Monday. Monnnnnnnnnnnday. in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

It is a gray drizzly day out here in Downtown Des Moines. Though, I will admit… I checked the weather to make sure that wasn’t just my perception.
The Solheim Cup is this week and it is being played less than a mile away from my apartment. Which means this morning’s commute was extra fun and the remaining commutes of this week will just get worse. Over 200,000 people are expected to attend this Golf Outing. That is essentially stating that (numbers-wise) the entire population of Des Moines will be using my little street. Which is why EVERY street corner had a Police Officer and a Police Vehicle with its lights flashing.

Text message from the boss: Where is my phone?
Text message to boss: With me. I’m on the way.
Thoughts of me: Before you left Friday morning, you handed me the phone to handle your clients while your mom was in town. Assuming that you wanted me to continue handling your clients over the weekend (should the need arise) I took the phone with me over the weekend.

Get to work, immediately get a phone call from Difficult Case Client. I’ll just call him Client 14. Client 14 came to me in an… interesting way. He was charged with an Aggravated Misdemeanor and a Serious Misdemeanor. I had worked out a great deal for him! Plea to the Serious Misdemeanor; stay out of trouble for a year, and everything goes away! But before he could sign that dotted line… he picked up 12 new charges. So that deal went from “Everything goes away” to “Locked up until treatment can be provided.” Since he was going to be in jail on the 12 pending charges; I figured… dude, up to you, but I recommend take the deal because you’re already doing your time on it. Besides… the 12 charges? You’re now facing a Felony, an Aggravated, 2 Serious, and an ungodly amount of traffic fines. You don’t need to be worrying about pleading to a damned Serious right now.
He calls me this morning. He wants to retract his plea. He’s thought about it and he wants to fight the charges so he doesn’t have an assault on his record and so he doesn’t have to wait in jail anymore. This plea, by the way, that was entered into and sentenced 30 days ago! Legally, the only way he can do that… is to file Ineffective Counsel. He needs to tell a judge that I am a shitty attorney and if he had an attorney that knew what he was doing, he would never have plead guilty. Which is complicated since I’m also representing him on those other 12 charges. Seriously… I know people like him are the exception to the rule. As an attorney, I won’t be dealing with people like this all the time but… he is a very draining individual. And an increasing part of my current misery.

Good thing, though? My brain was trying to be an asshole and I argued against it.

I was starting to think “Everything you touch turns to shit. The human trafficking case is now more complicated and messed up because of your involvement. Client 14’s case is all kinds of fucked up. You filed a suppression on something that didn’t exist. Everything you touch turns to shit.” But then I stopped myself. I listed my victories in Small Claims Court and in the No Contact Violation. I listed the ways I’ve helped my bosses… even if I upset them by it not being perfect the first time, I still did as requested and theoretically helped the firm. Everything I touch has not turned to shit. Yes, maybe I have an abundance of shit. But that is how one starts.

Hoping that I can believe that for at least the rest of the day. Just one day at a time, right?