Duck, Duck, Goose

I was not the goose. And it was good... I guess.

In the game of "not it," I apparently won, by actually finding myself wanting to be "it."

I did not get get picked for the jury from the panel I was sitting in today. Reasons for this, likely numerous, among them:

• cosmic justice: because I had decided I did want to sit on the jury. Wanted to sit on the panel and watch the nitty-gritty details of a trial played out from the other side. Wanted to see how the other half lives;
• shark prejudice: nary a lawyer (though there was at least half a bakers dozen on my panel) made it into the final jury (including alternates). Guess the rule of thumb when picking jurors is "think guppy, not shark"
• lack of primary colors: my old first-year law school trick - otherwise known as the 365 Days of Basic Black (or Select Muted Shades of Gray) still works. My black and white sun dress apparently allowed me to go unnoticed and undetected by the randomized computer-generated lists that were used to call people up to actually sit and answer questions on the panel. Additional note, computers, like law professors, must also dislike having to approach and utilize hyphenated last names.

Other random observations:

• a courtroom is the only place where you sit and stand more often than Catholic Mass, and, while it is easier on the knees due to lack of required prostration, somehow it loses any luster as it is also, unlike its religious counterpart, devoid of any promise of sustenance and alcoholic beverages.
• calling a cab from the court house is an interesting proposition. The cab company wants an address and an identifier of the building: "It is [_________] street. The criminal court house. I will be the one out in front with the orange cardigan on." (Having safely flown under the radar, I finally put on some layers as the day is a bit windy.) This statement was met with some hesitation from the dispatcher. It was only afterwards that it occurred to me why this might be. Cardigan? Suuuuuure. Orange Cardigan. Orange Jumpsuit. Tomato. Toh-mah-toe. Erswhile Juror. Escaped Felon.
• Crazy blackberry lady from yesterday was in fact, drum roll please, a lawyer. Shocker.