Thursday, February 12, 2009

Eyes Wide Shut

Ever since I started garbage, I have been consistently told about the importance of networking. And, as a result of being instructed to do so, I have consistently avoided this topic of conversation. When people instruct me about the importance of networking, I explain that I would not be good at it because HELLO, HAVE YOU MET ME? I have no interests that do not involve wine and television. I hate most, if not all, people. How the F am I going to network???

Anyhow, co-counsel and I (if you were wondering co-counsel is also not particularly cheery after a year and change of temping) have been weighing the pros and cons of attending a Bar related event to "network." When we stumbled upon an event hosted by the New York City Bar Association (NYCBA) for free, we decided it was time.

Look, I know I have compared firms to the DMV, my face is next to an advertisement on the subway, I have worked with "attorneys" whose idea of practicing is smoking the ganga, I have remained unhinged like Nell in several trash chutes until Hudson Legal has reached out to me and put me on some document review project above KFC. I know, I know. But for the love of Christ, none of this has anything on the NYCBA.

It may be the case that due to the NYCBA's location (battery park), attendees typically emerge from their beetlejuice type practices in order to "network" (stutter,sputter and slur). It also may be the case that those who actually attend these meetings would have to be pretty piss poor pathetic given the pain and suffering that is typically associated with these gatherings. This is all possible, maybe even probable, but there is simply no excuse for the variety of mutants that co-counsel and I encountered in suits these creatures got as their prize in a bloody happy meal. After our fourth glass of wine, we had the happy occasion of talking to one of co-counsel's fellow alumni, who without question not only sniffed, but most certainly consumed rubber cement ages 2-30, and then his parents dropped him off at this meeting. Funny, co-counsel and he actually had a lot in common BUT FOR the fact that I am fairly certain co-counsel dresses all by herself in the morning.

All of this pre-drinking happy chatter would have been forgivable, but for the speed networking portion of the event which was anything and everything a journalist such as myself could possibly hope for. Also, I believe an anthropologist would have been happy to observe these pre-evolved subjects in their habitat. Please readership, hear me out when I tell you that Darwin's concept of the survival of the fittest was lost on these creatures. I speculated that my brethren may in fact have suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, but then decided that this could not be the cause of the egregious level of mutation. One of our favorite subjects, a nice young "gentleman," explained to co-counsel that he is having a "rough start." It is entirely possible judging by this rain man that he could not count. Wait, no I take it back, rain man could count. Rather, it is entirely possible that this corky could not because we typically do not say that we are having a rough start since graduation when we graduated in 2002. No, I am fairly certain that if you have still do not have a job seven years post graduation, you have commenced the middle of your career and perhaps you should call it the end. Hate to judge from the armchair (I believe that is an anthropological phrase, I too am interested in the evolution of these creatures), as I have no doubt that twenty years post law school I will be sitting here blogging for your amusement temping at a newspaper stand. But, twenty years post graduation, you better believe that I would not be across from co-counsel with my mouth wide open rocking.

The most remarkably outstanding part of the evening was that these creatures, who for the most part all had "jobs," desperately wanted co-counsel's/my "job." We tried to explain how it would be essentially career suicide for a middle aged "man" to move from being a "lawyer" to a temp at a publishing company that would never amount to anything. This was lost on deaf ears. Co-counsel just received a phone call from some character that emerged from "Where The Wild Things Are" begging for a position here because he is interested in publishing. I have preemptively set aside a spot for him equipped with a hampster wheel and feeder.

After reflecting, I realize that we are only as good as our company. And, if my company's highest aspirations are to do database entry in the conference room of a publishing company, well, I should feel pretty god damn lucky. And, next year, I might even be up for an academy award in my groundbreaking performance of "slumdog thirty-thousandaire."

