nagi_schwarz | Day 1317: Another fortnight

I did that thing again, where I went about two weeks without posting, without saying much at all.

Work was a blur, like it always is - smiles from the bailiffs, joking and laughing and smack talk (how are you beating me at fantasy football?). There were small, half-smiles of commiseration from fellow lawyers and caseworkers. Here we go.

There was training. Two days of information overload, of all of us laughing so we didn't end up crying, punctuated by one night of mystery and honesty and good home-cooking (and an unfortunate encounter with a scarecrow made up to look like the newest iteration of Stephen King's Pennywise).

(By this I mean I was away overnight for training, and the evening after the first day a couple of us lawyers were invited to dinner and game night with the caseworkers, who were put up in a condo instead of hotel rooms like the rest of us.)

There was dancing, which was perhaps the best. There were costume fittings and dress rehearsals and a henna party. My one friend, Rose, went to culinary art school (but hated working in a commercial kitchen), does leather work as a hobby, and is an ASL interpreter. She tried her hand at henna for the first time and proved incredibly adept at it, which made the work go twice as fast. After the other girls departed, she and Naomi and I sat around and rewatched old episodes of SGA to keep us going.

The performance was wonderful. Sure, I had a veil mishap for one dance, but we had so much fun, and after we went out for dinner.

We had a goodbye pizza party for one of the bailiffs. He swore he'd never get married. He started dating another bailiff. He went on a long vacation with her. He ran off and married her. He quit and moved away with her. So he bought pizza and sodas and said fare thee well and good bye and good luck.

That horrific three-day trial of why me? got moved, and one of the secretaries gave me a day off for it.

Naomi and I went to the symphony to watch Beethoven's Fifth. We're regulars at the nearby Greek restaurant now. The waiter knows us, brings us what we want without us asking. It's kind of fun. We have traditions now.

Went to my friend's husband's birthday party. There was food and costumes (his actual birthday is on Halloween) and friends I hadn't seen in a long time. There was talking and laughter, my other friend's brand new baby, haughty cats, a stand-up comedian and Aye, Dark Overlord. (Everyone made fun of me when I mistakenly addressed our Dark Overlord as Your Honor.)

Not sure how well I'm surviving, but I'm clawing my way along, and for that I am grateful.

One more week. We got this.