Last week I reported to the Criminal Justice Center downtown for jury duty. I got a summons a month ago in the mail saying how honored I should feel that I had been chosen to participate in the time-honored process of administering justice, or some crap like that. I knew it would just be a bunch of sitting around being bored, so I came armed with my ipod and much reading material.

I was pleasantly surprised that breakfast was provided- fruit, juice, coffee, banana bread, and the Philadelphia-ubiquitous soft pretzel. I had woken up far earlier than normal to make an 8 am bus that still got me there late, so I had skipped eating at home, and wasn’t expecting any options, much less vegan ones.

Then I proceeded to sit around for 3 hours until my name was finally called to be on the panel of potential jurors for a criminal case. No sooner had we gone up to the assigned courtroom when we were dismissed for lunch. This was the best part of my day. I went a block over to Reading Terminal Market, where I blew my $9 jury duty pay (and then some) on lunch at one of my favorite stalls, Kamal’s, and almond extract (only $3!) at Spice Terminal.

Back to court after lunch, where I answered some questions and felt lame- everyone else who had answered yes to a question about being a victim of a crime had been shot, or their family members murdered, or similar tragedies- while I answered yes and then had to explain that my car was broken into and the radio stolen 2 years ago. I ended up not being selected for the jury, and I have to admit I was a teeny bit disappointed; I’d love an excuse to lunch and shop at Reading Terminal every day for 3 days (the projected length of the trial). And after the first day, you get paid 25 whole dollars every day- almost enough to cover lunch, transportation, and extracts galore from Spice Terminal. Plus, you know, participating in the time-honored process of administering justice.