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

PAY YOUR RESPECTS

I have a very easy routine in the morning. I roll out of bed at approximately 8 AM, brush my teeth, throw on the first thing I see and I am out the door. Okay, it is true, that while my alarm clock is set at 8 am, I generally can not pull myself out of bed until 8:30 and that I sorta diddle-daddle on my way to the temping station by stopping and having like a sit down cup of coffee which is why I do not get to the publishing conglomerate until around 9:40. I am not apologetic about this, no one knows, cares or notices.

Anyhow, usually when I sit down to have my second cup of coffee, not the one I drank on the way here, but the one that is prepared for free, I cry prior to entering my first contract in the database. F*ck this whole "stop feeling bad for yourself" mantra. I feel bad for myself and no I am not going to apologize about it. I am going to own this sentiment and I am not going to allow anyone to tell me that because I am not sitting on my death bed today I should be pretty thankful. F*ck you. However, today, not only did I shed a tear, but noted out loud that "I can not help but think that I am cut out for better things."

It turns out that I am in fact cut out for better things. Nope, not because of the reasons you might have suspected; i.e. that I am 35235236262436346234623463463576 old and going on my second year of temping my J.D. It has more to do with my ancestry. Please read the "About Gargabe" exceprt that I located on Garbage's Website this morning:

Garbage, one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States, was founded in 1891 by the faculty, students, and alumni of some Ivy League Law School led by their founding dean, a major figure in the history of legal education. In 1894, the Law School established one of the nation's first evening divisions to provide those in the workforce, or with family obligations, a flexible alternative to full-time legal studies.

WELL WELL WELL WELL WELL. WEll. I am honored to be woven into this nation's fabric. MY HEAVENS, think about it, just two hundred years ago, Garbagites were not merely soda cans, but were like intelligent revolutionaries revolting against the standard institutions that only afforded day time classes. This precious little artifact is so tasty, thinking of Garbage's founding fathers setting up the pillars of the legal community by making this rather handsome contribution to law students everywhere is indeed something to be proud of.

So there, you have it. My ancestors practically arrived on the bloody Mayflower. I am cut out for better things.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Caitlin, I Hate You

My apologies to my readership, this past week I was afflicted by the flu. Do not worry, during this period, I was not compensated by my temping station and while I saw Jesus several times during this period, I did not see a penny.

During this period, I got the opportunity to catch up on television that I categorically will never watch. There are few televised programs that I feel like I am too good for, whether it be Brett Micheals Rock of Love Tour Bus or the 45246246346 season of The Bachelor, it is on (my tv) like donkey kong. There is one show, however, which is not even the worst of trashy tv, that I simply have no appetite for. It is true that I should thank my lucky stars everyday that this show came into existence. For, without it, we might be without Reality TV. And, if that was true, where would I be?

Anyhow, while I realize there are many faithful viewers of The Real World and my interests do not diverge from this viewership (regardless of their age), I simply can not watch a whole season of this retardation. Every time I turn on this sh*t, I nearly have a seizure because these twenty somethings are so god damn dumb. This week, while doped up on Nyquil, I did not find one of their stupid stories remotely compelling. Nope, not even Sarah the molested one.

It is not enough that this season Devon has created a barometer to gauge her "closeness" with some other thing on the show that she is sexually attracted to, but the fact that Ryan has a) written a book and b) has written a song about tampons truly makes me want to hide for fear that I might turn it on again. However, what I found the most offensive is really not The Real World's fault, but my own. Look, I am no stranger to trannies. I encounter them all the G*d Damn time and while I presume most of them have not had a sex change, perhaps some of them have. I do not give a damn. While I have surmised that quite a few that run various makeup stations are more attractive than me, I do not think many of them are more attractive than the real thing. AND, furthermore, I am not so close minded to believe that my opinions are truth, but I believe the general population, would agree with me that the average looking trannie is not as good looking as the average looking female.

