Courtroom Catastrophe and New York Blues
I got up at the heinously early hour of 7AM this morning to get all dressed up and lawyerly. Then I took two subways for an hour up to the bronx to go to family court. I was supposed to be assisting battered women in obtaining temporary orders of protection against their abusers. I studied the New York laws surrounding harrassment, assault, child custody, and a dozen other related matters for hours so as to do the best job possible. I got off the subway at Yankee Stadium and had little trouble finding the courthouse; some policemen I ran into pointed it out for me. Once in side I had a bit of a tougher time finding the right floor and waiting room that I was supposed to be in, but I got there on time. There were 5 other law students, mostly from New York Law School and Brooklyn Law and we chatted while waiting for the supervisor to show up. 30 minutes passed. The supervisor was late. We looked all over for him but he wasn't in the building. We chatted some more. Then made phone calls to the Courtroom Advocacy Project headquarters. No help there. Lots of cell phone calling. Another hour passed. Finally someone informed us that the supervisor had just called in sick and there was no replacement so we couldn't help out with any cases. How lame. Wasted 6 law students' days. *sigh* I took the train home and reheated some leftovers for lunch. Then did some school work. Then went to Ramath Orah for shabbat services and ran into a bunch of law school people, they invited me over for dinner and since I had nowhere else to go I was happy to accept. Danny gets the honorable mench award for the week. Went home and started the laundry. Shabbos or no, a guy needs clean underwear in the morning...
The Blues
Within a 1000 mile radius I don't think I have a single family member or friend who I knew more than 4 months ago. This is not to say that I don't have friends here, of course I do, but they don't share a common background or history with me and it's hard to make new really close friends at this stage of my life. I miss having people to sit and shmooze with that really know me and understand me. I'm also in an awkward age bracket. I'm one of the younger law students; most of the 1L class took a few years off between undergrad and law school, but I'm also old compared with the undergrads so it is weird to hang out with them too to an extent. I don't really feel many people relate to my situation. Since I'm so social and outgoing most of the time I think there are very few people here that realize the depths of my depression. It's probably good that I hide it. No use being the guy with the party pooper reputation. Still, it's really hard to keep doing the routine when deep down I'm miserable. Just have to keep that door locked for now. Healthy? No. Hampering my success? Probably. Necessary anyway? I'm afraid so...
