Day 1128: Binders and Binders
Jul. 21st, 2014 07:10 pmI didn't write for two weeks. One weekend it was because I went up to see my niece in a parade and hang out with my family and eat at the closest one can get to a British Pub in the state of Utah, and then I gamed with my friends. Gaming with my friends was awesome. It was the second session of the new game but probably my fifth session with those players, and I think we finally hit our stride as a group. The trick to getting a good game as a group is to play off of each other's characters, to make fun and tense and funny moments where we can. It's a combination of knowing the player and knowing the character. Jordan's playing a Southern Gentlemen in the 1890's. I'm playing a female Native American who graduated from one of those make-them-white schools. Kitty is playing a scientist and wanted to experiment on one of us. Jordan apologized before he made the comment, but we all acknowledged it was accurate for the time period, and he said, "I think we should start with the Colored one." My character's response? Was to use her super vampire speed and stab him. It was awesome. There was rage. There was laughter. We're finally figuring out how to be a team.
Work was a pretty good week, long. Did home visits with some people I just don't like. The more I work this job, the more I run into people who make my skin crawl. It's not just the child rapists, the drug addicts, the wife beaters. It's the nice church-going men who act so concerned but are really on power trips. It's the nice church-going women who say they care about children but instead kidnap and traumatize them. It's the well-meaning grandma who's manipulative and greedy and would rather see her daughter's ego soothed than see the safety of her grandchildren. I had a lot of time on the road, and while I'm on the road I listen to BBC radio dramas online. I listened to a lovely one about Lewis and Tolkien, and also a heartbreaking one about a woman with cancer (and now I want to cry every time I hear Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Follow You Into the Dark).
This week I also had trial prep. Scheduled for an all-day trial on Friday, but Alan worked his mojo and it only lasted half a day (I still have to write and file a brief before the judge issues his decision). Tried to settle this week's trial on Friday but it didn't work, so I spent all weekend reading at least three thousand pages of evidence. I sat in the corner of my sister's SPN marathon and read. I hung out with my ex-boyfriend and his wife (and their cute baby) and helped them with the wallpaper in their house. As it turns out, his wife was once a counselor at the jail for the program my parents go to when they go to jail, so we shared our experiences in the social welfare system and the unexpected way in which it makes us cynical (but then we work with the worst cases, the most failing cases). Then I prepped for trial some more, made an origami money lotus, and ferried it to the wedding of the girl my husband almost ditched me for. She is super nice and I like her, though. The wedding was lovely, but we cut out of the festivities early so I could get home and prep some more.
Did the church thing, but cut out an hour early to yet prep some more. I've been sleepless and stressed out for a week, haven't been reading or writing like I'd like, and the caseworkers keep reminding me about self-care.
Trial today started over an hour late because we were trying to get the case to settle, but it didn't happen. I made friends with a caseworker, and we went to lunch together, but trial lasted all day. After worrying about it all weekend (I'm the swing vote, wasn't sure which way I was going), I talked to the caseworker and got some of the answers I need, and I picked a side. Now I just have to stick with it and hope I can get the judge to see what I see. When a case is close it's so much harder to be the swing vote (and the other lawyers kept cornering me and asking me what my position was, which was stressful; suddenly I sympathize with Justice Kennedy a lot more, despite disliking how his opinions are written). Despite how stressful trials are (being on alert for so long), I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be. I am typing and keeping an eye on the puppies while they run circles around me. They're so disobedient, but I love them so much.
I have discovered that playing piano is really soothing, even if I'm still working on a song and it comes out pretty choppy. I think it's a great form of self-care, even if I only play one song at a time. Also, having a piano has really expanded the ways Cody and I can play music together, and I'm really enjoying it.
I'm hoping this trial turns out okay.
Today I asked Alan why he's so good at negotiating. He told me. And then intimated that he might also sacrifice kittens for some of his negotiation hoodoo. It was pretty funny.
Work was a pretty good week, long. Did home visits with some people I just don't like. The more I work this job, the more I run into people who make my skin crawl. It's not just the child rapists, the drug addicts, the wife beaters. It's the nice church-going men who act so concerned but are really on power trips. It's the nice church-going women who say they care about children but instead kidnap and traumatize them. It's the well-meaning grandma who's manipulative and greedy and would rather see her daughter's ego soothed than see the safety of her grandchildren. I had a lot of time on the road, and while I'm on the road I listen to BBC radio dramas online. I listened to a lovely one about Lewis and Tolkien, and also a heartbreaking one about a woman with cancer (and now I want to cry every time I hear Death Cab for Cutie's I Will Follow You Into the Dark).
This week I also had trial prep. Scheduled for an all-day trial on Friday, but Alan worked his mojo and it only lasted half a day (I still have to write and file a brief before the judge issues his decision). Tried to settle this week's trial on Friday but it didn't work, so I spent all weekend reading at least three thousand pages of evidence. I sat in the corner of my sister's SPN marathon and read. I hung out with my ex-boyfriend and his wife (and their cute baby) and helped them with the wallpaper in their house. As it turns out, his wife was once a counselor at the jail for the program my parents go to when they go to jail, so we shared our experiences in the social welfare system and the unexpected way in which it makes us cynical (but then we work with the worst cases, the most failing cases). Then I prepped for trial some more, made an origami money lotus, and ferried it to the wedding of the girl my husband almost ditched me for. She is super nice and I like her, though. The wedding was lovely, but we cut out of the festivities early so I could get home and prep some more.
Did the church thing, but cut out an hour early to yet prep some more. I've been sleepless and stressed out for a week, haven't been reading or writing like I'd like, and the caseworkers keep reminding me about self-care.
Trial today started over an hour late because we were trying to get the case to settle, but it didn't happen. I made friends with a caseworker, and we went to lunch together, but trial lasted all day. After worrying about it all weekend (I'm the swing vote, wasn't sure which way I was going), I talked to the caseworker and got some of the answers I need, and I picked a side. Now I just have to stick with it and hope I can get the judge to see what I see. When a case is close it's so much harder to be the swing vote (and the other lawyers kept cornering me and asking me what my position was, which was stressful; suddenly I sympathize with Justice Kennedy a lot more, despite disliking how his opinions are written). Despite how stressful trials are (being on alert for so long), I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be. I am typing and keeping an eye on the puppies while they run circles around me. They're so disobedient, but I love them so much.
I have discovered that playing piano is really soothing, even if I'm still working on a song and it comes out pretty choppy. I think it's a great form of self-care, even if I only play one song at a time. Also, having a piano has really expanded the ways Cody and I can play music together, and I'm really enjoying it.
I'm hoping this trial turns out okay.
Today I asked Alan why he's so good at negotiating. He told me. And then intimated that he might also sacrifice kittens for some of his negotiation hoodoo. It was pretty funny.