Sunday, October 29, 2006

interviewing craziness

i have an absolutely crazy week coming up. thursday is my first mock trial. i'm kind of excited about it, and nervous too. there are a lot of details to remember.

but anyway... i have 3 interviews this week. i'm not sure why they all come up at the same time, but that seems to be the way it goes. monday i have a phone interview with a policy/advocacy fellowship. i would absolutely love this job--it's exactly the kind of thing that i had in mind when i came to law school. it's my first interview with them. there are 10 of us interviewing, and 3-4 will be invited for a second interview.

tuesday i have an interview here in my town with our state appeals court. it would be a research and writing job, which would be totally relaxing and low-stress for me. it would also put me in a position to do appellate work when i finish there. and as much as i am enjoying the practical courtroom stuff, i still think appeals work is a little more realistic for me to do long-term. this is a second interview, and from what my dean at school says, i'm a shoo-in to get an offer from there. so we'll see how that goes.

friday i'm flying to another state for a job at their appeals court, also research and writing. this would be a great opportunity, and this state is probably a little more prestigious, if that's possible. this is also a second interview, and i really liked it there the first time around. i was going to drive, but i can't afford to, because i've got to take the lawyer's ethics test on saturday morning (don't laugh), and so i'd have been exhausted. i'd really like to only take that test once.

so anyway, i'm looking at an extremely busy week, and next week will also be busy because my boss is out of town, so i'll be working about 32 hours instead of 12. so yeah. i don't have time to think about much else right now.

i'm really blessed to have so many opportunities. i'm just praying for wisdom as i try to figure out what to do after school's done.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

stories

i'm a terrible storyteller. really. something funny happens (funny to me, anyway), and i remember it to tell later. so then i tell the story, but no one laughs. i never put the appropriate drama into it. i am the master of the understatement.

so i didn't expect to really want to do trial work. i'm much more of a listener than a talker. but i'm taking a class this semester on trial skills, and i'm totally loving it.

tonight i had to give a closing statement. and i got up, and i did it. and it was good. truth is, when you put me in front of a crowd, i can totally perform. i'm good at seeing the story in the facts, and i'm good at communicating the story.

so i don't know what to think about that. this summer when i was doing trial stuff, i was always really stressed. but i think it was more the fact that i didn't know what i was doing. now that i'm having practice, i really like it.

we'll see if i still like it after doing the three trials i have this semester. the first one is two weeks from today.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

free flowing

i'm trying to get lots of feedback on our new service at my church. i asked a guy that i know what he thought after his first visit. he had come in about 10 minutes late to the service, so he didn't hear all the explanations or instructions.

we have kind of a free-flowing thing going, with options for how involved you want to be. that probably doesn't make sense. we've been trying to communicate that people are welcome to participate to the level they are comfortable, recognizing that people are at different stages & might want more or less participation, and also recognizing that people worship in different ways. so there are options for response at the end of the service, options to pray, to continue singing, to be creative, or even to leave.

so anyway, this guy was saying how he was a little lost and confused. he seemed like he kind of wanted to be told what to do.

and i can understand that. but.

but when i go to church a lot of times i just check out mentally. people tell you what to do, you sing, stand, sit, listen (or zone out), etc. to me i think that having choices of how to respond means i have to actually be engaged. does that cause some discomfort? maybe. will it take getting used to if you've spent all your life going to church where there's procedure all mapped out for you? definitely.

but i kind of like it. i like the idea that you are forced to be engaged. even if you get through the first portion of the meeting as a passive person, a choice is set before you to get involved at the end and actually respond in a meaningful way. that's cool. really cool.

but i guess we can work on the communication aspect of things--making sure that people know what they're choosing. and there will be times when we do more strongly directed group activities.

and another thought--how do we keep a unity within the diversity of response? there is a purpose & a benefit to having some measure of order. i don't think things have been out of control up to this point. but it would be good if we could keep a balance so that it doesn't get there.

so... interesting things to think about.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

grandpa at the gas pump

so here's a fun story. i'm on my way somewhere yesterday, and i see gas is up to 2.25 again. so i drive by another corner & the gas is still at 2.08. so i decide to stop and get some. busy parking lot, busy time of day. there are lines to the pumps.

so i get out, pump gas. meanwhile, one man tries to squeeze through a tiny space between the rows of cars pumping gas (and right beside me) to get to the other side, but a gigantic truck backs into his place. so this guy backs up & waits behind me. i notice this is an old guy. he cracks some comment to the trucker standing nearby who is filling up the underground tanks.

all is well.

i finish pumping and grab my receipt & get in the car. so then i sit down to record my gas purchase, mileage, etc. in my little maintenance book (yes, i really do that... it's an old car). so anyway, i'm 5 seconds into my writing, and i hear a shout from behind me. "hey! i want that spot." not sure what's going on, so i mind my own business & continue writing. then i hear, "hey! lady! i want that spot!" so i turn around. sure enough, the old guy in the car behind me is actually yelling out the window.

now you've got to understand... the rows between the pumps were difficult to get through--a really tight squeeze. so i'm thinking that i'll just wait a second until it's actually safe to proceed--besides which i'm recording my stinking mileage. so i just sort of give the guy an incredulous look and finish the writing.

so the guy gets out of his car. mutters something, yells something else, "hurry up!" and of course i'm thinking... gosh, i should be checking my oil, immediately wondering how i can draw this stop at the gas pump out as long as possible (remember, old car). but lest i give the man a heart attack, i safely proceed forward because by now the truck in front of me has left.

and all is right with the world once more.

so this day goes down in my little life history as the day i almost got beat up by grandpa. it's sad, really, that a 30 second wait at the gas pump is going to cause a person palpitations. i really hope that my life is always more meaningful than that.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

new job

today was my first day on the job at my school. i had to get a job or get a roommate, since my roommate moved overseas. the job came up first, so i took it.

so anyway, i went to work today at 10 am. first, i read a book (2 hours). next i worked on locating some hypothetical questions to work through with students. (1 hour) third, we talked about my access to technology such as calendars, etc. (30 minutes) fourth, we talked over a few administrative details. (30 minutes) fifth, we talked about life (45 minutes). sixth, i read another book (3 hours).

i read for over 50% of the day, interesting things, and i was being paid to do it. i'm sure that not everyone would find that an exciting proposition, but i loved it. it was totally relaxing and very interesting. if only i could be paid to learn every day. how refreshing.

tomorrow's the beginning of a long road trip to an interview on friday afternoon. wish me luck.