May 21, 2005
Weekend
I don't blawg too often (mostly because there are many, many others who are far better at it than I am, but also because I like to think about other shtuff when not working), but I do read entries of others who do. I'm usually just a lurker at those blogs, but after reading this post, all I can say is I love the practice of law, but amen my friend. Amen.
Archi-Sapper left town yesterday for the weekend (more military duty) so I'm a latch-key kitty for a couple of days. I started the weekend last night by going over to one of my partner's homes (estate is really more the word) for a party we had for our new batch of summer associates. I only stayed about an hour and a half -- long enough to meet all the kiddos, including my mentee who starts Monday, and have an excellent glass of wine.
Earlier that afternoon, I'd received a snarky e-mail from one of the associates who had spoken with the partner hosting the shindig, and it said dress was business casual (it made other comments that weren't nearly as funny as intended, so I'll spare you the details). Since yesterday was a designated jeans day at the office, I went home after work and changed into some slacks and a blouse that is more low-cut than I remembered (come to think of it, this blouse is always low-cut, and that never occurs to me until I'm wearing it out somewhere and catch someone staring). Anyway, I ended up in a conversation with one of my department's two department heads and he leaned in to ask me for some gossip, jumped back and said, "Christ! I can't talk to you -- I keep trying to look down your blouse!" I blocked his view with my purse and we were able to continue our conversation.
Other than that, the party was pretty uneventful. I was only asked by two spouses which law school I attend (inevitably, their lawyer-spouse would hear the comment and interject with something along the lines of, "Sweeeetie, she works with me. She's not a student," said in the overly condescending tone people reserve for three year olds and people they don't like. I wasn't offended -- I certainly don't mind looking younger than my age.)
I've almost finished my latest
read (yes, it's 700+ pages, but don't be too impressed -- our book club is only asking people to read the first 200 pages). Once I do (some time tonight), I'm going to officially start my summer reading. One of the few things I didn't like about going to private schools growing up was that they always assigned summer reading, which left me less time to read the trash I had been waiting to read. It would've been better if they'd assigned more books I actually liked, but I knew that wasn't going to happen when the first summer read I had freshman year was
this drivel. My summer reading this year will kick off with this book I've been dying to read. Unlike the President, there's not likely to be much controversy over whether I actually finished it (hat tip to the Rude Pundit for that story).
And now, after sleeping in all morning, I've gone on a search for some documents I need which are somewhere in our piling system. Of course, I haven't found them (and don't expect to any time soon), but have found: (1) lots of Hello Kitty stuff; (2) a gift certificate to my favorite local day spa that my firm gave me last year as a thank you for mentoring a summer associate (I'm definitely using that and soon), and (3) a mix cd I made in 2003 which is currently in the cd drive of my desktop. This weekend is shaping up, after all.
Current song: The Milkman of Human Kindness by Billy Bragg.
Posted by Kitty at May 21, 2005 12:36 PM
Comments
I hear you. One of my all-time favorite books is Bonfire of the Vanities, which I think is Wolfe at his finest. A Man in Full was good, but about 200 pages too long and in sore need of an editor. Sounds like Charlotte Simmons may be much of the same. I've read about 150 pages of it so far, but I'm far from the end (or even the middle).
I had seen a review of Prep in The New Yorker, and was really intrigued. I mentioned it to a friend who is an avid reader, and he read it and said, "eh". He and I don't always agree on books, though, so that certainly isn't dispositive as to my feelings about it. I'm still interested in checking it out. He said it was depressing, though I can't imagine it would be more depressing than the picture of college life Wolfe portrays. Although I like Charlotte Simmons (so far), I keep reading it and thinking, "I only graduated from college in 1996. Where are my friends and I in this book?"
Posted by: kitty at May 26, 2005 01:29 PM
bravenet.com
nononono! Not "charlotte simmons," please! In its place, can I suggest "Prep" by Curtis Sittenfeld instead? both books have similar settings and themes, but Prep doesn't make you want to kill yourself, the characters or the author once you're done. Honestly -- "Simmons" presents such an annoyingly inaccurate, slanted, overly jaded view of college life -- and the poor eponymous main character, after being fairly charming and likeable in the first 600 pages, suddenly becomes a body-snatching victim for the last 50 or whatever it is, so that Wolfe can get to his appalling conclusion. It's a terrible book, written by someone who really only wants to shock (and it does, so if that's what you're going for, then by all means...), but most of the "shocking" material is pretty gratuitous and the rest is just overblown.
Whew. Worked up quite the head of steam there. I'm calm now. I just *really* hated that book. please please please try Prep instead -- same idea, much better writing, characters and attitudes (I swear, I'm not some kind of PR person -- just someone with an unholy attachment to good books!)
Posted by: Baby Lawyer at May 26, 2005 09:45 AM