Jury Duty

So, I had my first ever experience at having jury duty today. It went pretty unspectacularly and was a definite waste of time. I was sorta interested in the idea of actually serving on a jury, but as it turned out all the cases were settled and no juries were even needed. So I just wasted 3 hours of my day sitting around while all the defendants entered their guilty pleas. Basically, they only had the jurors present in case one of the defendants changed their mind halfway into the guilty plea. So, yeah, definitely a waste.

I did try to chat with some of my fellow would-be jurors in my ongoing quest to actually develop sociality. Not that I was really planning on making long-term friends while at jury duty (I didn’t), but I figure any practice I can get in at interacting with others in person is good for me. I am starting to increasingly worry that this community is not at all right for me though. I’ve really only planned on working maybe a year or two here while saving up a bit of money, but I’m not sure I will even last that. I just don’t fit in here, and I don’t mean that I don’t fit in in the sense that I’m awkward in my interactions with the people (though that may be true too). It’s just that this is a community where seemingly everyone is a god-fearing, church going person and I’m just so far from that. I’ve developed a lot since I left for college 5 years ago. And I’m worried that living here is going to hinder developing any further.

site meter

Perhaps, Matt, managing a bakery somewhere in southern Lower Michigan, say near Lansing, would be more your kind of scene. Oh, and bring a goat. We need a new one. I miss you. Where have you been? I would call but I’m so busy with Mom’s english class. Lovelovelovelovelovelove.

i understand that not fitting in feeling…in the sense that you feel the longer you stay, the more your development suffocates. you should totally manage a bakery. 🙂

Yours For Now...

June 3, 2008

I agree with Savvy. ~I’ll be

FlyingBibliophile

Apparently you live in the bible belt. I sort of live in the bible belt…but I deff dont feel like everyone here is a God-freaking, church goer.

Olivia Baker

I’m going to agree with you on this one. That doesn’t sound like my kind of place, either. Although (as you might guess), there are people like that one state over from you where I’ve always lived, too. Just not everyone.

Jury Duty sucks no matter what, Matt. The best you can do is take a book that you’ve been wanting to read but haven’t had the chance because of time constraints. RYN: The longest entry of your life is awaiting you at my diary. It’s filled with relationship history and patterns and questions (that you are obligated to try to answer, by the way).

Oh, and regarding Jury Duty… if you were a chick, it’d be easy to get a guy to buy you lunch which is always fun. 🙂 Anyway, I do think living with your parents hinders you. It’s almost like you’re completely separated from the real world. Imagine what your life would be like without the internet! And in a more general sense, it does seem like for your goals at this point in your life, living

in a small town (Bible Belt or not!) just doesn’t seem like the best choice for life in order for you to MEET your goals, if that makes sense. If you want to develop a social life, the more people you’re around in your age group, the more likely that will happen. People in your age group tend to live in college towns and big cities. And honestly, I think that’s what you need. A big city.

Matt, it’s not like it’s your personality that’s lacking in this situation. It’s the fact that you don’t have as many opportunities to socialize. I think it’s far easier to spark up a conversation with a person you may never see again, as opposed to someone you’ll see everyday for a semester or for the duration of a job. And when it comes to meeting people at work or at school, first days are

everything, and I’m not referring to first impressions. I’m referring to the fact that on first days, everyone is looking for new friends. The level of rejection is VERY low compared to any other day on first days. Thus, your first day (even week) of work is essential. In the mean time, I don’t even know if saving money is worth the lack of social life you’d have by living at the farm.

And as I’ve been saying for a LONG time, I think you need to frequent a coffee shop. It doesn’t matter how shy you are, eventually someone’s going to start talking to you, whether they’re behind the counter, a regular, or someone who recognizes the book you’re reading. And sometimes, just sharing a few seconds of eye contact with a stranger can lead to a really amazing conversation. 🙂

And finally, I WILL say this: I don’t think you need to move to some stupid town in Michigan where you already know people. I think that if you’re going to move, you need to move somewhere you can be the NEW guy, because then you can be anyone you want to be, you can start over, and people are more likely to want to be your friend.

You give the precise reasons for why I don’t want to be at my parents for long. I can’t live in a place as backward as some of the towns (like yours and mine) in Georgia. They are just too out there for me.

ryn: haha! lucky you 🙂

June 5, 2008

RYN: sorry, I wrote that blog for a 100% christian audience and should have tweeked it before putting it up here but I didnt think about it. I know that abortion isnt ONLY a religious debate but since I was writing to christians I talked about it a lot. Also when I said “for abortions” I meant people who are anti abortionists and spend a lot of time doing protests and such…

michael.

Jury duty hmmm. Was going to say interesting, but clearly it wasn’t… You never have seemed very at ease with the types of people that are around you, either here or at uni… I sometimes wonder if you’d get on better in a bigger city and that. I dunno. But then you seem kind of resistant to the non-godfearing goodgirl/boy types too, if you know what I mean. when does your superjob start?

heatherette

Yo tengo hambre. And I had to go to jury duty before I left, but I was leaving so I couldn’t go. Oop. Too bad. All my friends were put in the same situation as you. I was going to tell you not to get too excited. But yeah.

I wasn’t angry that she wrote so beautifully. I meant “Gah!” as in like when you see some drop dead gorgeous person walking down the street. Only I was referring to what she wrote. 🙂 Maybe it’s good that the jury didn’t have to do any decision making, cause there may have been mixed feelings among you guys; getting everyone to agree is time-consuming. Good luck finding a new community. 🙂

June 8, 2008

Frankly, what are your plans this summer? When do you start the new job?

Miss Melodramatic

Jury duty, I haven’t had the pleasure of that yet. Knock on wood. I know how you feel about being in a community where you feel like you just don’t fit, or that its stifling your growth as a person. Been there, experienced that. Much Love, Katie