I've been the maternity sub for the 7th grade language arts (or writing, if you don't want to be stupid about it, but that's a different gripe) teacher for the past week, and it's been exhausting. Not because I don't love teaching writing, because I do, but because I spend three-quarters of my time babysitting the dozen or so (male) students who will not just shut up and sit still for the love of God. My faith in the future of humanity is slowly eroding.

I forgot to write about my jury duty experience! It sucked, oh my God. I didn't get paneled the first day, or even have to go in the second. Then I was put on a jury for a case about aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Which was as wonderful as you can imagine. I thought it was a pretty straight forward case - when a man says, I never touched the seven-year-old granddaughter of my wife, but if I did, I may have just thought it was my wife, then you know he did it. But not only did the jury end up being hung, and they had to declare a mistrial, but I didn't even get to deliberate. I was the alternate. I had to sit in the jury lounge for two days, which was longer than the length of the actual trial, and just...imagine what stupid, boneheaded things people were saying in his defense. Argh.

That was my first experience with jury duty; I've always been away at college before. What have you guys experienced?