Happy Happy Happy :)

Yesterday was about 100 times better than any other day I have had so far at this job, and I have been in the best mood ever since because I think I'm going to A) make it in the hardest and most stressful position I've ever had, and B) come to really enjoy it.

For one, the women in the office are just the best. Besides me, we have a 26-year-old attorney, a 65-year-old office manager, and a 30-year-old paralegal. They're all great, and I finally got to the point this week where I was warming up to them, feeling truly comfortable around them, and feeling like I could just be myself and not have to stress constantly about how I was presenting myself and about every word that came out of my mouth (and, it takes a lot of energy to monitor yourself like that all the time). Yesterday afternoon, most of the senior attorneys were out of the office (including, ahem, my difficult boss), and a couple clerks had taken the day off, so the four of us ladies crowded around in the paralegal's office and "filed papers" while talking and laughing about random stuff until we were all almost in tears. I can't tell you how much I needed to laugh like that. I don't know very many people in this city except for people from work and a couple law school friends who are also here, and so for the past few weeks, I haven't spent much time with people that I know really well and am really comfortable with. To put it simply, I haven't laughed nearly enough in that time because I've been so on my guard with all these new people. But yesterday I finally opened up and was sharing stories with them and laughing till I was about to wet my pants. It was great, therapeutic, and the best stress relief in the world.

And for another thing, I do feel like the Boss and I will have some issues this summer, but for the most part, I think I'm learning how to deal with him. So far, I've focused on being very direct, having very pointed questions, and not wasting a second of his time whenever I need to speak with him about anything, and that seems to be working ok. Oh, and I always bring a legal pad and a pen to take notes before I go talk to him about anything. (Life tip: Always, always have paper and something to write with before you talk to any senior attorney. Or else you'll be like me on my first day, when I was talking to one of the attorneys and didn't have a pen and started picking around on his desk and moving his keys and Post-its looking for one, and he was giving me the "Do NOT touch my stuff" look. Yeah, don't do that.) I'm not sure why this is the case, but my boss also never cusses when he's talking just to me, which is really nice because he normally does it all the time. Also, it's helped me a lot to realize that some people act the way he does because they're actually very insecure, and I think he's no exception. I've been trying to understand why he is the way he is, and to just realize that it is what it is, and poking some lighthearted fun at him with the ladies has helped too. :)

And to top it all off, yesterday A. and I totally dominated in court! (Just FYI, I'm going to start following that blogging convention of referring to some people by first initial only because I'm not sure if I should throw the names of everybody in the firm out there for the world. But that way I don't have to refer to everyone as "senior attorney 1," "senior attorney 2," etc.) Obviously I didn't get to actually argue the case or do the cross-examination or anything, but I basically prepared everything: I wrote questions for direct and cross-exam, I outlined all the issues, I selected all of our exhibits, etc. And I was really thrilled that one of the items A. introduced into evidence was something that was my idea to bring up! I was just like, I really think you need to use this item on cross-exam to impeach the witness and then get it into evidence. She ended up using it on both direct and cross-exam, and indeed, it got into evidence. She did a fabulous job all around, so I can't take too much credit for it, but it's kind of nice to know that my trial technique actually got successfully used!

So anyway, that's why yesterday was by far my best day of work so far, and I hope it's a harbinger of things to come. Today, I'm probably going to go see a movie or something, or do some fake shopping (the kind where I don't buy anything because I don't really have any money). And I need to once and for all get my room here in some semblance of order--I never really unpacked and put away everything I moved up here, like, 2 weeks ago. That changes today. And I'm finally putting up those posters and doing my decorating!