And now, the rest of the story in Book Five: Working Through the Maze 2018

What with being tired and certainly not motivated to do little more than sit in a basement office doing nothing, I did not arrive at work until 9:15. White Boss was here already (his calendar had some required things at 8 am) but Chinese Boss was nowhere to be found.

Other than the random “translations” I’m asked to do (but remember that I don’t speak Chinese!) the only things I do right now are sit and be available should White Boss have questions about the cases I had been working. And make out of state Phone Calls for Chinese Boss. I get it that in the age of the cell phone, out of state phone calls versus local phone calls aren’t as big of an issue as they once were. I also acknowledge that it is weird that I’m still of an age where Local vs. Out of State even comes to mind. But as a natural concept, I see this highlighted, bright Bad Idea sign when she asks me to do these things. Because remember… I’m not calling all of these out of state Clients and Attorneys on an Office Phone. I’m not even calling them on a Firm Cell Phone. The only phone access I have, like the only computer access I have, are the ones I have provided. Personal Cell Phone. Personal Laptop. And yes… the lawyer that helped them set up their law firm did tell me recently that she continually, persistently, relentlessly told them that when they hire a new attorney, they needed to supply a Phone and a Computer. Of course they didn’t. Of course they required me to use my personal cell phone and provide my own laptop. These guys are damned lucky I am who I am. If I was a less scrupulous, less honorable, less decent kind of person? I could easily have never shared my documents. Simply keeping them on my hard drive. I could change my personal cell phone number as soon as I leave on Friday. And where would that leave them?! Honestly. If I was that much of an asshole, they would have ZERO access to the cases I’ve been working all because they couldn’t be arsed to provide a FIRM Computer or FIRM phone. Mostly the firm computer, frankly. Because seriously? Think about any job. Now think about that job demanding you provide your own computer. The legal ramifications are significant. Because that COMPUTER is your property. So even if what you’ve done on your computer is WORK PRODUCT, that becomes considerably harder to prove if it is a LAPTOP that would allow you to create content outside of work hours. Now you have a PERSONAL computer with PERSONAL work. If the company at any point wishes to do an audit of your computer, or access the materials on your computer, or install a key-logger or ‘content controls’ onto your computer.... either they needed to have a brilliantly worded employment contract before you started OR they have opened themselves up to one hell of a lawsuit potential.

And then, there are these difficult weird bits of being a Private Attorney which my bosses have no idea how to deal with and which the State Public Defender’s Office has no idea how to deal with. I have been removed from many of my cases upon my request as I am leaving my firm. However, there are still matters that must be dealt with. And clients that wish to speak to the attorney that they’ve been working with. I just had a 15 minute conversation with a client attempting to ease their transition to new counsel. I will not be getting paid for that conversation. I don’t mind that personally. But as far as “professional attorney” and as far as this firm especially that is a “HUGE” problem. Because it is work with a client where the client isn’t giving us money. (eye roll).

CONSIDERING THIS PLACE IS LIKELY EVAPORATING.... and considering that I am out of the practice of law soon (at least for a short period)… I wanted to make a confession. One that worries me but is important.

Something that carried over from Tiny Town to This Firm? Large swaths of downtime where no work was present. AND YET Chinese Boss and White Boss were always busy (or saying they were). Always at their desk working on something. But for me? I’d file something in a case, wait. State would file something in a case, I’d investigate that filing and speak with my client, and file something in return. Then wait. It was like Chess but Chess by correspondence. “King’s Pawn to e4” matched by “King’s Pawn to e5” “King’s Pawn takes King’s Pawn.” But with days, weeks, sometimes months in between moves. Now… part of me thinks that a GOOD LAW FIRM would have helped me figure out what to do in those “waiting periods” so that I could still be a productive attorney, make money for the firm, and continue to grow as a professional. But there is another part of me that worries. Perhaps this is something I should have learned by now. Perhaps any attorney I work for going forward will expect me to know what to do when I’m not actively working on a case. And I don’t know what to do. And I worry that such a lack of knowledge is a personal shortcoming that inhibits my ability to be a good attorney.

Here’s something interesting and amusing. I’m not exactly one to have a type. Well, I am and I’m not. It entirely depends on so many different variables about me, my day, the world, the individual, the strength of the magnetic pole on Pluto, and so many other things that… some days I have a definite and DISTINCT “type”… and other days, I do not. AND to be perfectly honest and quite frank… on days when I do have a distinct and definite type? That type changes as well. Some days nothing will do but the “Sexy Professional” (see also “Librarian,” “Secretary,” “Teacher,” or “Attorney.”) Some days I’ll only respond to dedicated black leather Goth. Other days, I’ll be more inclined towards sporty tomboy. Or Gothic Lolita. Or Cosplay Super Star. Or Goth Vampire. Or bohemian hippy. Or rockstar punk queen. Or posh and chic. Or preppy. Or Trendy. Or ‘retro blend.’ Or manicured and elegant. Or trashed out hoe bag. Or super girly. Or cowgirl. Or girl next door. Or manic pixie dream girl.

