Civic Duty...Not to be confused with staying OP...Future endeavors...

These have nothing to do with each other, but they are the topics at the forefront of my thinking at the moment.

I just ate a donut that was 4 days old.  It wasn't good.  Or fresh.  But I ate it anyway.  Why? Well, I ate some potato chips with delicious cream cheese/onion dip that L made last night, and thought that a stale Bavarian cream donut would be a good chaser.

BLARGH.

Not to mention, I didn't go to practice last night--I was hoping that maybe taking another day of not getting hit my chest/lung area would hurt less.

Anyway...
Today I showed up for my jury duty assignment. For the first time in my life.  This was a deferred summons because my first summons came when I was back living in WI and clearly couldn't make it back.  And then I forgot about it (I was rescheduled for early February), and when I realized my guffaw, I emailed for another deferral until the end of the month.  Hence today's task.

There was a snowmageddon here in PDX which caused almost all the schools in the area to be closed (oh the irony), and while it was icy, it wasn't too bad from my perspective. 

I made it (on time even), and after filling out paperwork, I waited for the next step.  Thank you iPhone for helping pass the time!

The first process involved a retired judge who came in to work for some reason who had to announce jury members for 4 grand juries.  Each grand jury would have a letter, and the letter corresponded to the day of the week the members of the jury would have  to report for the duration of the term (5 weeks!).  During the first few picks I might have thought that it would be pretty cool to be on a grand jury, plus it would give me the opportunity to not feel sorry for my unemployed ass for at least 7 hours every week for the next 5 weeks.

And then my number was called. 

To sum things up, I am on a grand jury that will hear cases for the next 5 weeks that we will have to decide whether or not to indict someone and what charges will be filed.  Wow.  I am also the alternate foreperson, and on my first day, I will volunteer to be the clerk (take notes throughout).  Hopefully no one else will want that responsibility. 

It is fascinating to see how our justice system works, and walking through the DA's offices, the thousands of files are overwhelming.  I am actually pretty honored to get to be a part of the system that makes our country so awesome. 

My laptop lunch box.  The silverware is REAL too!!!

What is also awesome is that I will get to use my bento box that L's brother got for me for Christmas because he drew my name.  It is AWESOME and I plan on filling it with awesomeness to cheer me up as I hear some not great things about humans who made bad choices. 

And, as of today, I am registered to take the following classes at a community college starting March 28th:
Chemistry for Allied Health (5 credits)
Beginning Algebra II (4 credits)
Biology for Allied Health (5 credits)
Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology I (4 credits)

Please keep in mind that my degree is in LITERATURE.  I have my teaching certification in LANGUAGE ARTS 9-12.  I am ONE CREDIT SHY OF MY MASTERS IN ENGLISH.

Being unemployed sucks.  Especially in the world today.  Even worse as a teacher today.  So, I am going to try to apply for the Surgical Technology program at the community college once I get these courses finished.  I am still debating Anat and Phys, and think I could take that with Microbiology the following term. 

Granted, this is all dependent on if I get Financial Aid or not, and honestly, I am very nervous because I suck balls at math and science.  This will most definitely be a challenge. 

I'd rather teach English. 

Here is the blister I got on Monday.  It hurts SO MUCH.