Weekend

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been AWOL a few days.  In one of my matters the defendant made a lightning adjournment application and that kind of hogged my attention the last few days.

Thursday evening I drove down to Melbourne so to be at the County Court for the 9:30am application.  I stayed at Jennie and JP's place, and that had me driving down Kings Way and Dandenong Road at about 9:00pm.  Seeing the city lights, for a moment I caught the feeling of possibility I had as a teenager - say 15 or 16 - seeing the city from the country.  Interesting little flashback!

It was great to see Jennie and JP.  They always make you feel so welcome!

Friday was the day of the application.  Our barrister was coming up with a scrolling list of reasons why we should consent to the application and nearly had a fit when I said I was  willing to subpoena a doctor - and prevent him going overseas - in order to keep the date.  I'm a little proud to say I was completely able to hold the line and said, in essence, "yes, it's a risky decision, but it's mine and I've made it".

All of which was still a little academic as the application succeeded.  The client was a trifle displeased and I needed a few good stiff drinks on Friday evening!

I was still licking my wounds a bit on Saturday, so I kept it peaceful - read a few of backlogged issues of Perspectives on History and did a couple of sudoku puzzles.  And a run... I was planning on about 12 kms but got to 16 kms/10 miles.  Speed not so great but steady and strong which I'm pleased by.

The highlight of today - Sunday - was skyping with the girls.  Or specifically, with Grace.  They'd had a huge day and Rachel's nap had turned into her night's sleep!  Anyway, so Gracie-Lou and I played - she set out Mickey Mouse cards in front of the iPad so we could play a card game, and she played with some dolls too, and we talked :).  The only thing that troubles me a little was that towards the end she said "nothing can cheer me up dad". And no matter what I did - talking to her, trying to encourage her to sing with me, asking if we could play cards again - she did look sad.  I'm sure it's just her being 4 years old and a very tired little pumpkin, but it worries me a little that feeling sad just seemed to drop out if the sky and land on her.  Worry about them both a lot.  Hate being a long distance dad - like hate it to the nth degree.  I must be there when they need me.

Not much else to note. Dad and Michael came back this afternoon but will probably head south tomorrow with a load of steers for Pakenham.  Weather warming up again.  Lordy let if rain. 

More tomorrow

In Rerun

Hi everyone,

Typing this while a Family Guy rerun plays with mute on.  Not one of their more successful ones - Stewie meeting his future self.

A good day in lawyerland: working highly productively to the clock - not quite as well as I'd have liked, but better than I've been for ages.  Is it stupid that I still kind of love the days when I get it right?  Maybe.  Still, I seem to recall the story of a nonagenarian who, asked why he kept practising the cello, said "because I think I'm making progress".  Ancora imparo, indeed.

Law association drinks after work in honour of a judge and magistrate who are up here on circuit.  Predictably disappointing: everyone knew everyone else, so I lurked for about 45 minutes, had a couple of unsatisfying conversations, and then slipped away and went for a run.  Christ knows what I'm going to do if I'm out of work at mid-year: attempts to network up here have not been encouraging. Still, at least that patronising f*er from a rival firm didn't bail me up to ask me if I was looking to find a new wife, so that kind of counts as a win for the evening.

No other news save that more rain is expected in the next few days.  Thank God!

More tomorrow.

Monday and moonlight

Hi everyone,

Typing this on a Monday night as the light of a just-past-full moon pours in the window.

It's been a fair day.  Developments in one case that will likely take up a big chunk of  the week (including all of this morning and probably most of tomorrow, which will be spent drawing a long affidavit.  Also spent today on the fiddly job of a crimes compensation statement of claim (it's been a few years since I'd done one) and also rattling off a quasi-media release for the firm.

Errands at lunch - pharmacy for meds, post office to send a package to the girls, and Harris Scarfe to get the old boy some more jeans.

Left work lateish because of the statement of claim I mentioned.  This meant I couldn't go for a run which was disappointing.  Will try and replace it with a weights workout before work tomorrow.

Two unrelated things are on my mind a little tonight.  One was the news in the paper that one Stephanie Ryan has been preselected as the National Party candidate for the new seat of Euroa.  Even though this is the next seat over, I found I barely seemed to care, or was even perhaps actively negative.  The other thing is I have a local Law Association thing on tomorrow night.  Regular readers may remember that the last time I went to one of these, it was epically unsuccessful.  I dunno... I guess putting these two things together makes me feel that I'm still just a sojourner here, and have no real roots. And that if I did lay down roots, and started feeling about this place as if it were a home, I'd stop being who I am, and I'd have to become someone I don't know that I want to become..  Hmm.

Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage.

Enough for now.

More tomorrow.

Wednesday and a dying wind...

 Hi everyone,

Typing this while an episode of The Simpsons rots the shine off my IQ.  

Sorry I've been offline a few days.  Things are generally good aside from the weather heating up again.  My performance at work is more like I'd expect from myself and I'm pleased with that.

Skyped with the girls twice last week.  Missing them lots and wondering when the hell I'll get to see them for real next.

I don't know what's wrong with me.  Just feeling somehow ... trapped.  I once wrote a poem about Joni that ended with the image of the wind dying away as a boat neared Ithaca.  Looking at where I'm at with my life now it feels like I found Ithaca, but it somehow wasn't there.

Well, probably nothing a good nights sleep won't help.  More tomorrow.

1:00am post

Hi everyone,

Quick post before my battery dies.

Good productive day here.  A little annoyed because I know I could have worked better, but not bad for all that.  As I said yesterday: feeling like myself again.

Went for a run of about 6.5 kms in the evening at Victoria Park Lake.  Nice cool evening.

Catch-up

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been away a little - it's been a busy few days.

Saturday was, I can say, the highlight.  It was the first of February, which is the girls' birthday.  Joni and I arranged a Skype time, and when I fired it up, she'd made a cake like a big muffin with a "4" shaped candle on it.  We sang 'happy birthday' with the girls and they blew the candle out together.  The girls then opened the presents they were sent by Mum and Kate, which they loved.  Rachel was transfixed by the sliding picture puzzle from Mum, and Grace just loved the photo book from Kate.  Just a perfect Skype, and it meant a lot to me that Joni took the time to set it up like that.

Yesterday was mostly memorable for a cool change finally arriving - a strong, cool breeze blowing all night was positively heavenly after about 8 days of temperatures bouncing around 40C.

Yesterday and today were both good days at work.  The tempo is ramping up but I'm pretty happy about that - feeling better than ever and feeling like a good lawyer again.

I have a new publication, by the way - a piece in the commercial transportation committee newsletter.  And already I see a few ways to leverage it.

So, all in all, feeling pretty good just now!