What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

Total Black: -$199.61
Total Red: $269,947.74

This is the end.  My only friends.  The end.  Of my elaborate plans.  The end.  Can’t you picture what could’ve been?  So limitless and free.  Desperately in need . . . of some . . . stranger’s hand.  In my desperate land.  It hurts to set you free.  But you’ll never follow me.  This is, after all, the end.   

Meerkat Manor

Total Black: $349.29
Total Red: $235,224.00

I had an interview this morning with a freelance reporter.  It’s the third request from a journalist via the blog and the second interview I’ve given.  The first journalist balked at my request for anonymity and we never reached to interview stage.  The second was willing to work with me on anonymity, but he didn’t get approval for the article and so the interview was for naught.  The third didn’t even ask my name.  We talked for just over a half-hour this morning.  All three wanted to talk about lawyers struggling with student loans.  Except the journalist today.  He wanted to talk about contract attorneys as well.  I figured I can’t leave the land of temp lawyers without a few more posts dedicated to the quirks, oddities, and irregularities of contract attorney work.

I’m Just a Temp

Total Black: $268.28
Total Red: $226,349.12

The past few days has seen a steady increase in the hours at work at the contract attorney job.  And a corresponding increase in stress.  I’ve found myself slipping back into associate mode—as if I were an associate at a law firm again.  Checking my emails in the morning upon waking and just before going to bed at night.  One morning I awoke at 7am, and then said screw it and went back to bed until 8:30am.  At like 7:03am emails started coming through from the associate asking me to let them know ASAP when I’m in.  Of course, I didn’t get those messages until 8:30am when I awoke.  And I hopped out of bed and rushed to work—just as if I was back a the law firm.  I’ve even been reluctant to leave my desk and go to the gym or even out for food.  But it’s silly because I’m just a temp.

Retardists

Total Black: $830.70
Total Red: $230,761.09

The new temporary attorney position I started today will be situated in the staffing agency’s review space.  The law firm we’re working for is nearby, but we’ll actually be reporting each day to this off-site location.  We had training all day today at the law firm but later stopped by the review space to scout out the location and take care of any last-minute paperwork.  I nearly fell back upon myself in a double-take when I walked into the conference room where the bulk of the document reviewers work.  At first I thought we had walked into an day care center for retarded adults.  And I could have sworn that Opie from Family Guy was reviewing documents there.

A Day Without a Post

Total Black: $2,642.01
Total Red: $230,360.63

I had wanted to finish this project with 365 posts: one for each day from August 9th, 2009 to August 9th, 2010. Yesterday was the first night I hadn’t posted in seventy-five days. I was in the emergency room instead.

Strategically Unstrategic

Total Black: $1,078.26
Total Red: $230,212.47

It’s looking like the contract attorney position could be ending soon, perhaps even by tomorrow.  So, the Woman Who Sits Next To Me provided me with contact information for other temporary legal staffing agencies.  She also suggested that I sign up with The Posse List, a website and blog that provides information for and about contract attorneys.  I emailed each contact and signed up with the list.  A few leads she provided paid-off already.  I have appointments tomorrow and then Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week.

Only Way Out Is Through

Total Black: $826.61
Total Red: $230,080.21

A friend of mine reached out to me today to express his sympathy about the developments I mentioned in One Step Back, Two Steps Forward.  His email also conveyed his own frustration at his inability to help.  As I walked home from the temp job, I thought about his email and also about the frustrations expressed by the Woman Who Sits Next To Me regarding her own struggles with debt.  I thought I’d try to weave both together in this entry since they share a common element, namely that the only way out of something is just to get through it.  But there’s many ways to get through something and many ways to help others as they do.

I Need a New Gig

Total Black: $1,247.29
Total Red: $230,131.21

The temporary contract attorney position is nearing its end.  There’s a chance it could be extended.  A slimmer chance that I’d be one of those selected to stay on.  The Recession Art Sale has already ended.  So, it’s time for a new gig.  But what?

Pussyfootin’ Around

Total Black: $625.15
Total Red: $230,649.18

In Never Been Further Apart I referenced the anxiety I feel when the telephone rings.  Since no one calls me on my home telephone number, it’s bound to be one of the debtors trying to get hold of me.  This morning both my cellphone and home phone rang at the exact same moment: 8:20 a.m.  The home phone was a credit card company; the cellphone was my mother calling to tell me that SallieMae was now calling her.  She’s a co-signor on one of my student loans.  And wonderful mother that she is, she made a payment on my student loans last month and asked SallieMae to send her the bills until I get back on my feet.  Only downside is that SallieMae will only apply her payments towards that loan she’s tied to.  Without the contract attorney position I’d continue to fall behind on those payments despite my mother’s help.

B(l)ack in the Red Again

Total Black: -$24.67
Total Red: $230,649.18

It was deja vu all over again today as I stood in CVS this afternoon, looking to buy food with the few dollars I had available. I have to confess—that is the point of this blog after all, isn’t it?—that I pulled from my blog PayPal account the money I received from my first (and only) donation. About two weeks ago, I purchased a flash drive to use for the Recession Art Sale. No one had one and we needed to get images over to my computer so I could get our catalog in order. The image files of the artwork were too large to send via email. I had no other money available and we were a day away from our Monday night opening. So, I caved and transferred the $48.25 (what remained after PayPal took its cut from the $50 donation I received) into my personal PayPal account and used that money to purchase the flash drive. But since my personal PayPal account is linked with a PayPal charge card, I’ve been using that card (and the money attached) over the past few days to buy food, something I swore I wouldn’t do. Sorry. I haven’t owned up to it yet because I’ve been embarrassed that I caved. I supposed I could have waited a day or two, or perhaps I could have walked back to my apartment to pick up some rewritable DVDs and burned the image files to those. But, in the moment, I didn’t think of that.

Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom

Total Black: $75.67
Total Red: $230,649.18

I started writing a bit of today’s entry from the temp job, typing it in a word document shrunk to about two inches by two inches, neatly disguised as a box on CNN’s website.  Not that it would have mattered since the document reviewing software had frozen up on us and we were left with nothing to do.  But I didn’t want my true identity discovered.  Overall, I’m actually enjoying this experience.  Perhaps it’s odd, but so far the contract attorney work seems fun.  Well . . . I take that back.  The people seem fun.  Correction: some of the people are fun.  And that makes the work tolerable.  We’ve got an interesting mix of people and the law firm is really welcoming and laid-back.  That said though, a senior associate insisted that we’re not here to just “chill and bill.”  And that’s a valid point.  As attorneys we all have ethical obligations to uphold.