Trial Day 3

And on the third day, the People (a.k.a. the prosecution) rested. And so did I. Because we got to leave early. Hooray!

• The officer keeps gnawing on his hangnails. It's disgusting. (It doesn't help that I've self-diagnosed myself with late-onset ADHD.)
• The assistant DA literally has a script for when she's questioning a witness including when to pause. How do I know this, because I'm observant. I'm sure she goes off script, but there are spots where she instructs herself to "WAIT." 
• There's a team of people working on the "people's" case despite the fact that only one person is trying the case. The ADA sometimes confers with people in the gallery which is kind of interesting to watch. I think the defense attorney is a lone wolf.
• The defense attorney has a typo on his website. (I swear I did not research anything about the case. I was just curious as to who the attorneys were.)
• I should have majored in Forensic Science solely so I can have the job title of criminalist. Maybe if CSI had been on TV when I was in high school, I would have paid more attention in Chemistry.
• Something tells me that I probably won't ever be called as an "expert" witness in a trial ever. I may be a master of the South, but I don't claim to be an expert. (Then again, I've had as much training in all things southern as the expert criminalists had in forensic science.)
• I think my last name figured into my jury selection.
• I want to know how many people who go to law school have sat through a trial, beginning to end, that was not tried by Jack McCoy before their first day of class.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trial Day 2

Observations from trial day 2:

• The court officer definitely gets his GTL on.
• I almost gagged watching the officer sitting by the defendant while he was gnawing on his hangnails for a good 15 minutes.
• New York accents can be a bit distracting.
• I feel as though I should clap every time a witness is excused from the stand.
• Apparently, random people can come into the court room and disturb court proceedings. As in, a guy came in, said hi to the judge, shook his hand, hugged one of the court officers, and left. No one saw anything wrong with this.
• The defense attorney's cell phone rang during the first witness' testimony.
• I'm a little concerned with some of the other jurors. A group of us went to lunch at a cuban restaurant across the street from the court house. Two of my fellow jurors had difficulty figuring out what to eat because "the menu's not in English." To be clear, the descriptions of all the food were in English. The titles were in Spanish. One was concerned because none of the prices were on the menu until I pointed out that the numbers on the menu were not the numbers of the food orders (you know, like I'd like the A7, please), but rather the prices of the food. Oh, I wondered why there were three 14s.
• Listening to undercover officers give testimony makes me feel special, and we all know I like to feel special.

Trial Day 1

No one told me how exhausting jury duty would be. Oof. I know I usually work for more than 8 hours a day, but sitting in a court room, listening for hours on end, is much more difficult than you would think.

A few observations of the day (not too detailed for fear that someone finds out somehow):

• Older gentleman wearing a suit, his cuffs were monogrammed and he used a cane. Had he worn a seersucker suit, I would have swooned. I wanted to call him Mr. instead of by his first name.
• Host/doorman for a restaurant in Midtown where I've had brunch. (No, I did not recognize him. Yes, I found out about almost everyone when I forced them to talk while we were waiting.)
• Woman who was excused from the jury because she's ridiculous. Sure, she thought her concern was valid. Yes, she ended up excused from the case. In short, she feared she'd be the subject of a TV movie if she stayed on the jury (my conclusion, not hers).
• Lining up in numerical order is apparently not as easy as it seems. You'd be surprised the number of people who will follow along lining up the wrong way. It felt as though we were in kindergarten. (One guess who asked the court officer a clarifying question because she thought something wasn't right.)
• Some people can't tell time or would have a serious Org flag if I were to review them. We had lunch until 2:15 - it's not hard to be back by then.
• The judge can't say my last name.
• The defense attorney is doing his best to make me not like him. I can't guarantee that's his M.O., if you will, but I do question it.
• The assistant district attorney doesn't have my full confidence yet either.

Things I learned today during jury selection . . .

Things I learned today during jury selection . . .

