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Day 891: Fighting and Lace
Mar. 31st, 2010 10:30 pmThat's pretty much the story of my life and my spare time.
On Saturday I did minor amounts of homework but mostly had Joss Whedon day. Because seriously, what better way to spend a Saturday than to watch lots of Joss Whedon and make lace? I watched a whole lot of Angel, because I like David Boreanaz but I am also faintly, pathetically obsessed with the conundrum that is Connor (and, consequently, Vincent Kartheiser). The Jerry Springer-like messed up Angel-Cordelia-Connor love triangle makes me giggle like an idiot. Luckily enough, Joss Whedon is a cool enough writer that I'm okay with Cordelia kissing Angel in the context of Angel but not in the context of Buffy. I also watched me some Firefly, which was super cool, because Summer Glau played a ballerina in an episode of Angel, and you know me - I like to see actors jump from show to show.
Once I got done with the lacemaking I went to play D&D, which I haven't done for months, and then there was more lacemaking.
Church on Sunday was pretty awesome. I was dutifully taking notes during one girl's talk when, apparently unbeknownst to only me, she made a reference to me. Oh well. Church was good, though - I got to hang out with Jeff the investigator, and I talked to my parents, and also got letters written and the whole nine yards. I was fuzzy with headaches all weekend from the change in weather, but oh, the change in weather has been pretty glorious.
Monday was a good day - went to classes, did work, prepped for trial, went home and relaxed a touch, then went to FHE. Levi and I planned the entirety of the month of April, which made me happy, and then we had a fun time gaming. In typical passive-agressive me-ness, I flirted a teensy tiny bit with a smart, cute boy I'd never date (I'm done with history majors, and also he's younger than me) as a method of dissuading Kile some. Gaming was good overall, though.
Tuesday was a great day - had fun in First Amendment (I've never seen MASH but I've heard the theme song, and I didn't realize the lyrics were terribly suicidal - most popular suicide song ever), was faintly terrified of being the only one in institute until Zach and Mark showed up, and then had super fun times in Native American law - it was movie time! Afterwards I prepped my closing argument all through afternoon intake, and then I went home to relax.
Went to ninjitsu, and...I finally got my orange belt! I was so happy and definitely squeed like a girl. Apparently now that I have a bigger-sized belt I can use it to choke people out on certain techniques. Go me. I got a shiny certificate for ranking up, which also made me smile. There's something weird and quirky about having my ninjitsu certificates in with my law school CALI certificates. Also, I have apparently entered Sensei Raymond's circle of affection, which for him is random strikes and chokes and also getting friended on Facebook. It kinda made me happy. I'm friends with a cheerful, tattooed ninja. Seriously awesome. I like it a lot.
Today was a good day, too. Stressful, because I was terrified of trial all morning and spent most of Church & State freaking out. And updating my laptop. I wolfed down my lunch, changed into my suit, and then headed for court. On the way to court in the Boss's car, I looked out the window and saw some of my fellow law students lounging on the grass and soaking up the sun, because it was an absolutely beautiful day today. I loved it. But I was scared. I did totally look like a little lawyer, all done up in a suit with my pretty black leather attaché case. We went into the court reporter's office, and there I saw a tall black man, built like a basketball player, who honestly didn't look older than thirty-five to me, and I told him we were there to get exhibits marked for trial, and he said the court reporter was out, but we could wait. He was polite and let me borrow his stapler, and I figured he was the bailiff, because he looked like he could fly-tackle an unruly defendant or something.
It was only after he'd gone and I'd chatted with our client and other things that I found out that the nice man I'd spoken to was the judge. I couldn't believe it - he was so young and so nice. I'm used to judges being grumpy old men. But he was polite and pleasant and I liked him. Mr. Opposing Counsel was just as rude in person as he was on the phone. I gave him shiny courtesy copies of my exhibits and of the law I was planning on referencing during my pre-trial argument, and did he say thank you? No. Of course not. Wouldn't even look me in the eye. (I found out from the Boss afterwards that he was terrified of me and my partner, which did kinda make me smile.)
As for the trial itself...the trial did not happen. But we still won. How does that work? It works like this. We moved for summary judgment last year. Got summary judgment mostly in our favor, but one issue remained undecided. Mr. Opposing Counsel read the summary judgment order and erroneously believed that summary judgment decides issues of fact (it does not - it only determines whether there is a material issue of fact in dispute). So Mr. Opposing counsel scheduled a motion hearing at the same time as our trial to attempt to dismiss trial altogether.
