Like the good Doctor says: El Conquistadors show 02/15 at the Elbow Room 144 Bleeker St, NYC 10:30pm - see me, the hot chicks from this web page, and the babe that makes the babes swoon, Ethan
I got three karma points on Plastic. Hopefully, it's good karma, not bad karma.
I had lunch with Michelle Lee today. She's someone that's known me for longer than just about anyone I've ever met, her mother and mine were very close friends in college, and we spend Thanksgivings with them almost every year.
She also went to Cardozo, and now works at a lawfirm on the 54th floor of the Met Life building. The view from her floor is pretty magnificent. Reminds me why people go to law school. It was The Devil's Advocate, the movie many critics decry as "Stupid Keanu being stupid and ruining Al Pacino's street cred because he's so stupid" where Pacino, as Satan, exclaims that the law is the new priesthood. He's more correct than I initially thought.
Arcane lore determines our actions (a recent case was determined based on a prior case from 1873 or thereabouts. "It is well settled law" said the justice. Well shit, a hundred plus years _is_ a lot of time to settle the law.") uniforms (although dress casual days have taken hold, you still don't show up in court without a tie unless you're my dad), special haircuts (my hair is too long, although they don't do tonsure) vows of silence (attorney client confidentiality) a place of respect (begrudging though it may be) and the ear of the ruling class is whispered in by our people at all times.
So now that I'm a lawyer in Connecticut and New York, but one without a job, or frankly even prospects, it's suddenly time to start networking again. So I fall first to my friends (none of which are sufficiently accomplished to merit hiring me, except Marcos, who hired me for my last job) and then my parents friends and their children (several of whom are quite accomplished) and next to alumnae of Vassar and Cardozo.
See, I've never had a problem holding a job, or even shining in one. I'm a good employee, getting the job done early and then moving on to other projects. But I'm a generalist in a world of specialization, so while I've got no problem holding a job or shining in one, it's the getting one I've got trouble with. That's the thing they don't teach you in college or at my law school - they teach you to think, but not the logistics of just whose ass you gotta kiss in this town to get yourself a job.
So I had lunch in Grand Central station today, one of the most magnificent structures in New York. Michelle and I ate at the Zocalo (which was ironic to me due to my rabid Babylon 5 obsession, but I digress) and discussed the law, school, the web, and why as a lawyer with a technology bent, I'm about a year too late to find employment. Which can't be good, kids, because I'm skirting a power shut off over here. She had some ideas and a few people that she thought I might do well to contact, and some ideas for getting myself noticed. It was easily the best time I'd ever had with her, and I thank her for it.
After lunch I came home, reread my piece on Crush, saw the grammatical error that my mother pointed out, and felt well and truly cut off at the knees.
I made Meghan
dinner tonight (finally someone eats my cooking again!) and since she's a vegetarian, I made rissotto with mushrooms and leeks (which was divine) and a small salad with my nearly patented mustard vinaigrette.
I can't afford to keep going out to dinner so much, since I haven't worked in two months as of today. So I'm going to just have to start cooking for my friends when they want to get together, like it or not.
I'm going to Vassar on Friday, to their career development office. Last time I was there, the whole city of Poughkeepsie was shut down by a snow storm. Here's hoping the weather holds. And hey, if you've got a job and could use a swerdloff to fill it, well, feel free to tell me.
And, as any good pirate would like to know: How was your Valentines day?