So asked Mouse. *Always* may be a bit of an overstatement but I think this is about the fifth time in my life. Enough times that when I got that familiar looking letter in the mail, I thought, “Oh, not again.” The last time was five years ago. As I said to Lizard on the phone yesterday, I know that because while I was sitting in the corral hoping they wouldn’t call my number, I was trying to compose the YAG school performance letter for The Caucasian Chalk Circle, a play that we didn’t end up performing due to lack of interest from young actors. We scrabbled together another play of greater interest (Dandelion Wine) and the show went on but some people were devastated (understandably) and it was *not* a fun time in general.

Anyway, I have to report for jury duty on Monday, the 12th of March. If I’m really lucky, I’ll call their hot-line the night before and my number will be excused. But honestly? Me? Lucky? Not. So I’ll go hang around in the corral for a while. Hopefully I won’t get seated on a jury. I’ve never actually been seated. If I do, it’ll probably mean I have to miss a class or three and that could wreak havoc with my GPA. I have only missed one class since I’ve been at WCC and that was the day my dad died. I emailed the homework in at 5 AM that morning before we left for Siberia.

If I do get interrogated as a potential juror, I wonder what they’ll be looking for. Or not looking for. Lizard says they want older sisters, which I am, because they can be “vindictive.” Did I get that right? I was often a *terrible* big sister in my youth, I’ll admit. But now that my brother is dead, I don’t think I have it in me any more. But maybe they won’t ask that or care about it. So, who knows?

On a previous tour of jury duty, up in Siberia, I spent most of a day in the corral watching potential jurors get interrogated. I couldn’t figure out from the questions *or* the answers why people were seated or dismissed. I was not impressed that the trial lawyers seemed a little rude to people who were doing their civic duty under various degrees of inconvenience. One elderly prospective juror proclaimed loudly that he was a retired tugboat captain and would be proud to do his civic duty. He was seated. They never called my number. If I remember accurately, I was just an alternate anyway.

Honestly, although I don’t really want to have to drag myself in there and can’t afford to miss school to serve, I must say I am facing this with less dread than I did the last time. For one thing, I’ve been through it once here on the Planet, therefore, I know where to go and more or less what to do. And where to park! But it’s also because I am no longer petrified to speak in front of a group. I used to be terrified to even state my name and profession, etc. I mean, I would *do* it. I just didn’t *like* to. No more. If going back to college in this day of presentations and group projects has done nothing else for me, I am not afraid to speak up in class any more.

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