Jury Duty = Staycation

Early last summer, when people were just beginning to realize that the economy was very bad, indeed, the term "staycation" came into vogue, showing up in the features sections of all sorts of newspapers. In a staycation, the articles explained, one explores everything one's own city has to offer in the way of culture and entertainment, thus simulating a vacation without having to pay for travel or a hotel stay. When I went to Chicago with a few girlfriends at the end of last May, I really enjoyed exploring that city's parks and museums and architecture, and told myself repeatedly that I would put together a Houston staycation once I got home, encompassing parks and museums and other landmarks. As is typical for me, I never turned my thoughts into action. And then fate stepped in.

Some time last fall, I received a summons for federal jury duty. Have never actually served on a jury before, and using the pop cultural reaction to jury duty as a guide, I was most displeased. I couldn't get out of it, though, so last Monday, I reported to the federal courthouse in downtown Houston--and got selected for the 14-person jury out of 42 possible candidates. Just my luck that the lawyers didn't think I'd be biased, right? Jury duty itself hasn't been nearly as much of a drag as I had anticipated; the other jurors are pretty amusing middle-aged people (12 of them women, including me, and 2 of them men), and there's never a dull moment in the jury room. The courtroom gets very cold and sometimes boring, though, and actually being a juror, ie having to decide on a person's guilt or innocence, is not an easy thing--and is actually much more trying than one might imagine.

For reasons somewhat unbeknownst to me, we tend to have many lengthy breaks during any given day, during which the lawyers work their lawyerly magic or shout at each other or something. These breaks give us jurors a chance to thaw out, (see above for reference to the courtroom's cool temperature) and have also given me a chance to check out the sights around the courthouse. There are two parks within two blocks of the federal building, and a third not four more blocks away. City hall is two blocks away, and the Central Houston Public Library one block beyond that. The library is particularly impressive: three floors high, an entire section devoted to foreign-language books, another to music, and displays of new books everywhere! I don't have a Houston public library card, but I might have to get one some time in the next four years just so I can take advantage of that sweet library. I'm hoping to explore the area a bit more tomorrow, including the tunnel system under the Bank of America building that contains restaurants, (I can now put names to a lot of the buildings I've admired in our skyline! How cool is that?) the entertainment complex Bayou Place, (which includes the Verizon Wireless Theater, where I saw Imogen Heap perform in concert less than two weeks ago) and the Hobby Center vicinity. Additionally, I drive through the quirky Montrose area on my way into downtown, and have pinpointed a number of restaurants, coffee houses, and possible study locations to explore at my leisure over my next four years in medical school.

Moral of the jury duty story: Life is exciting when one makes it seem so.