Been a while, but I thought I might start journaling a bit on here so that I can keep a record of this for later.  May also do on FB, but far more people access my FB page, and this I think will mostly be just for me.  

Second day of working from "home."  I put that in quotes because Im currently staying in an extended stay hotel in Apex, about 15-20 minutes from downtown Raleigh and my office.  My lease ran out on my apartment, my landlord decided not to renew, and I'm applying for a career clerkship position with a federal judge in Wilmington, NC, so locking myself into a new lease in Raleigh seemed like a bad idea.  

After some hiccups with my current job, things seem to have settled down, although I'd still not be unhappy if this new job comes through, despite all the hassles of moving and job change it would bring.  It's a little weird right now - not because we're all working outside the office, or because it's all business as usual, but because it's a weird combination.  The courts are mostly operating on a normal schedule, with some changes - the midterm Fayetteville session is occurring tomorrow, but only with initial appearances (no arraignments or revocations), and the judge is appearing by videoconference.  I personally think that sets a terrible image - we're going to make all the attorneys and defendants show up, but the judge isn't going to risk it.  And I like this judge, personally.  If I think it looks bad, it's hard to overstate how bad it probably looks to all the defendants.  

I'm supposed to have court tomorrow, although there is a possibility that they won't let me in the courthouse because I'm coughing.  I've been coughing for months, now - some sort of chronic lung condition.  But, under the current standing order, no one is supposed to enter any federal courthouse if they are coughing.  Dumb, but there you are.  

Trying to get some work done here from my hotel room.  Hope anyone who happens to read this is doing ok.  

Damn, 16 episodes in and Tom FINALLY got interesting.  That's an impressive display of restraint in writing and character development.  Guess I'm going to have to get some icons now. 

I realized the other day that I've been a licensed attorney for 8 years, which actually makes it the longest career I've had yet by a bit - seven years total in various retail jobs (yeah, that was dumb, what can I say) and 6 years in construction (which was actually fairly useful, at least).  

And today, after eight some years, I won my first jury trial in federal court.  Life isn't bad.  Time for a drink.

Making everyone EXITING the Gun & Knife show go through a metal detector.  Except possibly to amuse the door security, who were making bets on whether anyone WASN'T going to set the thing off. 

Passed the classroom portion of the NC Carry Concealed Handgun class today.  8 hours of instruction followed by 10 minutes of test - whee!

Which, since I already passed the range portion of the class, means that now I get to go hand in my application, get fingerprinted and background checked for something like the seventeenth time in the last 8 years, and hopefully then get issued my permit.  \o/

Listening to Christina Perri's new single on the radio ("A Thousand Years," from those sparkly vampire movies, for those who haven't heard it yet), and I feel like a playlist of songs about immortality and reincarnation (and, yes, vampires).  So far -

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years
Saving Jane - Immortal (and possibly I'm in Love With a Vampire)
Barenaked Ladies - It's All Been Done
Indigo Girls - Galileo
Pretty much all of Queen's It's a Kind of Magic (but particularly Princes of the Universe and Who Wants to Live Forever)
Tempted by Muse's Supermassive Black Hole, but that may be cheating.
About every other Evanescence song (but particularly My Immortal and Bring Me to Life)
Cheryl Wheeler - Gandhi/Buddha

Any suggestions?  I know I'm forgetting about a thousand songs. . .

Didn't have the spectacular luck of my fellow vacationers, but had a good time nonetheless!  Ka is still awesome, although I still get twitchy with all the ninjas popping out of the woodwork everywhere.  With bows.  And flaming arrows.  O was more beautiful than I remember, which is nice.  Crazy people hurtling through the air into water - very symbolic.  

The Sugarland/Sara Bareilles concert was AWESOME!  It was mildly funny in that I'm fairly used to going to concerts where I'm the oldest person there, and almost as used to concerts where I'm the youngest person there (don't laugh!), but this one I was pretty much right down the middle, as the audience seemed to range from tweens up to retirees.  The Sugarland portion was one massive singalong, and I was tremendously entertained when one of the numbers in the encore was "Come On Eileen" with Jennifer Nettles and Sara dancing onstage.  Very cool.  Also worth noting is that at least for this tour, Sugarland has the cutest bassist since Hole.  And Kristian Bush is a toon character, and seems to be very amused by life.  I applaud him. 

People watching was great, food was good, and the Desert Eagle in .44 Magnum really is ridiculously huge, but shoots quite nicely.  Jams like a mofo, though - I only had 5 shots and it STILL jammed on the fifth.  Sad.  The Sig P226 and P220 were both nice, but freakin' expensive - I may start with something a bit cheaper.  

*happy sigh*  And now, to hit the Cirque site to decide if the next trip is to see a touring show or back to Vegas!

So, I've discovered that, much like my old job, I'm much more productive after everyone else has left and I don't have to worry about phone calls or emails or people dropping by my office - I can just put my headphones on and write like the wind (ok, a very gentle breeze - but it's HARDER when you have to include citations for every sentence you write).  

So, I'm typing along on my reply brief that's due Friday, when the time display clicks over to 8:00 and bam! every light on my floor goes out.

*brief wtf moment*  And I realize that not only is there not a light switch in my office, I haven't seen one anywhere on my floor - the whole building may be centrally controlled, for all I know.  

I briefly consider continuing to work in the dark, and then realize that while I can still type just fine, I can't read my freakin' notes.  *shrug*

So, I go home.  I guess it really is kinder and gentler in the public sector!  (For reference, the longest day I ever spent in the office at the firm was 17 and 1/2 hours - which, yeah, makes me a wimp by large firm standards, but there's a REASON I don't work there any longer).  

Cool - 8 pm work curfew.  I guess I can live with that!

From the California video game case:

Justice Alito accuses us of pronouncing that playing violent video games "is not different in 'kind'" from reading violent literature. Well of course it is different in kind, but not in a way that causes the provision and viewing of violent video games, unlike the provision and reading of books, not to be expressive activity and hence not to enjoy First Amendment protection. Reading Dante is unquestionably more cultured and intellectually edifying than playing Mortal Kombat. But these cultural and intellectual differences are not constitutional ones. Crudely violent video games, tawdry TV shows, and cheap novels and magazines are no less forms of speech than The Divine Comedy, and restrictions upon them must survive strict scrutiny. . . Even if we can see in them "nothing of any possible value to society. . . . they are as much entitled to the protection of free speech as the best of literature."

Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n, fn. 4.

Apparently the U.S. House of Representatives has retained my old firm to defend DOMA. *headdesk* *sigh*

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/04/paul-clement-and-king-spalding-defend-doma-at-a-discount/

I suspect that my waxing too rhapsodic about my feelings on this would violate the "no disparaging" clause of my separation agreement. And, to be fair, I'm going to go work for the Federal Public Defender's Office, where all of my clients aren't going to be on the side of goodness and light. Also to be fair, the House made a good choice - I've met Mr. Clement, I've seen him argue, and he's every bit as good as his reputation.

I will say I'm a bit surprised - I know the Atlanta (the home office) branch of the firm has been heavily involved in LGBT representation on a pro bono basis.

And now I think I'm going to go bang my head against a wall for a while.