Well, while my sister (who turned 40 yesterday) would LOVE the opportunity to be summoned for Jury Duty, I was called for a second time. Once, about 6 years ago right after knee surgery allowing me to be placed on the “on-call” list…I was never called. I did, however, get all the closets cleaned out and drawers straightened and the studio painted! So there are benefits to being a captive audience in your own home!

I received another summons, last winter, while I was sitting with my dying mother. I requested a postponement and they granted me 6 months. I knew that October 25th was fast approaching but I was able to work my way on to the “On-Call” status. However, that little dream of mine was short lived. When you are “on-call” in Hennepin County you are required to call in twice a day for 2 weeks; once at 6:30 pm to see if you are needed the following morning and if not you call back in at 12:15 to see if you are needed after the lunch break at 1:30 that very same day. That one is a little stressful! Once you call in and are not needed you can sort of hit the ground running and get some stuff done without worrying. That said, you have to call in again at 6:30pm to see if you need to report in the morning. All in all, I must say, getting on the “on-call” list is a relief but my iPhone has more alarms set to remind me to call in causing that uneasy feeling of when your baggin’ your groceries and someone else’s stuff starts coming down the shoot right after yours..very I Love Lucy-esque!

My little dream of being on call for 2 weeks was dashed just 2 days in. Last night during my 6:30 check-in call it happened…”Group Number 494 will report at 9am on Wednesday morning.” Oh well, at least I now get to cancel all those alarms and simply head to the courthouse each day now.

Now this is all foreign to me. I never got called 6 years ago and now I’m faced with whether I would go forth and conquer and navigate public transportation or drive myself. Hmmm…the thought of watching The Hangover on my iPhone whilst sitting on a bus riding the shoulder of the freeway all the way downtown suddenly intrigued me. You must know that the only time I’ve ridden a Metro Transit Bus was forth and back to our grease filled, beer drinkin’, people watching state fair! I’ll confess, I was a little nervous. To all you nay sayers…this is where social media comes in handy…I put out a status update on facebook to see if anyone could hold my had through the process of mastering the bus schedule! Thank you Jill White Rumley! She answered back almost immediately and so instead of THAT keeping me awake it was just the 60+ mile an hour gusts that did! :\

So far, and this is just day 1, I’ve learned that 1.) I can get up early in the morning and function. 2.) Public transportation is really wonderful. 3.) People will reach out when you ask for help 4.) You can dress like a human being and STILL not get selected to sit on a jury. 5.) An Andy’s Mint hidden underneath a $7 boxed, dry turkey sandwich does not qualify as dessert…EVER 6.) Lastly (for now), and I should have learned my lesson from all the remote posts I put up on my  mom’s Caring Bridge site, COPY & PASTE everything or you will lose your enTIRE post! :\

The day is just 1/2 over and there is still 45 minutes left of my hour & 1/2 lunch break and they have called 2 panels of jurors (1 group of 18 and a 2nd group of 26) and my name hasn’t been called…so I wait. I’ll continue to do twitter updates throughout my ordeal and I’ll have The Hangover dialogue memorized by Friday!  Oh, one more thing….follow “@shitmydadsays” on twitter…it’s pretty outstanding!