Scribblings on a paper bag

Nothing much happening. Still permanent job hunting. The Boy just graduated; he's fantastically excited. So he's going to take the Bar in Feb, he thinks. He's doing tax accounting now. It's as boring as it sounds.

I've taken up running again. Still run at a walking pace, but at least it's a faster walking pace. And I don't have to stop and walk! I'm thinking my thyroid's about gone kerplut, though, because I'm working out, eating as I should, and still gaining. I have other symptoms, too, but seriously, who gains 7 pounds in a week? And I'm not doing weight training, even though I know I should. An academic question, really, with no health insurance.

Not dead, just busy. Was working 2 jobs since October. Off for a month, now I'm doing it again. Good for the wallet, but bad for the schedule and sleep, and that working out thing I had for a little while. But The Boy's doing well at his job, and is set to graduate, so that's something. I'm hopeful I'll find something.

Nothing much going on. Went through a couple of doc review jobs.

The legal job is very stratifed into the haves and have-nots. The haves work at big firms and make $100-$150k straight out of law school, and the rest of us manage to network into small firms or worst of all, do doc review for big litigation projects. People would not believe it if told the average lawyer is escastic to make $50k a year. Doc review entails sitting in front of two computer screens every day for hours, looking at docs to see if they're relevant, and if so, can they be held back because an attorney had something to do with them, and what the document is about. It's about as mind-numbing as it sounds, and a huge eyestrain. Yes, I went to law school and passed the bar to be treated like an idiot.

On the plus side, the money is better than if I worked at the mall. But on the minus side, it's temporary work, so you might have a job tomorrow, you might not. You can be told the project is over with no warning- I was. And there's no health insurance. And there's no legal experience. Looking at some legal documents isn't the same. Once you're in doc review, getting a job as a real lawyer is very very hard, because firms think you've chosen it, and won't like the permanance of a real job. I didn't say it was a smart assumption, but they think it for some reason.

So feeling bitter right now. I so want to be a real lawyer.

And in other news, my feet hurt again. Everything gives them blisters, which turn into open sores and don't heal. And with being broke, try finding shoes. Right now, I'm looking for work-appropriate shoes that are wintry, go with skirts, are suitable to walk in for more than a block, and go with black, brown and navy. Was thinking burgundy, maybe. Have no idea about the style. Ballet flats hurt the back of my heels- I need a straight back to the shoe : |, as opposed to ) as most ballet flats are, because the ) shape digs into the heel. I have no ideas.

Been busy doing a lot that's gotten me just a little.

Still at the contract job, although I think the job might end this week. Thank goodness for having saved up! So now The Boy and I both are desperately job hunting. Nice that all entry level jobs for me are for those with 3-5 (occasionally 2) years of experience. That means, essentially, I'm SOL. But I keep trying. Hopefully by the week after next I'll hear something from some energy companies.

Running is progressing well, albeit slowly. I can run a 5k now, not fast, but I don't have to walk. It's hard, but it really has lifted everything and very quickly at that. Now I'm working on 10k training. Grrrr!

Found a real job! A temp firm called me Monday night and asked me if I was interested in a 2-3 month document review job starting Tuesday morning. Not too keen on the no warning thing, but hard to turn down a job as an attorney which pays 2.5x what I was making at the stationery store.

Had to quit with no warning, which I didn't like doing, but I got the call out of the blue, myself. They weren't pleased with me, but it wasn't like I was irreplacable- I wasn't allowed to work the cash register, and my main job was counting stationery orders when they came in. And besides, I did tell them I was looking for something until the legal market opened up again.

It's a nice place. Comfy chairs, nice computers, internet access, free coffee, and fun people. And what's very nice is that it's flex time, so long as you work 37-40 hours per week while the center's open. Most of us are planning on working M-Th and being off Friday. I'm enjoying it a lot so far, and more importantly, it's experience for other document review jobs down the road. I'm still looking for work in a firm, but this is a respectable way to pass the time. That whole being able to pay bills thing is nice, too.

Legal market in Houston still sucks. I wasn't expecting to be welcomed with open arms, but I thought I'd be able to find something by now. We were planning and hoping on getting The Boy some sort of job so I can quit my mind numbing (I was reprimanded for peeing while on the clock yesterday *am I 5? am I in a 3rd world sweatshop?*) but bill paying, I'll admit, job and volunteer at a Legal Aid office to get experience and my name out there. Would love to move, but we don't have the $, not even to buy the BarBri books to study for another state's bar. If I'd have known law school would be like this, I'd have gone to med school.

Happy birthday to me!

And to zooropababy, of course.

