new semester

spring semester started for me today. as i was walking through campus, i was suddenly overwhelmed with a mild case of anxiety and fear. i can't be certain of the reason or reasons why it happened. but luckily it subsided after seeing and talking to some of the people i knew from last semester.

my tuesday class was interventions and the professor for the class is the assistant dean of something or rather at the school of education. just a tad scary, don't you think? he ended today by talking about academic integrity and how the school expelled an ed.d student this year because she was caught cheating or plagiarizing. great start to the class, eh?

luckily my friend david, whom i met last semester, was in the same class. he's completely insane however. he's taking four class this semester, although he is going for two masters degrees. anyway, we ended up talking for a bit after class about how difficult it is to get a student affairs position at USC.

speaking of which, i sent in my resume today for a position as the assistant to the special events coordinator at the school of education. hopefully that'll work out, cuz i really like doing events planning. either that or career counseling.

i'm getting into this really bad habit of going to bed at around 4am. i really should try to get back into the groove of things with school and hopefully a job soon. i don't even know what i do with my time.

i have another class tomorrow... the counseling process, which i'm somewhat looking forward to, but we'll see. actually, i really hate doing the whole introduction thing at the beginning of the semester. it's horrendous and if ever i was teaching a class, i would totally forgo that crap (i spelled forgo, forego earlier and apparently, forego is totally a different word with a different meaning).

it's been raining pretty hard the last week or so. our backyard was completely submerged under two inches of water. it was pretty insane. i thought i would like the rain since we don't get it very often here in la, but i think it almost drove me crazy because i got really lazy and didn't want to go out. it got so bad (the going out part), that i ate half a box of cereal with water.

yeah, it's pretty disgusting.

right now, i really like the delays song, "nearer to heaven" and jason mraz's, "you and i both."

oh yeah, and since i was out today, i went and got some milk and new box of cereal.

the people's court

my days as a juror is over.

was it difficult? yes, it was.

was it interesting? yes, it was.

was it something i would do all over again? yes, definitely.

why is that?

that's a pretty difficult question to answer. i don't think i can do it justice by trying to explain it. of course, my difficulties with the american language really hinder how i feel. but if i was forced to describe it, i think it would be because through jury duty, one is abled to see how the american judicial system works. it's not perfect, and i doubt it will ever be. but to participate in something that depicts the freedom or freedoms we have as americans so openly is worth all the pain and annoyance of having to serve as jurors.

i realize that for most people, jury duty is a bitch. there's no denying that. but until you really serve on a case and sit and deliberate all the evidence that is presented to you by both the people and the defense, i don't think you have any idea how great our country is.

now that it's over, i can finally talk (blog) about it. a great relief for me and i'm sure for all the other jurors on my case.

i think the best thing for me to do first is to list out and describe the other jurors as best as i can since it's freshest on my mind. so with that, i'm going to start with the 12 jurors and 3 alternates.

juror 1 - male, white. i believe he owns his own business (advertising for auto parts) and he lives in la cresenta. married with children (or just a child). around mid to late 40's. we chose him as our foreman, even though he never served on a trial before. he did a decent job as foreman, but at times, he was somewhat bias to those that didn't agree with his verdict.

juror 2 - male, white. he's pretty quiet. not sure what he did or where he lived. he had a daughter who went to college in connecticut. looked kinda like that guy on american history x who played the leader of the white supremacy group. i can't remember his name. (i found out his name. stacy keach).

juror 3 - male, white. his occupation had something to do with christian missionary work. he went to usc and got his ed.d in education with one of my professors. lived in los angeles for the majority of his life, which i think was about 50 plus years. he spent several years in singapore recently, which i assumed had something to do with his missionary job.

juror 4 - female, black. about mid to late 20's. works in the music industry placing music to advertisements. read quite a bit. took the metro just like me.

juror 5 - female, asian (chinese). in college, goes to cal poly pomona. was quiet, didn't speak out as much. during the second day of deliberations, she had to leave because class was starting. replaced by alternate 1.

juror 6 - female, white (ukrainian). in her mid-20's. work at ucla at the cancer center. was very adamant about her position, but was not rude about it. not extremely talkative, but was a reader.

