4:45 a.m.

No I did not go into labor early this morning, I have like 2 1/2 months left.
Today was my Jury Summons, with my Jury Pool needing to check in at 7:45a.m. at the Circuit Court on Punchbowl street, blah! My Dad told me to be ready by 5:30a.m. and I wondered why so flippin early, until we hit Temple Valley & it was literally bumper to bumper until Honolulu.

I never realized how intense the morning traffic was! Oggie & Lina girl cracked us up the whole time. Good thing for under eye concealer because I was very tired. I felt my first rib pain caused from our little girl since she's so active now. I also kept waking up for bathroom breaks in the middle of the night. AND, someone's damn dog kept playing in the bushes outside of our bedroom window at like 2 or 3a.m....ugh, those bushes attract bugs, dogs & even little children wanting to pee. (I can't believe I hear parents telling their little boys to use the bathroom in the bushes, eeeeh!)

Anyways, I wasn't sure how long the process of interviewing and selection of the jurors would go, so I had my Dad take me in since James had to work. And boy did the selection process take long. However, it was such an interesting experience. Fortunately my name wasn't randomly drawn from the clerk's wheel thing, but I'm pretty sure I would've been excused because of my pregnancy & that I'm a college student. But honestly, I wish I was selected to be on the jury. There were a lot of irrits people complaining under their breath about being there, but the Judge gave a very inspirational speech about our minimal civic duties as Americans. Can't really repeat what he said, but the courtroom had my full attention the entire time. Plus, the people who were not paying attention made the process go longer than needed.

It was unreal to see the Judge, the Court Clerk, the Court Reporter, the Prosecutor and the Defendant and his lawyer. Television totally blurs our reality. I learned so many things today, and many of my 't.v' stereotypes of what goes on in a courtroom completely disappeared. I was surprised at how the judge and both opposing sides stressed the importance of, "Innocent until proven Guilty". I had always assumed that the person convicted entered court with EVERYONE already against him/her...totally wrong. And this is why we have Jury Summons, so the Judge & both lawyers are able to filter out people with strong/certain biases. I was really impressed at how they emphasized that those selected must JUDGE FAIRLY according only to the evidence presented.

Long day, but totally worth it. Came home & took a long nap, now I need to research for a presentation!