Somehow managed to get an interview with the county DA's office tomorrow morning. Never thought I'd want to be an ADA, and never thought about doing litigation, but it would be experience, and more importantly, secure and pay money. Right now working retail I feel like the waiters who're really writers/actors. Pleasepleaseplease, DA Office, hire me!

Got the stationery store job I'd applied to. I should have- 3 years of experience is pretty good. So starting Monday, and thank goodness, too, because paying rent and feeding ourselves this month would have been a little difficult, otherwise.

Yeah, I went to law school and passed the Bar to work in retail. If I'd have known then what I know now, I'd have taken those science classes and gone to med school.

The legal job market sucks right now, and it's really bad in Houston. Out of about 350 in our class, about 50have good legal jobs. They don't tell you how bad it is before law school, or really even much while you're there. Naturally, I'm still looking for a real job, but I despair.

Geez, no one wants to hire a baby lawyer. No one. The Boy isn't having luck, either. I wish law schools mentioned, before one applied, that one's chances of employment after graduation are about nil unless one has super grades and is hired by BigFirm. I so don't want us to have to move in with my mother.

I PASSED THE BAR!!!!!!!

All I have to do is send the TX Bar Assoc about $250 and get sworn in and I'll be a real lawyer. Sure, I'm still unemployed, but at least it's on another level now.

cats in sinks

Saw an ad in the paper last week for a thrift store that was having a 1/2 off sale today. Being poor and interview suit-less, it was a must do. I didn't expect to find anything- odds are with thrift stores, the in-style not-stained-to-pieces clothes are either size 2ish or 16ish (because people grew out of them) and the more average sizes are a lot more picked over. We got there early, heard joyfully that it was everything in the store on sale, and started looking.

The Boy was hopeful, but every suit he tried on fit in the chest, except for the fact that the arms all looked like 3 quarter sleeves. A very distinctive look in men's suits, to be sure, but not for him. Somewhere in Houston, a man who looks like a Tyrannasaurus Rex has a lot more room in his closet.

But I managed to find 4 suits! Four suits in style, not stained, and in good shape! Two black wool skirt suits, a bit more frivolous dark blue silk suit, and a bone silk suit. Less than $50 for 1 Talbots, 2 Dana Buchman, and 1 Ellen Tracey suit! Nice change of pace from the thrift stores that will mark anything up outrageously if it has a label, even if it's older than I am and not vintage, just old.

And wow, working out has helped. I'm about a size or 2 smaller than I thought I was. The perils of watching the scale more than the fit of one's clothes. And the sad thing is that I don't feel confident enough I can keep this much weight off that I'm going to get rid of my larger clothes yet. I did pick up some cute dressy jeans today (go $3.50!) after looking at myself in the pants I wore today, which are about 2 sizes too big and realizing that I looked silly.

There was also a Sherlock Holmes book on clearance for $1 at Half Price Books. One of the ones I've wanted to read but haven't felt the need to buy new, like Otto Penzler's series was.

We visited another thrift store which was manned by two little old ladies. It had that sleepy sedate atmosphere where you felt that nothing much had happened in 20 years. We wanted to buy something from them because they were so nice and so cute, but there just wasn't anything to appeal to those who didn't read Reader's Digest.

Been busy job hunting. No luck for The Boy or me yet. Something needs to happen soon.

We dropped T Mobile. They simply breached their warranty, and when we have time, we're sending a letter to corporate headquarters (took digging to find the address) about our dissatisfaction. I'm not a lawyer yet, but what they did looks like TX Deceptive Trade Practices Act violations to me. We're looking at a landline- we'll be here a while, because The Boy still has a semester left, and we don't have the cash to put him in for Spring semester. And cell phones seem to be more expensive recently. Am I wrong here?

The working out seems to be going well, however. The Boy looks fabulous. He's lost a lot of weight, which makes me happy because that means he's healthier. As a side benefit, working out has made him weigh his cooking choices more closely, so now everything's not smothered in butter. And I'm doing well, too. Stuck at a weight plateau, but I think I'm still firming up. It's so hard to remember that I am gaining muscle, so my weight may not go down, but my size will. I was telling him the other day how weird it feels to buy activewear to wear while being active, and not just to tool around town in.

Speaking of activewear- are there any good sports bras out there? And are there any that cost about $30 max? All I've seen are the pull over the head squisher ones, and those don't work for me. I'm losing weight, sadly in the chest, too, but I'm still doing well enough there to need some support, especially because cardio is pretty high impact and I bounce a lot.

Didn't get the clerk job. The money was great, but on the plus side, it was about an hour and a half commute each way (go public transportation!), and that would have gotten really old really quickly.

