Jury Duty

Posted on October 17, 2011 by kilikina719

My Something New for this past week was jury duty. Not by choice but definitely something new that I’d always wanted to experience.

I got my summons in the mail several weeks earlier that stated that I was required to be available during the week of October 11. I called in on the 10th. Nothing. Called in on the 11th. Nothing. Called in on the 12. Score!! So I reported to the courthouse on the 13th, ready to serve.

As this was my first time being summoned, I thought I’d share my experience for anyone who is interested.

I arrived at the courthouse at about 8:15 Thursday morning. We were shown a short video that served as an introduction to the process. It was at least 10:30 before the bailiff came to take us to the courtroom. At that point there were over 20 potential jurors. The judge greeted us and proceeded to ask a number of questions that we were all require to respond to. The prosecution and defense attorneys then each had the opportunity to ask us questions. Some were in general, some were directed to specific individuals. When the questioning was complete, the judge and attorneys met in a sidebar and after several moments of discussion, returned and excused a number of the jurors. There was another opportunity, then, for both attorneys to excuse, without reason, any jurors that they did not believe appropriate for the case. It was finally narrowed down to 12 jurors, myself included, and 2 alternates.

The trial, a criminal case, proceeded from there, during which we heard testimonies and were presented with evidence.

The case continued on Friday. The day began with the closing statements from the prosecution and defense, as the evidence portion was concluded on Thursday. After instructions from the judge on the law, we–the jury–returned to the deliberation room.

It was pretty interesting. The majority of the jurors, myself included, had never served before. I thought it was pretty cool the way everyone came together and discussed the trial, witnesses, and evidence–respectful of the court, the defendant, and each other.

In the end, we found the defendant not guilty on the two charges being addressed. I watched the young man–probably very close in age to me–as the verdict was being read by the judge and I nearly cried. I have no doubt as to whether we made the right decision or not. The look on his face was full of such innocent relief. As the jury was dismissed from the courtroom, I made eye contact, first with the defense attorney, who smiled with genuine gratitude, and then with the defendant who nodded a humble thanks.

I’ll never forget the experience. I was thankful to be a part of the process and I’ll gladly serve if or when I’m called again.

NaNoWriMo

Posted on October 17, 2011 by kilikina719

If you aren’t familiar with it, November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I’ve attempted it in the past (the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days). I’ve always failed. I’ve also never been as busy as I am this year. However, I’m going to throw caution to the wind and go for it anyway. I’m pretty excited for November 1st! 🙂

The 4-day weekend

Posted on October 11, 2011 by kilikina719

Well I did half of things that I planned to do.

I did go on a day hike. Friday. 8.7 miles. A looong 8.7 miles. Around mile 6, I lost the sole of one of my shoes in mud. Not good. I went about a half a mile, sort of limping a long, before I sat down in some grass and pulled the sole off of my other shoe. There was a bout an inch of sole and the difference was making my knee hurt. The problem then was that there was just a bit of fabric that protected the bottom of my feet so by the time I got back to my car, I could barely walk. It was a really beautiful day, though. I took pictures but I haven’t uploaded them to my computer yet. I’ll try to post some tomorrow.

On Saturday I met up with a couple of friends for coffee. And then a different friend for lunch. After that I went for a much shorter hike (just a little over a mile).

Sunday I went to Stan Hywet. It was yet another beautiful day and I really enjoyed my time there. I went on a guided-tour of the main house–I’ve always just done the self-guided in the past. It was really interesting. And then I walked around outside for a bit, too. I really love their fountains.

I decided to drive out to one of my favorite restaurants after that. It’s about an hour away so I don’t get there very often but it’s always worth it when I do.

Yesterday I planned to get a lot of school work done. That did NOT happen. I slept a lot. Went grocery shopping. Did some laundry. And slept.

Overall, it was a really great weekend. I was not ready to come back to work this morning.

*sigh*

Steve Jobs

Posted on October 6, 2011 by kilikina719

I feel like I should comment on the death of Steve Jobs since everyone else has. But to be completely honest, his death just isn’t that big of a deal to me. I mean, it’s sad that he died for his friends and family, of course. But I’m neither. And honestly, I’m not a big fan of Apple. I have an iPod and I love it. I’ve used Macs in the past and they’re great. But Apple is so expensive and it’s usually just not worth it to me.