Caitlin, this season, truly blows my mind. I ADMIT, sometimes in my flu induced delirium in conjunction with my spotting of Jesus, I found Caitlin passable especially when she revealed that she had manufactured inverted penis now vagina to the gay dude at that awful restaurant Elmo's. That being said, there is no god damn reason that Caitlin is prancing around town with not one, but two boyfriends. Furthermore, the boyfriend she found while taping is kinda good looking. I am sitting here, the real deal, and I am going to give myself some credit and venture to say that I am more attractive than her/him/it completely single. I thought about it and I THOUGHT ABOUT IT and decided that this guy just knows s/he is on The Real World and agreed to go on a date with her to get some of his own air time. With this in mind, I have decided to hire a full camera crew for no purpose at all, there will be no airing of this "show" (though I have been told I am made for reality TV), until I am bloody married. Cameras will follow me everywhere until some semi fame crazed fool agrees to be my boyfriend. YEs, just the type I like.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

AND TO THINK ALL OF THIS TIME WENT BY WITHOUT ME KNOWING

I am sure some of my fellow garbigites have had the promising experience of meeting with a legal recruiter. Typically, I decline, but my therapist and I have been working on ways for me to be more optimistic regarding employment opportunities. Not only am I meeting with legal recruiters, I have applieded to become a legal recruiter, but quickly retreated when I learned that well, I would be terrible at it.

It is funny because yesterday in therapy I spent an hour telling my paid mother/friend why legal recruiters are worthless to not everyone, but to Garbigites. The main reason is because legal recruiters do not have clients who are small toilets located on the corner of F*ck and S*it street. They cater major large firms. Or let me rephrase, in the alternative, legal recruiters can only place actual lawyers who did not belong practicing on the corner of F*ck and S*it street. Ultimately, legal recruiters cannot place me.

Despite my stance on legal recruiters I met with one today. Generally speaking, a legal recruiter will see that I did not do tooooo badly at Garbage and will make an empty promise of circulating my resume to "some places they have in mind." I never press any further as I realize this is a worthless endeavor. Today. Was. Different.

The man I met with today has seemingly arrived from planet "everyone deserves a shot even if their LSAT score should be forgotten, unlike the Holocaust, or something." Anyhow, I was informed that because of my undergraduate degree from a small liberal arts college located in the Midwest which has a magnificent writing program, and, well because I IN FACT was an English major, I would be appreciated at most, if not all firms. The one and ONLY problem is that not everyone on the East coast has heard of this institution.

MY, MY, MY. WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID I NOT THINK OF THIS BEFORE? Surely, I have considered ways to maneuver my way out of the Garbage stigma. I have even gone so far as calling the f*cker some ABA approved institution, but this has seemingly all come to naught. This guy clearly has the right idea. It is clear based on my series of interviews at big firms that have extended me an interview based solely on their interest in my senior thesis. When I tried to talk about my many "accomplishments" in law school, they were so bloody curious as to what it was like to go to school in the middle of bumblef*ck Ohio that they introduced me as "C, graduate from liberal arts school in Ohio and Georgetown Law." That were so impressed that they forgot where I graduated from law school. In fact, when I offered my "professional" writing sample, the head partner has always been like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????? PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR ANALYSIS OF 19TH CENTURY LITERATURE IN INDIA WHERE YOU RECEIVED AN A MINUS!!!!!!!" Word is out that only people from liberal arts school in the Midwest that majored in English are allowed to apply to Skadden. This is open to all of thoe who went to this specific liberal arts institution, even those who managed to be admitted to NYU, Harvard, Yale, and the University of Michigan.

With this in mind have completely revised my resume. Here it is:


EDUCATION:

LIBERAL ARTS SCHOOL IN THE MIDWEST, BA IN ENGGGGGGGLLLLLIIISSHHHHH LIT, MAGGGGNNANNANAANA CUM LAAAUUUUDDDDE CHALLAH, MOFO DEAN'S LIST; SEE HOW I GOT DISTINCTION ON MY SENIOR THESIS CONCERNING VIRGINA WOOLF'S USE OF TIME AND NARRATIVE IN TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, THE WAVES AND MRS. DALLOWAY

garbage, 2006.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Summer After Freshman Year:

Read some books; went to University of Pennsylvania where M dropped me off for summer school to find a husband; wrote an extensive analysis on Greek Mythology.