• At the beginning of the day, there's a video reenactment of a trial back in the day. Way back in the day. It was a trial by water. You know, where they tie up people accused of being a witch and throw them in a river. If the person floats, she's a witch. If she sinks, she not. This video is supposed to show how far our judicial system has come.
• I should have avoided eye contact with the "People" and the defense attorney.
• I should have said I think drug dealers are bad.
• I should have said my purse was stolen out of my friend's car my first year out of college. Maybe, I should have cried about it too.
• I should have said I'm too indispensable at work to sit on a jury at the moment. (I don't want to be vain, but it's true.)
• I should have said I grew up in South Carolina instead of born in Ohio. Or perhaps that I moved to NYC from Mississippi.
• I should have said that the defense attorney was an idiot when he compared basing a conviction on only part of the law to calling a burger minus the pickles and special sauce a Big Mac. (Yeah, that happened.)
• I should have asked my friends who are lawyers what to say to convincingly and legally be excused from selection. Although I only know one lawyer in NYC (I'm not sure how that's possible either), I know lots of them in other places.
• I should have said I must acquit if the glove don't fit.
• I should have said Kew Gardens is way too far away and that I didn't see any gardens.
• I should have said I needed the music from Law & Order to believe it was a real case.

Alas, I am juror #4 at the worst possible time for work. We're interviewing a few people in a couple of weeks, and I have a lot to do. I know it's my civic duty, and I know I'd probably want me on a jury. I'd just rather have me on a jury at a more convenient time. I just wish that the trial wasn't expected to last over a week. Oof.

Best. Idea. Ever.

I've been debating whether or not I should join a gym recently. There's not really a question of whether or not it would be good for me. The issue, as with most things, comes down to money. Yes, I know I should make exercise a priority, but . . . I don't have a good excuse.

I can't get a discount at NYSC through my office, but it's not much of a discount. I really want to take pilates again, but I can only find cheap yoga classes instead of cheap pilates.

This past weekend, however, I stumbled upon a superb idea. Ice skating! Sure, I may literally stumble at first, but it's the perfect solution.

Here's the deal. The rink (a.k.a. the Pond) at Bryant Park is open until 10 p.m. every night during the week (and until midnight on the weekends, but really, am I gonna go on the weekends?). In addition to being open late, it's free. That's right, free. There is a fee to rent skates ($13), but if my plan goes as, uh, planned, I'll buy ice skates later this week for about $40. Then it's a free workout. Bryant Park is pretty much on my way home from the office (sort of), so I have no reason not to go.

This idea is brilliant. What kind of SC girl wouldn't want her own ice skates anyway? Ok, the downside of this plan is that the rink is small, and there will be tons of people on the ice. I probably won't ever get up much speed, but how is this not the best plan ever? I'll get to peoplewatch while working out.

This has got to be foolproof. Update tomorrow.

It happened again

It happened again. This is number four. I'm kind of excited to see if it happens again.

Josh winked at me again. You know the Josh I'm talking about.. At least the guy's consistent. He changed his profile name, so maybe he thought it would throw me off. Maybe he thought I'd somehow be tricked into thinking he was someone else. It ain't happening buddy.

Maybe if Josh looked a little more like my dad I'd be more likely to give him another shot. According to a (relatively) recent story in the Daily Mail, women are attracted to men who look like their fathers. One of the examples they use is Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Apparently Brad Pitt looks like a young Jon Voight (Angelina's dad). Angelina may just be attracted to insanely attractive men, but I'll concede that her dad does look like Brad in the picture they show. So maybe, if Josh was taller, a little heavier, with middle eastern features, maybe then I'd be willing to try again. Then again, we all know that's not true.

I may be attracted to men that have similar features to my dad, but he has to have wit like him too. And be smart. And have been a blond-haired, blue-eyed Olympic pairs skater back in the 70s. Ok, maybe that last part isn't a requirement, but that's how my parents met according to my dad. (They were a medal winning pair, duh.) He also told me that I had brothers back in the day, but they didn't want to move with my parents. My mom wasn't too happy with that story.

Even when I find the man that's the right one for me, I'll still have my dad. And I know I'll always be able to count on him, not just for the normal things a daughter counts on her dad for, but also for a laugh. 

Like when he's warming himself by the fire in his apartment in Chelsea.