Outsiders

If you ask K if he cares what other people think he will, emphatically, tell you no. He is lying. I think, of all of my friends, he cares what people think more than anyone. To some extent, I am fine with that. The only problem I have is his ranking system. It seems that the less connected he is to someone, the MORE he cares what they think of him and, consequently, of me. In most instances this is only mildly irritating. I don't mind "behaving myself" in front of his friends or family to a certain extent. There are some things I will NOT do though, under any circumstances, like wear matching socks.

But the one thing that REALLY bothers me lately is his concern about what his ex-girlfriend's mother, D, thinks. See, this is all facebook's fault. D still adores K, even though he is no longer dating her daughter (and hasn't been for about 5 years now). D thinks breaking up with K was her daughter's biggest mistake. I don't agree, I think they had a TERRIBLE relationship, and it was best that it ended, but of course D doesn't know the details like I do.

Anyway, so D is K's facebook friend and she leaves him comments ALL the time. At first, I didn't realize who she was. So, when she left him a birthday message with his name spelled wrong, I made a sarcastic comment that "I don't know who D is but she should at least learn how to spell your name correctly!" I know it was a bit rude, but come ON, his name is at the top of the page you are typing on! LOOK UP!!! Good lord. And once I realized who she was, she has known him for like, 15 years!!! It's not that hard! Anyway, K deleted my comment because he didn't want D to get mad. And, like I said, this bothers me, ya know?

Yesterday, he deleted another comment of mine (because he didn't want D to see it), that had NOTHING to do with her! WTF?? Why on EARTH does he care what this woman thinks of him?? Or of me?? Truly, she will probably hate me no matter what - just like her daughter does. He says that he and D are "cool" and he wants to keep it that way. But why?? I mean, I get along with some of my exes' parents, not that they are friends with me on FB or anything, but if they got mad at me about something K said I wouldn't give a shit. Why does he? I guess it upsets me because deep down I still think this is a "just in case" move. Like, if things don't work out with me and he gets back together with the ex, he wants her mom to still like him. And I think that, at this stage when he is telling people he wants to marry me, he shouldn't have a back-up plan. But it also bothers me because he would NEVER delete someone else's comment just so I wouldn't get upset. And again, I think he needs to have a better ranking system.

Anyway, so that is just my rant on that. NBD, just annoying - ya know?

Oh, the places she'll go!!

It's official. My sister is a college graduate. She is the first person in the family to graduate from college within 4 years after graduating from high school. She graduated with a 3.9 GPA and stayed at one school from beginning to end. She did an amazing job, and I am extremely proud of her.

I've been to a lot of graduation ceremonies in my lifetime, including three of my own. I think the best I've seen was my undergrad ceremony at FAU. It was well organized and well-paced. Everyone got to see their child/brother/sister/significant other/friend walk across the stage. People got to take good pictures and could also buy good pictures afterwards. You'd think such a ceremony would be easy to orchestrate, but you'd be wrong.

My sister's ceremonies were horribly planned. There were two - one in the morning for the hooding (I've never heard of BA's getting hooded, but whatevs) and one in the afternoon for the diplomas. Only about a third of the class came to the morning ceremony.

Both venues were AWFUL. The sound was terrible, the lighting was bad, and the views were obstructed. At the second ceremony I almost had to throw down with some lady who tried to stop me from going up to the stage to take a picture of my sister.

I wonder why nobody planning these ceremonies realized that the MOST important part, for each person in that audience, is to see the person they are there to see and take pictures. There is no need for FIVE speeches, by various adults nobody cares about. And nothing means anything if you don't get to see your graduate. Particularly disappointing to me was that fact that this school has a HUGE performing arts department...you'd think they could at least organize a good show!!!

But, despite the downfalls of the ceremonies, it was a good weekend. I think my sister enjoyed herself, and my mom and I did well too. We had a couple of nice meals and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And, on my last night there, I had a slumber party at my hotel with my high school best friend, JC. We had a really nice night.

So, now my sister moves on to the next phase of her life - grad school in Miami. I hope she loves it as much as I loved law school. And I hope she visits me lots, since she is only 4 hrs away!!