Didn't happen. He argued, and he made false statements (all the issues have been decided, my foot) and said stupid things (the judgment has been paid - yeah, it was paid yesterday, which looked dumb even to the judge). Then I argued. I spoke a bit too fast in places, because I was honestly terrified, but I did all right - I did things lawyers are supposed to do, like cite laws and cases, as opposed to using cheesy aphorisms ("defendant doesn't get another bite of the apple because she didn't like the way the result turned out at summary judgment"). (My personal favorite was "she could have filed a motion for a new trial" - yeah, summary judgment was not a trial, so there could be no motion for a new trial.) Mr. Opposing counsel argued after me, and then when The Boss stood up to speak her piece, he interrupted her. Without standing.
Rude. Judge didn't like it. None of us liked it. For a few moments there, I was genuinely convinced that we were going to lose the motion after all - I was watching the judge's face, and he wasn't entirely poker-faced, and a couple of times it looked like he was totally going with Mr. Opposing Counsel. But the judge ruled in our favor...and then continued the trial (as in, ordered a continuance, as in trial was delayed). The Boss asked him to reschedule it before the end of the semester so Jen and I could see it through, and Mr. Opposing Counsel hemmed and hawed such that the trial is now in the middle of finals, but we'll get to try it. I was totally looking forward to seeing the look on the opposing party's face when I called her to the stand, but...I still got the satisfaction of knowing that we won.
We won. I helped win my very first pre-trial motion. The Boss obviously ruled the day and saved Jen and I from face-planting, but we did it. The only person who showed up for our side were our witnesses, including our client. About ten or fifteen of the other side's closest friends and family or whoever showed up...just to watch their lawyer lose. Now, the original attorney for the other side (they've switched attorneys) showed up as well...to testify. Only he never properly withdrew from the case, so technically he's on the case, which means he can't actually testify. We have rules about that sort of thing. If you're conducting the trial, you don't get to testify at the trial. Just sayin'.
It was another anticlimactic victory, a long run for a short slide, but we did it.
Afterwards I went back to school, changed out of my suit, and went to sit outside in the sun. I read for a bit, I really did, I tried to concentrate, but I only managed an hour before I stretched out on the grass and had a lovely nap.
I got a free no-quiz day in Copyrights (during which I got caught up on writing, which was pretty cheap of me) and then came home and relaxed, watched Castle and made lace, ate dinner and talked to Mom over Skype (like, she was on Skype while I was cooking and eating, which was awesome), and then the lovely Nurse Lindsey came to visit for visiting teaching, and we ended up talking and having a good time. There was a faint debacle when she left her cellphone behind, but we got that all delivered. And now it's time for Angel and lace.
I've realized that in my spare time, pretty much I either fight...or make lace.
Sometimes I bellydance.
I really am a freak.
On Saturday I did minor amounts of homework but mostly had Joss Whedon day. Because seriously, what better way to spend a Saturday than to watch lots of Joss Whedon and make lace? I watched a whole lot of Angel, because I like David Boreanaz but I am also faintly, pathetically obsessed with the conundrum that is Connor (and, consequently, Vincent Kartheiser). The Jerry Springer-like messed up Angel-Cordelia-Connor love triangle makes me giggle like an idiot. Luckily enough, Joss Whedon is a cool enough writer that I'm okay with Cordelia kissing Angel in the context of Angel but not in the context of Buffy. I also watched me some Firefly, which was super cool, because Summer Glau played a ballerina in an episode of Angel, and you know me - I like to see actors jump from show to show.
Once I got done with the lacemaking I went to play D&D, which I haven't done for months, and then there was more lacemaking.
Church on Sunday was pretty awesome. I was dutifully taking notes during one girl's talk when, apparently unbeknownst to only me, she made a reference to me. Oh well. Church was good, though - I got to hang out with Jeff the investigator, and I talked to my parents, and also got letters written and the whole nine yards. I was fuzzy with headaches all weekend from the change in weather, but oh, the change in weather has been pretty glorious.
Monday was a good day - went to classes, did work, prepped for trial, went home and relaxed a touch, then went to FHE. Levi and I planned the entirety of the month of April, which made me happy, and then we had a fun time gaming. In typical passive-agressive me-ness, I flirted a teensy tiny bit with a smart, cute boy I'd never date (I'm done with history majors, and also he's younger than me) as a method of dissuading Kile some. Gaming was good overall, though.
Tuesday was a great day - had fun in First Amendment (I've never seen MASH but I've heard the theme song, and I didn't realize the lyrics were terribly suicidal - most popular suicide song ever), was faintly terrified of being the only one in institute until Zach and Mark showed up, and then had super fun times in Native American law - it was movie time! Afterwards I prepped my closing argument all through afternoon intake, and then I went home to relax.
Went to ninjitsu, and...I finally got my orange belt! I was so happy and definitely squeed like a girl. Apparently now that I have a bigger-sized belt I can use it to choke people out on certain techniques. Go me. I got a shiny certificate for ranking up, which also made me smile. There's something weird and quirky about having my ninjitsu certificates in with my law school CALI certificates. Also, I have apparently entered Sensei Raymond's circle of affection, which for him is random strikes and chokes and also getting friended on Facebook. It kinda made me happy. I'm friends with a cheerful, tattooed ninja. Seriously awesome. I like it a lot.
