Jury duty was like I had expected -- a lot of waiting around for nothing. I sat in a cold lemon/banana-colored seat for about three hours. And I didn't even get interviewed to see if I'm going to be on a jury. (They picked 2 out of 3 juries yesterday.) It was like sitting in a doctor's office for three hours.

Fortunately, I knew four people that I was waiting with. And by the end of the three hours, I felt like I knew everybody in the room.

There were a couple of murder trials that were about to come up (or is the correct phrase "about to be on the docket"?) in our county, but we heard this morning that both of the suspects pleaded (pled?) guilty, so those cases are being thrown out. Good 'cause we get paid $25 A DAY. I don't want to be on a long case. No matter how interesting it is.

I have to report at 9AM tomorrow.

The upside of jury duty is that I get out by 5:00. Yesterday, I went to the mall with Sara and bought a couple of books -- a collection of stories by Saul Bellow and another one by Jonathan Safron Foer. (Correction: It's SAFRAN. With two 'a's. Safron was the color of the seat I sat on for three hours.) Thought that'd hold me over for a couple more days sitting for hours at a time. I also bought three CDs -- an Ella Fitzgerald album, Johnny Cash's Christmas album, and one of the older Death Cab for Cutie albums. Though, I have to say, I'm kind of undecided about the Johnny Cash album. "The jury's still out." (Yeah, I know. I'm hilarious.) I'll let you know what I think of the books. I know you're dying to hear.