that nobody leave within the first 25 minutes so that others don’t get disturbed. So I spent 15 minutes observing everyone else around me.

During that time I happened to notice that the people sitting in front of me kept talking. The girl would lean over to the guy, whisper something, he would say something back, and then she would scribble furiously on her test paper. Or the guy would write something on his paper and show it to her and she would scribble on her paper. I watched them do this for several minutes.

When my 15 minutes were up, I slipped a note to the professor telling what I saw. He didn’t look very pleased, to say the least. I know I put him in an awkward situation, and I feel bad for it.

So, yes, that makes me a tattle-tale. And the world’s uncoolest person.

But if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s people who refuse to take responsibility for their mistakes. Cheating is inexcusable. If you did not sufficiently prepare, suck it up and learn from it. I see no reason why someone like this should get a better grade than someone who put all their time and energy into studying. It sickens me.

I saw one of the prospective jurors playing Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations after our orientation (before the bailiff came and brought us to the courtroom). Maybe he was trying to get a feel for the legal process?

During the lunch break, I saw this older white businessman approach the table of two young Asian women who he didn’t appear to know and sat down. The two women looked at him warily and leaned away from him. However, he must have been rather charming, because after a few moments you can see them giggle and lean in towards him.

I saw a woman that had the saggiest breasts I’ve ever seen in my life. I swear to god they went past her belly button. I felt really sad for her, because you know that she must feel self-conscious about them.

The legal process really isn’t as glamorous as TV and video games make it out to be. Though at least it seems to be a little more fair in real life than in entertainment– because what fun is watching fair trials?

There were some really snooty lawyers hanging around. I heard one look at my group and sniff, “Jurors!” like we were some kind of disease.

I have a sudden burning urge to be a lawyer. Or a judge. Or a detective. Or something. Never mind that I find studying law incredibly boring.

Nearly every time I have typed “trial” in the last two posts I have misspelled it as “trail.”

For those who have never been summoned before, let me explain the process. A large group of people are initially summoned, given an orientation, and assigned to a judge. They are then taken to that judge’s courtroom where 12 names are pulled out of a wheel. Those 12 people have to sit in the jury box and be questioned by the judge and both the prosecution and defense, which is to determine if there are any biases or past bad experiences that would make any of the jurors unable to serve. People are weeded out, more names are pulled, and the process goes on until everyone is satisfied that the jury is impartial and unbiased. (In my case, this took 3 hours.)

There were about 60 people in my group. I was the very first person to be called as a juror. Keep in mind that as the first one to be called, the probability of being called was LOWEST for me. Furthermore, I had no reason to be excused– no past crimes against me and no previous jury duty. Even when the attorneys were questioning individuals, they each only directed one very simple question each against me. I guess I must look very trustworthy?

I didn’t necessarily want to be excused, mind you. I just found it amusing that nobody really ever had any second thoughts about me.

Some people had some amusing responses to try and get out of duty. Two people called upon their religion, saying that if the law clashed with their religious beliefs, they would follow their beliefs and disregard the law. Another person claimed he was more likely to believe someone was not guilty because he had a trial pending and wanted to be found not guilty. One person acted as though he didn’t understand the concept of “innocent until proven guilty”– when asked by the defense attorney what verdict he would give if there were 10 pieces of evidence saying guilty but one that left reason to doubt, he repeatedly said “guilty” even though the attorney very clearly tried to lead him to say otherwise. A few others used past experiences (they were robbed 20 years ago) as a basis for why they shouldn’t be selected, since they were angry about being robbed and might be more likely to believe the defendant was guilty regardless.

These people thought they were smart, getting out of jury duty. Little did they know that if you get excused, you have to go back down to the jury pool to see if any other trials need juries. Sometimes people are lucky and there are no need for extra jurors, but not today. Almost everyone who was in my group originally ended up having to go through the process again. I laugh at them.