Wednesday, November 21, 2012

finally going out

End of trial feels like end of finals. Reprieve, for now. 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Trial mode

The days past so quickly now. Remember when I described my mental state as one of captivity? I'm doing a mental sprint. My work day starts at 6 PM now. That's when we all reconvene for the day and start prepping for tomorrow's trial. We have to get exhibits ready, witnesses ready to go, make sure witnesses and experts are flown in. There are a ton of moving pieces, all the time, and it's pretty cool to watch everything unfold. I heard I missed some fireworks today with one of our witnesses. I'm still a bit incredulous that I get to experience this pretty early on in my career.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

I used to love the American Girl series when I was younger. Every single book ended with "Changes for __" and took place in the winter time, I guess that's when changes happened. Molly's dad came home. Felicity's grandfather died. Kirsten made it across the Oregon Trail or something. Did I make most of those up?

Changes for Anh.
I turned 2__ on Sunday. 
KMak is back.
It's my first time being on a trial team and we're going to trial tomorrow. Well, technically, it's a final arbitration hearing, but it's essentially a trial. I can't believe it's finally happening. 

Friday, November 2, 2012

mental captivity

There have been a few times in my life that I experienced what can only be described mental captivity.

Mental captivity is a state of mind that is reached when you are focused on a long-term project. Every bit of output is focused around this one, possibly ginormous project. You are unable to think of anything else. Every bit of new information you learn is for the sole purpose of advancing this project.

When I was a 2L and I wrote a "note" for my journal, I was in a mental prison. My sole reason for existing was to describe and criticize a singular immigration policy. As the due date neared, I kept a page counter on my gchat as I plodded steadily to the 35 page minimum.

Last year, I studied for the bar exam, the most important exam of my adult life. Everyday, I was obsessed with memorizing every single rule that I could. It was my sole focus. It was my life.

Right now, I am on a trial team. We are going to trial in 13 days. Every thing I've worked on for the past month revolved around this case, this set of facts. I stay up at night researching, drafting, review production for possible trial exhibits. I can't think of anything else. Can't wait to escape my mental prison after all of this is over.

Mirror mirror