Life

Somehow I always join the latest revolution in television programming a few years late. Back in 2003, Josh West introduced me to 24 somewhere during season three. I loved it, proceeded to borrow the boxed sets of seasons one and two from Blockbuster and Josh, respectively, and have not missed a live episode since then.

So a few weeks ago I was perusing the selection at my local Blockbuster and saw a rack full of DVDs from the first few seasons of Lost. Being that there was nothing else jumping out at me, and remembering that Josh mentioned being a big fan and trusting his taste in television programming, I took the plunge and after a few days I had watched seasons one and two.

I was hooked, evidenced by the fact that only moments after watching the season two finale, I had already purchased a season pass from iTunes for season three (the Lost Season Three DVD set doesn’t come out until December, 2007). Within a few days I had watched the entire season, and am now waiting anxiously for the start of season four (in February)!

So for now I’m stuck watching season three again, which since I already paid iTunes for it I figure why not! I haven’t quite reached the point where I add a Lost Season 4 countdown widget to my dashboard, but you never know what might happen in the next few months!

After waiting nearly six years since my 18th birthday, I finally received my first jury summons in late September. After deferring for a week, I followed the instructions and made my way to DC Superior Court at 8 AM last Monday. After the orientation video (complete with cheesy music and bad acting) I was among the first groups of 50 called to sit for selection.

After four hours of jury selection, I was chosen to sit on the jury of a case in which the defendant was charged with 15 felony counts. We had three days of testimony filled with police, forensics experts, and several witnesses who had all borne the defendant’s children but were unsure as to his real last name. There were points in the trial, especially when some of these witnesses started talking about their open and often interconnected relationships (read as ménage à trois), when I thought someone in the audience would grab a banjo off the wall and the courtroom would bust into an impromptu square dance.

I won’t go further into the details here (feel free to ask me offline) so as not to associate my identity with the case, I wouldn’t want anyone looking me up several years down the road. Suffice it to say that after three days of deliberations, we found him guilty on most of the charges. As the foreman, my fellow jurors reassured me that if they saw me on the news, they would know I had taken one for the team. They are all a great group of people representing a diverse range of backgrounds. It would have been nice to stay in touch with a few of them, but not being sure of the protocol there, nobody exchanged any contact information.

I’ve been told that as long as I remain a Washington DC resident, I will receive a jury duty summons every two years like clockwork. I’ll go ahead and mark my calendar and see if they’re right!