Today was a good day, too. Stressful, because I was terrified of trial all morning and spent most of Church & State freaking out. And updating my laptop. I wolfed down my lunch, changed into my suit, and then headed for court. On the way to court in the Boss's car, I looked out the window and saw some of my fellow law students lounging on the grass and soaking up the sun, because it was an absolutely beautiful day today. I loved it. But I was scared. I did totally look like a little lawyer, all done up in a suit with my pretty black leather attaché case. We went into the court reporter's office, and there I saw a tall black man, built like a basketball player, who honestly didn't look older than thirty-five to me, and I told him we were there to get exhibits marked for trial, and he said the court reporter was out, but we could wait. He was polite and let me borrow his stapler, and I figured he was the bailiff, because he looked like he could fly-tackle an unruly defendant or something.
It was only after he'd gone and I'd chatted with our client and other things that I found out that the nice man I'd spoken to was the judge. I couldn't believe it - he was so young and so nice. I'm used to judges being grumpy old men. But he was polite and pleasant and I liked him. Mr. Opposing Counsel was just as rude in person as he was on the phone. I gave him shiny courtesy copies of my exhibits and of the law I was planning on referencing during my pre-trial argument, and did he say thank you? No. Of course not. Wouldn't even look me in the eye. (I found out from the Boss afterwards that he was terrified of me and my partner, which did kinda make me smile.)
As for the trial itself...the trial did not happen. But we still won. How does that work? It works like this. We moved for summary judgment last year. Got summary judgment mostly in our favor, but one issue remained undecided. Mr. Opposing Counsel read the summary judgment order and erroneously believed that summary judgment decides issues of fact (it does not - it only determines whether there is a material issue of fact in dispute). So Mr. Opposing counsel scheduled a motion hearing at the same time as our trial to attempt to dismiss trial altogether.
Didn't happen. He argued, and he made false statements (all the issues have been decided, my foot) and said stupid things (the judgment has been paid - yeah, it was paid yesterday, which looked dumb even to the judge). Then I argued. I spoke a bit too fast in places, because I was honestly terrified, but I did all right - I did things lawyers are supposed to do, like cite laws and cases, as opposed to using cheesy aphorisms ("defendant doesn't get another bite of the apple because she didn't like the way the result turned out at summary judgment"). (My personal favorite was "she could have filed a motion for a new trial" - yeah, summary judgment was not a trial, so there could be no motion for a new trial.) Mr. Opposing counsel argued after me, and then when The Boss stood up to speak her piece, he interrupted her. Without standing.
Rude. Judge didn't like it. None of us liked it. For a few moments there, I was genuinely convinced that we were going to lose the motion after all - I was watching the judge's face, and he wasn't entirely poker-faced, and a couple of times it looked like he was totally going with Mr. Opposing Counsel. But the judge ruled in our favor...and then continued the trial (as in, ordered a continuance, as in trial was delayed). The Boss asked him to reschedule it before the end of the semester so Jen and I could see it through, and Mr. Opposing Counsel hemmed and hawed such that the trial is now in the middle of finals, but we'll get to try it. I was totally looking forward to seeing the look on the opposing party's face when I called her to the stand, but...I still got the satisfaction of knowing that we won.
We won. I helped win my very first pre-trial motion. The Boss obviously ruled the day and saved Jen and I from face-planting, but we did it. The only person who showed up for our side were our witnesses, including our client. About ten or fifteen of the other side's closest friends and family or whoever showed up...just to watch their lawyer lose. Now, the original attorney for the other side (they've switched attorneys) showed up as well...to testify. Only he never properly withdrew from the case, so technically he's on the case, which means he can't actually testify. We have rules about that sort of thing. If you're conducting the trial, you don't get to testify at the trial. Just sayin'.
It was another anticlimactic victory, a long run for a short slide, but we did it.
Afterwards I went back to school, changed out of my suit, and went to sit outside in the sun. I read for a bit, I really did, I tried to concentrate, but I only managed an hour before I stretched out on the grass and had a lovely nap.
I got a free no-quiz day in Copyrights (during which I got caught up on writing, which was pretty cheap of me) and then came home and relaxed, watched Castle and made lace, ate dinner and talked to Mom over Skype (like, she was on Skype while I was cooking and eating, which was awesome), and then the lovely Nurse Lindsey came to visit for visiting teaching, and we ended up talking and having a good time. There was a faint debacle when she left her cellphone behind, but we got that all delivered. And now it's time for Angel and lace.
I've realized that in my spare time, pretty much I either fight...or make lace.
Sometimes I bellydance.
I really am a freak.