Am currently fighting with TMobile right now. One of our phones randomly broke yesterday, and we're trying to get another one. It should still be under warranty, but they don't want to exchange it because it's an older model. They're trying to get me to upgrade. These phones (aside from this not-working thing) have been perfectly fine, and we're poor and can't afford those non-free upgrades. I'm more of the opinion that since I've had the phone for less than a year, and they have a year replacement warranty, that they should replace my phone. We'll see where I get. I really hate to drop words like "DTPA" or "breach of warranty" because I think people who do that are pompous. But a stated policy is a stated policy, and it's not my problem how hard it is for them to replace it.

Finished with the Bar Exam yesterday! Phew. That sucker's tiring. I really hope I made it this time because repeating that thing stinks. I feel decent about it. There wasn't an essay where I had no idea what it wanted, so hopefully that means good things. The MBE felt okay, and I don't think I did terribly on the MPT or the civ/crim pro sections.

The Boy promised that if I pass, I get the bottle of Glen Garioch 21 I've been eying for a while. It sounds terribly tasty, if you share my tastes in scotch, but a $100 bottle needs an occasion. And some money, naturally. Just my luck I would like smoky leathery bold Highlands. Islays seem to be 'in' at the moment, so they're not producing much smoky stuff these days. That means that what I want is old stuff, and therefore expensive.

Also got an interview for a law clerk position. They wanted a 2L, since that is traditional, but I decided to apply since they do oil and gas work and offered over $20/hr. I'll know next week. A job would be good.

Bar Exam starts tomorrow. Multi-state performance test and TX civil/criminal procedure & evidence Tuesday. Wednesday is the multi-state bar exam. Thursday is TX essays.

Hope I make it this time.

Have discovered the small fitness center here at the apartment. The Boy and I have been very diligent for the past month and a half. He's really bulked up and lost about 15 pounds, and I've overcome my plateau, and lost about 40 pounds total, as well as getting toned enough to buy some tank tops to wear in public. I'm very shy about that sort of thing, so this is weird for me. We were laughing the other day because we're in the gym enough that we needed workout clothes--that wicking stuff is nice when you're really sweating.

The Bar is the 25-27th, and I am nervous as all get out. Not feeling confident at all.

Been busy.

Studying for the Bar's taken up a lot of time. On the plus side, The Boy and I have been working out a lot. I'm down over 30 lbs, and he's down 15ish, plus he's gained a lot of muscle. He loves to flex in the mirror. Very cute. I understand- seeing the results is kind of like having a new toy. He even convinced me to get a new swimsuit, since my old one's falling off me. Got a daring (for me) black one piece with mesh in the middle- sort of a faux bikini, but without the worry of it's falling down like with a real bikini.

Decided to write the Bar Exam this time, instead of typing. Saves me $125 in fees, plus the cost of the hotel I'd need to stay in, since the laptop location is way out of town, bad enough if you have a car, but when you don't, all sorts of trouble to get to. So, I might have more hand cramps, but at a savings of $400ish, the only real prudent thing to do.

Money is even more of a concern than usual because The Boy got fired today. The hotel has shuttles, and at night, someone usually takes one and gets the desk workers Starbucks or something. He went to drop off something for me, which he'd done before. In the 3-4 minutes he was inside, with flashers on, the shuttle got towed. Did not even see a towtruck, which makes me wonder if someone in the complex tips off the tow company. He did a lot of things he shouldn't have with that, but really, a car with flashers on at 3.40am isn't in someone's way. Houston tow companies are very shady.

Had graduation last week. My parents came down to see. Between the time I got back to Houston the end of last month and last week, I'd lost 15 pounds. That's how a visit with my parents is. (So far, I'm 40 lbs down since March, which is very exciting.)

But the school got Harriet Miers to speak. I thought it ironic- I failed the Bar, and they got a failure to speak. Failure- kind of encapsulates my law school career. That was one of the worst speeches I'd ever heard. Did the school only pay enough to have her come, but not to really speak? Her speech was the sort of thing you write in 5 minutes on the airline napkin and leave at that. No speechwriter had been near that. Read like a drunked first draft. Talked about all the important people she knew, God, and then wrapped herself in the flag. No matter what your political inclinication, politics is not appropriate at a graduation speech. Give the 'go far, do great things' speech. Saying "everytime I go into the White House, I'm reminded that we're a nation at war," besides sounding idiotic, is not what we want. Then following up with a remark that she does lots of cool stuff with cool people, but she can't tell us about it? An insult.

But I did the walk, got pictures, so it wasn't a total loss.