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I got back into the city tonight at 5:30, in time to have dinner with Husband and Cora at our favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant. I missed them both very much. Of course, I'd been so busy Wednesday and Thursday, that even if we'd been in the same city, I wouldn't have gotten to see them anyway. Even still, I missed tucking Cora into bed, and snuggling with Husband, even if I sleep better without him snoring and stealing the covers. It's good to be home, and spend some quality time with Cora and I won't have to be away from her again until Wednesday.

My job is totally awesome, I love it. The people are great, and the setup of the firm is amazingly organized and functional. At first, I was a little weary of working for another solo practitioner because of a lack of structure and organization where I've worked in the past. But Boss Dude so far provides the perfect balance between independence and guidance. I love having a mentor, while still getting to actually practice law (in a month... hopefully). It's been a crazy week, but I thrive in crazy. So, I'm having a lot of fun. There's so much to learn, sometimes I just stop and think, what am I doing here? How am I ever going to know enough to ever do this on my own, without constant supervision? And then there are times when it all comes together. One evening this week I found myself with a client sobbing hysterically in my office at 5pm, and amazingly enough, I knew what to say, and I knew what to do to help her. The legal training, the diplomacy... it came together to form a minimally competent new associate undergoing trial by fire. I think. At least she stopped crying and left 30 minutes later with a plan of action. That she probably won't take, but whatever. But, people make their own choices. I guess all we can do as legal professionals is help sort out the messes as they go. And oh the messes they make.

Already, I can tell I need to work on creating an organizational system that works for me, as well as working on my research skills in having limited Westlaw access. I realized I've gotten very used to starting with secondary sources just to understand the issues I'm researching, then branching out to case law in my jurisdiction. That doesn't really work when you don't have access to secondary sources, just our state and federal case law. Fail. So, my research is taking way the hell longer than it should, which annoys me greatly. I guess it hasn't helped that there have been a myriad of computer issues this week (mainly that I don't have a work laptop yet, so I'm using my personal laptop, which needs to be shot and put out of its misery, and was having huge difficulties connecting to our office wireless). Anyway, that's life. Lots to learn.

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