#HalfFail

Posted on October 4, 2011 by kilikina719

Yesterday was only half of a fail. I still didn’t take any pictures (maybe I should just give that one up) but I did do something new.

From the talk that I went to at the library over the weekend, I decided to try a “mindful walk.” It was something really simple and I fully appreciate that it sounds completely cheesy, but it was actually pretty cool.

My understanding of a mindful walk is this… You focus yourself, in the same way that you would during meditation–block out the chatter in your head and focus on the breath–and you exist just in that moment. While I was focused on my breath and my body, I was also very aware of my surroundings. My mind was cleared of the normal chatter and I was free to really appreciate the world around me. It made me realize just how unaware of my surroundings I normally am.

Like I said in the beginning, My Something New doesn’t have to be anything significant and while this was really simple–I was simply walking from my building to the campus library after work yesterday–it made a fairly significant difference and it’s something that I will [hopefully] continue.

#Fail

Posted on October 3, 2011 by kilikina719

So I failed already. In two aspects. No–three. First of all, I obviously failed to blog each day this weekend. Second, I didn’t do anything new yesterday. And third, I didn’t take pictures.

But today is a new day.

Saturday was pretty awesome. My Something New was a program at the public library, called “Put Your Mind to It!: Relax, Renew, Rejuvenate with Mindful Practices.” It was a series of three sessions. The first was called “Memory Fitness Matters: What You Need to Know!” It was mostly geared towards elderly people but the speaker shared tips and tricks that apply to everyone. I have a really horrible memory for some reason. But one of the things that I took away from the session was that it might be as simple as paying attention more closely. The speaker said that you have to pay attention to something for 5-10 seconds in order to retain it. In other words, if it’s just a passing thought, there’s a decent chance I’m not going to remember it later. She mentioned this in connection to names, too. I’ve always been really bad with names and I realize now that that’s probably because I hear the person’s name and it immediately goes right out the other ear. If I intentionally take a few seconds to commit the person’s name to my memory and perhaps repeat it like: “Nice to meet you, Joe,” there is a better chance that I’ll remember it.

The second session was called “Mindful Eating 101.” This was really interesting. I’ve heard about the concept before and it really makes a lot of sense. Mindful eating is exactly what it sounds like: You think about what you’re eating. You don’t just eat because it’s time to eat or because everyone else is eating. You eat when you’re hungry. And you think about what you’re eating. Stop, slow down, enjoy the food. Don’t just inhale it. The speaker mentioned popcorn–you sit down to watch tv or a movie and eat a bowl of popcorn without even tasting it. It’s just something to do while watching tv or a movie. Mindless. Pointless. It was really interesting.

The third and final session was called “A Taste of Mindfulness for Stress Reduction.” This may have been my favorite session. The concept of mindfulness is ancient and while it’s really simple, it’s also really brilliant. The speaker discussed meditation and breathing exercises, yoga, tai chi, and several other things. I took a lot away from it. One of the things that I plan to start doing is to take just a few minutes, 3 times every day, and meditate. I must admit…In the past, I’ve kinda judged people who talk about meditating. It sounds so…so….something. I’m not sure what. But it’s really simple. We practiced a few different ways of meditating during the session but it’s really just about clearing the mind and focusing on the breath. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes.

So that was My Something New on Saturday. Like I said, I didn’t really do anything yesterday. Slept most of the day, actually. I haven’t been feeling very well for about a week now.

But today I’ll find something new.

I will.

My Something New

Posted on September 30, 2011 by kilikina719

My Something New starts tomorrow. October 1st really crept up on me and I honestly have no idea what I’m going to do tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that… But regardless, tomorrow, it is starting.

I’m also going to try to take a photo every day, as a part of this. And take more photos in general.

Too bad today wasn’t the start. I bought (pre-ordered) my first e-reader. I’m excited. It’s the new Kindle Fire. And it’s very pretty 🙂

Unfortunately, I won’t get it until November 17th (ish). One of two things will happen between now and then: I’ll go crazy with anticipation or I’ll completely forget about it and have lost interest by the time it arrives. I truly don’t know which way it’ll go. I’ve put off buying an e-reader thus far because, honestly, I just love books. But the Kindle Fire is more than an e-reader. As one of my friends put it–it’s a cheap knock-off [of the iPad]. But I’m okay with that. I don’t know that $200 + (for the Kindle & protective sleeve) is cheap but I guess it is cheap compared to the iPad.

Anyway. Until next time–