juror 7 - female, either hispanic or middle eastern. not sure what she did, but she fell asleep during the trial, which was somewhat disconcerting. during the jury selection, she was very obviously trying to get out of being one of the jurors. during the second day of deliberations, she left because something happened with her granddaughter, who was in a coma for about 2 years. replaced by alternate 2.

juror 8 - female, black. student at usc, studying biology. going to med school next year. very eloquent. is a RA at one of the residence halls at usc. turned 21 during new years.

juror 9 - male, hispanic. around his mid-20's i would say. pretty quiet. wasn't very talkative, hence i don't know too much about him. except the fact that he said he lived in the neighborhood where the alleged crime occured.

juror 10 - male, chinese (BNO). around his late 20's. student. very good looking. extremely intelligent. great in bed. well liked by all the jurors and was a court favorite. the judge was extremely pleased to have him on the jury and addressed how well dressed he was, even though it was raining the majority of the time.

juror 11 - female, white. around her late 40's. smoker. works at la times in advertising. lives in monterey hills. one of the people i think was a bit rude when we were deliberating. but overall, not a bad lady.

juror 12 - male, white. he was probably in his mid to late 30's. works for the la school district as a painter. has children, divorced wife because she's a drug addict serving time in jail. on the second day of the trial, was sick and replaced by alternate 3.

alternate 1 - female, white. in her mid to late 40's. teaches at rio hondo college. very nice lady, made us cookies on the very last day of deliberations. very soft spoken. she was interested in the fact that i was going to usc to get my masters in education. has a son who goes to UCSB. from what i could gather, is divorced.

alternate 2 - female, white or hispanic. in her mid to late 30's. teaches elementary school in the city of duarte. very nice also. made us cookies. from what i could gather, was never married.

alternate 3 - female, white. in her late 30's or early 40's. live in south pasadena. owned a flower shop several years ago. her husband worked in the entertainment industry, but now works at ellen silkscreen. was very emotional during deliberations but most of it came from the foreman harassing her. she and i struck up a pretty good repoire because i was someone who stood up for her. in some way, we both have similar feelings during deliberations. she has two daughters, one in high school and one in junior high. was going to pcc to get an education because she never went to college and was considering transferring to pomona to finish her degree. of all the other jurors, i think i liked her the most.

so there you have it. the 12 jurors and 3 alternates.

now, the officers of the court.

judge john pastor - this is one hell of a judge. we all agreed that he was extremely respectful of the jurors. very courteous of us serving during the holiday seasons. he was very strict during the jury selection process. likes to travel, and does so when he has time off. according to the court clerk, he went to thailand over new year break. and she said that every time he comes back from one of his trips, he brings her statues of elephants because she likes elephants. i think he's one tremendous individual and we were really lucky to get him as a judge since most of us never served on a jury before.

deputy district attorney, daviann mitchell - she reminds me of judith light from who's the boss. she was well-spoken and is a decent deputy da. can't work the dvd player worth shit though.

defense attorney, stuart dumas - someone mentioned that he looked like mighty mouse. the more i studied his demeanor, especially when the verdict was read, the more i despised him. not that he was sleazy, but more of the fact that he was either shaking his head in disbelieve, smirking, or insulting the deputy district attorney. at times, we were debating where the hell he got his law degree because he was one hell of a crappy attorney. but then again, he could be very wily and was putting on an act.

court clerk, sami - her last name escapes me, but she was incredibly nice. married and a grandmother. very funny and would tell us stories about her visiting children and grandchildren. she's probably a grandmother everyone would want to have. she never got mad at us for being late and was always on the up and up.

court reporter (secretary), ms. theodoro - we had her read some parts of the testimony during deliberations and she was smooth, only one slip up, which was amazing since we had her read probably 60 pages of testimony. very friendly and affable. great with the stenograph.

bailiff, sherrif deputy shen - as far as asian guys go, he's pretty nice. very likeable. went to paris during the first part of the trial and came back. he was basically the person we dealt with when we had problems or requested breaks during deliberations. easy going and great personality. he also was working at the rose parade.

that's it for now, more to come later... if i'm up to it.