Lawyering Through Life

In no particular order...

Below are the thoughts I strung together on my train ride back to Washington last night. With very little order or sense of purpose.

Another holiday season survived. Well, almost. My *favorite* holiday of the season still awaits. New Year's Eve. Such good times. Spending a ridiculous amount of money, never being able to get a cab which leads to freezing your a** off on a street corner, scanning a crowded bar/living room/hotel ballroom for an attractive person to kiss at midnight, only to discover later that *attractive* is a flexible standard when the person doing the looking has consumed multiple liquor drinks...really, it is my favorite night of the year. This year, I am keeping my expectations low and my costs lower. A few friends over for drinks, then a short walk/stumble to a low key neighborhood bar. Nothing fancy. Nothing outrageous.

My interview went pretty well. At times, I upgrade that to "very well", but I am trying to keep my enthusiasm in check. I desperately want this job and I know for a fact I can do this job. As I walked through the pristine glass doors last week, into a tastefully decorated lobby, with all the day's reputable newspapers laid out just so, I willed myself to not appear awestruck. I had worked at a big firm years ago but being an attorney in such a place...well, frankly I was immediately overwhelmed. I met with a total of eight attorneys, including a labor defense bigwig who is currently looking for an associate upon whom to pile work. "Pick me", I felt myself shouting, hand outstretched towards the ceiling as if back in Mrs. Krug's third grade class where I always seemed to know the answer. I was told not to expect news until after the first of the year...BUT, today I sent an email to the Recruiting Coordinator to thank her for setting up the interview and to let me know if she needed anything further from me. She replied that she would be contacting me next week to set up another round of interviews!! Whoohoo!

Part of the reason I so want this job is the relief that I would feel locking in a post-clerkship position. I am barely getting by on my current salary which means I can't afford to not have a job lined up within a few weeks of my clerkship ending. While Mama and Daddy Jersey would bail me out if need be, I would prefer to make a seamless transition to real world attorney without having to stop off at Parental Safety Net-land once again. I would like to make a dent in the National Debt, Daddy Jersey's pet name for the amount of money loaned to me over the years. But I highly doubt I will lock in a job so far in advance. I am just not one of those people that "things just work out for." So, with equal parts hope and self-doubt, I await round 2.

Being at home was nice, although it went way too quickly. I was only home for three nights, just long enough to feel guilty upon my departure. Mama Jersey gets choked up, hugs me tight and mutters into my shoulder, "I wish you didn't live so far away."

While we are on the topic of my mother, I will share the conversation we had at the train station.
"Is this how you wear your hair to work or do you fix it nicely?"
"Nope, this is how I wear it." (Which means I put a little product in it and I blow dry it).
"Oh."

What is it with her and my hair? It was recently trimmed, I blow dry it, does she expect a salon like blow out to be done at the gym at 7:45 a.m. as I rush to make it to work before Judge calls? Man, does that woman give me a complex about my hair. A friend from work recently told me that she went to reach for a piece of bread at dinner and her mother admonished her, "Don't you think you've had enough carbs today, dear?" Sheesh. Moms are a tough crowd.

And now a final anecdote on my appearance. On Christmas day, I wore to church a BCBG wrap dress and gold heels. A little class for a town where big bangs and multiple gold necklaces are all the rage. I stood off to the side while my parents greeted what felt like the entire parish. An elderly woman hobbled over to me. She said, "I've just got to pay you a compliment. You've got the nicest set of legs I've seen in years. And those shoes! You should be a hosiery model."

Nice compliment, right? It is nice to have someone notice those extra hours at the gym. I smiled, turned beet red, and said thank you, praying that no one else heard. She wished me a merry Christmas and went to walk away. She turned back though and said "And your face ain't half bad either."

Now with an absolutely crimson face, I willed my parents to wrap it up. Sensing that was a losing battle, I decided to walk out on my own to the car. As I walked out, I saw myself in the glass doors and thought, "Hmpf. Maybe this isn't half bad."

Now, if only she were a single guy, about 30 years old, around six feet tall, and a liberal who loved college basketball.

One segment of the population at a time, I guess.

posted by jersey @ 4:19 PM