ND - wearing the kilt? that might help ...

Also, still from the set of "The Golden Compass". Look at Sam Elliott - awww.

Apparently not. Improper dress just gets you sent home to come back the next day and start over, or they do a postponement.

For mine, they said we could fill out a hardship form, but warned us that it was really unlikely to work. After the fact, I realized I probably could have given it a shot, since the trial would have gone right through the summer, precisely when I needed to find a job. But I don't know if it would have worked.

Blah. Today is never, ever going to end.

I know that I once got a questionnaire 'cause they were looking at a seven-month (!!!) trial. I told them if I was on that jury I'd end up jobless, homeless, and bankrupt ... so I didn't get called for that one.

I think I've gotten myself excused from jury duty for as long as I live in DC - last year I got called, two months after I'd had my stroke, and the doctor wrote me one great excuse. Made it sound as though I'd be incapable of physically or mentally getting through a trial. yay?

Hey, P-C, is there any word when Nick is going to run Avatar Season 3½?

I saw someone say February, but I haven't seen a confirmed source.

So, my professor that has annoyed me all semester just made up for it in one swoop.

Our final paper isn't due until December 21, which is the last day he can accept papers. Apparently, we all gave VERY panicked looks when he suggested the 17th, so he said, "Well, this is a small class. I suppose I can give you the full week to finish."

Bless him! Bless him! Bless him!

OH! And I got my grant I applied for (and that had to provide more information for, which I was sure meant . For a shitty day, it's been ok.

Btw, that puppy is lethally cute. And -t, so sorry to hear about your friend. MM, I'm also very sorry to hear about your back. Sounds extremely painful.

So. In addition to normal student insanity (who stole all my enthusiastic, cute ninth graders and replaced them with surly basket-cases who need me to help them RIGHT NOW?), today after school is the Big Announcement about the new Head of School. I don't think there's anyone who expects that the only finalist didn't got the job. Luckily, I think she's going to be great. Unluckily, I fear the announcement may re-ignite the controversy. And then, tonight, I have tutoring. I am really trying to be excited about that. It doesn't seem to be working.

The only time I was ever called for jury selection was in NYC. It was for a super-long drug-deal-gone-wrong kidnapping trial. I sort of wanted to be on it and was a grad student at the time so it was actually doable and would be extra pay, but it was going to stretch out over Christmas and many people were pretty open about wanting out.

However, it seemed everybody was acceptable, whether or not you knew a lawyer, cop, whatever. Even people that hedged on fairness and values questions. And they asked a lot of questions of everyone. I was all ready to say how I could be impartial no matter what, didn't think it was wrong to kill puppies, etc. I thought I was sure to be selected.

One of the lawyers (don't remember which side) was very proud of knowing everybody names from the seating chart. But when he got to me, he had to check back. And, in the inevitable pause as he thought how to pronounce it, I said it for him, as I usually do to spare everyone grief. He then made the inevitable "difficult to spell name" joke. Since he had seemed quite dickish throughout, I looked him straight in the eye and said "Really? I've been spelling it since I was five."

He asked me only one question: "What is your profession?" After I responded that I was studying for my doctorate, he used one of his preemptory challenges to dismiss me. You could just see everyone else in the box thinking "Damn! That's a good one!"

I got out of jury duty last summer with "I have to teach a graduate-level math course. No, there isn't anyone else who can substitute teach it for me." The course was eight weeks, and the trial was expected to take at least one week, maybe two. (If that didn't work, I also come from a family full of lawyers, one of the people already selected for the jury was the father of a high school friend, and every math person I know has said that, as soon as you mention you're a math person, at least one of the lawyers will reject you -- the explanation I've heard is that they want people who'll follow the reasoning they hand them and not start picking holes in their arguments.)