I mean obviously… typically, I just find myself liking anything that looks good. And a makeup design that is rocking always catches my eye. And I must confess that I am an incurable leg man.

But those are all simply physical appearance elements. A person’s PHYSICAL APPEARANCE can be so mutable as to have no meaning. Hell, when I was an actor… I could go from “seductive transvestite prostitute” to “broseph athletic jock” with a simple costume change and Noxzema pads. Which is why as interested as I’ve always been in what physical characteristics make someone attractive to someone else? I’ve also been fascinated by what NON physical things play a role as well. ESPECIALLY when the non-physical things are not easily identifiable. If there is a “soul type”, is that something that can be picked up on unconsciously? Yes, from a clinical perspective you could say “Human mating rituals and partner selection fascinate and confound me.”

This came up partially because I’ve noticed a young (looking) woman around the courtroom lately that I just randomly kept thinking “I’d like to get to know her better.” She isn’t what many would call knock out attractive. Certainly “my type” (Hope you catch the joke there given the previous paragraph)… somewhat mousey brown hair, dark rimmed glasses that look a size too big for her small face, somewhat thin, always professionally attired. But for some reason… she just grabbed my attention. Turns out, she was selected to take over one of my cases and I had to help the client find her contact info. Which led me to her firm’s website and her biography. This is where things get interesting and my “ethereal, inexpicable” concept. I had no reason to view THIS PARTICULAR WOMAN as unique for any reason. But she caught my eye and my attention. And on her biography?
She graduated from High School at the same time as my Wife.
She attended the same college as my wife (and I) and graduated 1 year earlier than my Wife did.
She attended Law School around the same time I was in college. She graduated from Law School the same year I graduated from College.
Her Legal Focus is a combination of mine and Aoife’s.

I’m not saying there is fate or karma working here by any means. I just found it interesting.

Grump. As much as I want to lose weight… well… mostly as much as I want to look at least 40% better when naked or semi-nude… I could not bring myself to go back to the Vegan place for lunch. Because if I’m only going to go Vegan one meal a day? That is likely going to keep my stomach/digestive stuff going absolutely haywire. And things at home are NOT such that I could go full on, 100% vegan. I’m not even sure that I would want to. So instead… I went somewhere else. I just really hope that, come April, I can get where I want to be physically. STAY TUNED FOR “Before” PICTURES THAT INCLUDE “grungy” and “stylish” for both BEFORE “Fat” and BEFORE “Long Hair/Facial Hair”

Probably the most productive thing I’ve done today was call the Insurance company of the dude who hit me. Wife had told me that the Rental Car (that was supposed to be charged to the Insurance company) had been charged to me. SO I wanted to get that cleared up. The claims adjuster thought it was strange that they would bill me and called the Rental Car Company to figure things out. We got it worked out. Done and done. And that was likely the most actively productive thing I’ve done today.

With that in mind, though, and knowing how my bosses love being reactionary instead of planning ahead… I decided to write them an e-mail basically saying “You have 48 hours to figure out what you want to do for my transition. Otherwise, I’m out.” Which is funny. LOTS of parts of this job have reminded me of the shitty exit from Shoe Sales that I had. The fact that I have to “write a note” to express “you knew I was leaving” would be the icing on that particular “coincidence cake.” I just hope it isn’t a complete mirror. If I had to literally just leave my office keys on the reception desk and walk out, hoping that things were going to work out? Gosh, if that happens… I’m instantly calling my SIL to tell her. And then I’m going to write a long entry to my therapist to find out… What the crap?! But hopefully it won’t come to that.

Wanted to make sure this was at the bottom for people who were interested. I’ve created Test Pages on various alternate journal platforms and would love feedback to see where I am going to end up.
Goodnight Journal: Test Page https://www.goodnightjournal.com/2018/03/27/testing-37/ under the name “BatVillains in Gotham”
LiveJournal: Test Page https://ck-from-parkrow.livejournal.com/ under the name ck_from_parkrow
Digital Expression: Test Page https://www.digitalexpressions.nu/viewdiary.php?DID=50801&EID=1767167&nohit=1 or under the name CK_BatVillains
Dreamwidth: Test Page https://ck-me.dreamwidth.org/ or under the name CK_ME

Personally, so far… Digital Expression is my leading choice.

If that is where I wind up… I’ll be going to a bunch of writers and just… letting them know. So if you get a random message saying “HERE I AM” that’s why. Just in case you want to know where to find me.