I don't mind you hangin' out and talkin' in your sleep

I think most of you know that K talks in his sleep. Not in the normal sense -- muttering things you are saying in your dreams. No. K answers the phone in his sleep. Then he starts to snore and I hang up, so he can go back to sleep, and then he calls me back in his sleep!! Inevitably, I give up and just let him snore on the phone. Every once in a while he will realize he is on the phone and say something bizarre, but with complete conviction. Usually, it is hilarious.

Sometimes he orders food. "Just a chicken finger sub, and that's it." was my all time favorite.

Other times he insults imaginary people. "What a tank ass!" "Who?" "The girl riding with you, in your passenger seat."

Today he said "Oh! That's why! There were two of them!" "Two of what?" I asked. "Two Stevens! I was talking to two guys named Steve!" Once he was really awake, he had no idea who either Steve was.

So today I told him that I think I should start a one-liner blog (like textsfromlastnight.com or fmylife.com) with all of the random shit he says in his sleep. He did NOT find that amusing. ;-) I, however, think it would be hilarious.

Writing

So, as Tiffany suggested, I have been thinking about using my spare time to write. In theory, a lawyer who wants a successful career should write some stuff and have it published. I'm not sure WHY this is true, since nobody but other nerdy lawyers read anything that nerdy lawyers write, but - just like having to work until 6 - this is a ridiculous truth that I must just accept. The problem is, WHAT to write about. The legal issues that I care about are all things that will either not improve my career (wrongful convictions or sex-offender registries) or possibly get me fired (raising the amount in controversy for federal diversity jurisdiction). So what to do? I searched through a few local law blogs and a few business law blogs today (for those non-lawyers out there, these are called "blawgs" because lawyers think they are cool and clever like that), searching for legal issues that might interest me. Nada. So, maybe I will just write about myself. At least then I can be on Oprah someday....

Stupid People Making Too Much Money

The people I work for get paid a lot of money, so it REALLY bothers me when they are morons. Here is the perfect example.

Every week we get a newsletter with articles written by or about people at our firm. This week someone wrote an "article" called "If I were Obama, I would nominate..." in which he suggested who should be nominated to the Supreme Court. I was interested to see who it would be, and, therefore, was disgusted to see his suggestion: Sandra Day O'Connor.

Yes, the best person he could come up with is someone who has ALREADY been nominated, served, and then retired!! He said "there is no rule preventing the nomination of a retired justice." Well, OF COURSE NOT!!!! But the fact that she retired might suggest, to a reasonable person, that she is done with all of that and doesn't want to do it anymore!! Obama would have to be an imbecile to nominate someone who just retired to the same exact job they retired from!!! Good God.

Of course, the idiot who wrote this article is a partner, making ten times more than I do, to write these dumb ass articles. I can't imagine what his legal memoranda look like...if he even writes them!! Grrrrr.

My Dilemma

I have nothing to do at work today. NOTHING. I "spring cleaned" my office on Friday and expected to be busy today because we had a client meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The client re-scheduled, so I have no work. I've asked all the partners in the office if they need anything and they "will let me know" if they do, but so far, nothing. Now, in my old job, I would've been very happy about this and probably taken half the day off. But here, I can't do that. First of all, I have a billable hour requirement (1180 hours to go), so I NEED work and not having work is a bad thing. Second, I just had my associate review last week during which I was criticized for only one thing - leaving at five. Now, I would like to note that I was NOT accused of not doing my work, or even of not being here when needed. In fact, the "criticism" said that I leave at 5, which has not been a problem...yet. In fact, continued my criticizer, I am always willing to stay late when needed and have never turned down work. Still, "consistently leaving at 5" apparently creates a perception that I am "not dedicated" to my job. Obviously, I think this is crap. I am often the first person in the office, so it makes sense that I am one of the first to leave. Also, I work at home in the evenings and on the weekends. I simply see no point in sitting here just for the sake of sitting here. But, alas, I have been told that "strategically" this is what I should do. So, I am trying to force myself to stay until 6 from now on, but when I have NOTHING to do that is kinda rough. Especially because, also unlike my old job, I can't watch TV in my office. Well, I can, but here I risk getting "caught." At my old job my boss would just be like "whatcha watching??" And then most likely tell me I don't get paid enough and I should just take the afternoon off. Here, watching TV in my office may just increase the "perception" that I don't care about my job. So, instead, I am blogging. Sooooo much better, don't you think??