Monday, June 2, 2008

20 year high school reunion

Next weekend is my 20 year high school reunion.  I can't think of anything which signals that you're pushing 40, Mister, like being out of high school for 20 years.  On one hand it's depressing.  On the other hand, I get the opportunity to socialize with all those people who wrote, "Keep in touch!" in my yearbook, then never spoke to me again.  The best revenge is living well, I suppose.  I am savoring the irony that the Saturday afternoon event is at the Rocket Roller Rink.  I have some years of experience playing ice hockey now, and I can skate like a mad fool.  I was somewhat of a maladroit late bloomer.  I probably grew two inches after graduation.  At the 10 year reunion I was voted "Person who changed the most since graduation."  Rightly so, since only those friends with whom I stayed in touch could recognize me.  I may also be the "Person who changed the most since the 10 year reunion."

To ramp up to a surreal weekend, I have been called for jury duty on Wednesday morning at the Jackson County Courthouse.  What a welcome break from the norm.  I get to sit around a courthouse and read magazines while waiting to hear my name.  No cell phone?  Woot!  The primary goal will be to keep my mind occupied, because jury duty has the potential to be extremely boring.  The last case I heard as a juror was to decide if a felon had indeed possessed a firearm, which holds a very strict mandatory five year sentence.  We all decided he was probably waving a cell phone while yelling out threats to the drunken folks at the corner of Mill and Westport at 3am on a Saturday.  None of the witnesses could possibly have been sober.  The gun in his friend's car belonged to his friend and didn't have his fingerprints on it.  It was such a flimsy case.  I'm surprised the prosecutor was shocked by the verdict.  None of the jurors could be sure that the witnesses really saw a gun or something that looked like a gun.  That Federal case went on for three days.  The system works, but it doesn't work fast.  Massive boredom.

1 comment:

  1. I hope the jury duty doesn't involve some complicated case that takes days.  When will you be travelling down for the reunion?  We will be leaving early Friday morning for Dallas.  

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