Summer After Sophomore Year:

Studied Journalism at NYU.

Summer After Junior Year:

Lived in Atticus Finch's apt and studied for the LSATs, and really enjoyed the reading comprehension and verbal portions. Not sure why it did not transfer on the exam day. It does not matter. I was an English major in college.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

O B A M A

congrats, no for real. i am proud of you you sexy beast.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Craig's List is Not a Reliable Place to Apply for Jobs

Today in my job search, I came across this job posting:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Attorney Looking For Attorney

Posting ID: job-991754136

Are you tired of billable hours? Looking for a lifestyle firm? Want to be rich as G*D??????? Well, you have come to the right place.

I am a solo practitioner and by solo I mean I am single and the firm is just me. I am looking for someone who graduated from the following schools (Harvard, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, Stamford or Yale) to handle a relatively mild case load pertaining to some ongoing matrimonial issues.

As far as compensation goes, boy, are you lucky. My mother has offered to buy us an apartment where we will work out of if you meet the qualifications. While you will not be afforded health insurance per se, I am only looking to hire someone who is healthy and has no history of serious illness in his family. I also keep a wide array of prescription meds in my medicine closet; vicodin, codeine, xanax, ritalin, prozac and some sudafed day time.

This is a great learning experience for someone who wants to continue working at a big firm and learn a different side of the law.

About Me:

I am inspiring.

Please email me your resume, a cover letter and writing sample.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


You HAVE GOT to be kidding me. Who the Hell wrote this sh*t??? Oh wait, I did.

I Beg of You to Speak

It is so piss poor pathetic when you realize you are pushing thirty and have been on like thirty online dates to no avail. It is also pathetic when you realize your friends start talking to you like a pregnant lady because they treat you that delicately on account of your spinster status.

Yesterday, there was no reminder that I should persevere. No, for real. There are days that I sit around with my bottle of wine life size key chain and tell it to stop smirking at me. (I do not actually have a bottle of wine key chain, but I do think that would be absolutely splendid. I was inspired by this after a trip to Oren's coffee shop where they sell transportable coffee cups, never know the proper name for them, as a key chain.) It is not enough that I have been told by my friends (as in the two I have) that I am on a strict no f*cking/dating fat f*ck policy this year. This issue was examined right around the New Year when my gay husband called in E for reinforcements when, once again, I almost made the drunken error of doing naughty naughty in the bathroom of a bar with someone with four chins.

However, what kills me the most is when I come home and watch something absolutely horrific like the "City" after having a few, quite a few, night caps. Last night, I almost nearly lost it when Whitney announced towards the close of the show that she is a) 24 and b) has only been in three relationships. I almost picked up the phone to call Time Warner and cancel all cable related television. WHITNEY, you f*ckin dumb slut, I thought you were my friend. When I was 24, I had had essentially zero relationships. I am on the verge of 28 now and you know what my number is??? Essentially zero. That is right, we have nothing in common. Not to mention the fact that you were clearly capable of inspiring some type of jealousy in that douche you date, who is now your boyfriend, by mentioning you went on a date with someone else. Once again, our points of commonality diverge. When I tell some degenerate that I am "dating" that I am going to meet some accountant for lunch, they practically kiss this other suitor on the forehead for taking me off their hands. This was all too much.

The evening was brought to a close with me talking to my current boyfriend, Zebra. (Zebra is a stuffed animal bestowed upon me by E when we parted ways). When I asked him to speak some words of encouragement, he bloody fell asleep. Then, I was reminded that Zebra does not care if I bring home degenerates and do naked time in front of him. BASTARD SH*TF*CK!! OH FOR SHAME!