Now where did I put my blindfold and scales?

I've been spending the last couple of days as a horrible internet voyeur, so I feel a little self-conscious writing an entry now...you never know who is listening, eh? :) Silly me.

So I suppose to ease myself back in, a brief update on my life (yawns from audience). I apparently have a jury summons waiting in the mail for when I get back. Last time I got put on a jury I lost about a month of work but had a fun story to tell at the end of it so I'm a little conflicted. I may, once I get up there in front of the judge, claim financial hardship to get out of it, but I don't know... In the end I'll probably just let the lawyers take a look at me and judge for themselves.

Just after I served the last time, a vaguely controversial but defintiely wise man named Wally Oppal wrote a report in some judicial newsletter on the perils of the current jury system. Its meagre pay leaves juries open to bribery in higher-up cases, and its demanding hours exclude many types of jobs, leaving the bulk of juries comprised of unemployed or semi-employed young people (ahem) and retirees. I think he has a point: My last jury was hardly a cross-section of society. Furthermore, he wrote that juries very infrequently fully understand the final instructions given them by the judge. While I don't fully agree the implication that a jury isn't that smart, I do think that there's very little orientation given to a jury at the outset of a trial.

Justice coming from people like me seems like a scary prospect at the best of times; I'm frequently quick to make assumptions and then reluctant to admit to myself I was wrong. That said, I also feel that in contrast to, say, a few of my high school classmates who are still going out and getting plastered/stoned every night I look pretty good. I don't know.

Hey, I guess my blogging-self is back...