SWEARING & STUFF

Well, I've been a busy gal recently and have not been posting - bad me. Whatever, spank me later.

I got sworn in December 7th. It was awesome. It was in a gilded federal courtroom with velvet curtains and the whole deal. I took both the state and federal court oaths. To my own credit I did not cry - I was able to hold it all in. My mother was not to lucky. My only disapointment was that there were no photos. In my haste to be a good new rule following lawyer I assumed there were no cameras allowed in the courthouse for security reasons. It didn't occur to me that an exception would be made for the swearing in. Oh well. I'm still a real honest to goodness ESQ now. I received my offical sworn certificate on Christmas Eve in the mail which made the holiday extra special. Now I just have to worry about ordering my wall certificate, and signing up for CLE and getting my lawyer's ID and oh yea finding a JOB!

I've also been quite busy working at Ye Old Cell Phone store. This means that I have been yelled at - a lot. I'll post my thoughts on cell phone stores another time. Let me just state the obvious and say that working in retail during the holiday season - not so much fun.

I have also spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone with one of my student loan companies. The long and the short of it is that they would not allow me to consolidate thus lowering my payments. I had to being making payments in December. During the whole process I found out that [1] I do not make enough money at Ye Old Cell Phone store [shocker] and [2] they royally screwed my credit score due to a computer glich.

I calmly tried to explain that if they didn't allow me to consolidate that I would not be able to make any payments and would go into default - a no win situation for both sides. I also wantd to know why they wouldn't consolidate me since the liability for the loans would remain with the same company either way. Damn logic - they didn't have an answer for that one. There were letters and documents back and forth. This is when I found out that for the last year that I was in deferment and studying for the bar exam [and receiving no bills from them mind you] they were reporting me late on all my loans. Late! Delinquent! I immediately ordered copies of all 3 of my credit reports. You can imagine the ugliness there. Getting the reports was its own kind of hell since my zip code was changed a few years ago and apparently it was my fault Transunion didn't know this because they claimed I was not who I said I was even though all my other info matched.

Anyway .... I am in the process of drowning in paperwork to fix my credit reports. The loan company completely admits it was their fault. The good thing about all this is that my situation was brought to the attention of the director of the company who [bless her heart] realized the logic of the situation that if I can't pay now and they don't allow me some breathing room to get a legal job that I won't ever be able to pay them back. Several solutions were batted around in meetings with her compatriots and daily phone calls were made to give me progress updates. Finally, I get a call. They can't figure a way around all the various rules since the consolidation program is new and an economic hardship deferment would still require a payment of almost two grand in January for interest accrued [which I don't have]. The end solution was to put me in full deferment as if I was still a full time student. No payments for six months - nada. They told me to go ahead and find a job as an attorney and call them and let them know and they will pull me out of deferment and consolidate me. I even got the assistant director's direct line! No annoying recorded menus - I get a live person! I could have hugged the woman - seriously.

In more cheerful news I recently saw two movies. First I saw King Kong, which was not my pick but was excellent. It was long at 3.5 hours, but you really don't even notice because you are so swept up in the action. There were times when I had to cover my eyes and peek through my fingers like a small child because the action was heart stopping! The cast was excellent. One question though, am I the only one that thinks Naomi Watts looks strikingly like Penelope Ann Miller ?

I also saw Brokeback Mountain. It was so much more than "the gay cowboy movie". It was really about loving someone so much that you just can't stand it, and not being able to be with that person. In this particular instance, both people involved happen to be male - which, incidentially, is why they can't be together. There wasn't much as far as pure plot, and I know some people were bored with it. However the vast majority of people I know said they felt the same way that I did - that it was heart wrenching. The acting was amazing. Neither actor is gay and yet the emotion portrayed just grabbed you and pulled you in. I could feel their frustration and loneliness, likewise I could also understand the plights of their wives at realizing the truth.

So that's what I have been up to, inter alia. I have not even sent out Christmas cards yet, but I did manage to get a few gifts for the family and a few other folks.

I am looking forward to New Year's for many reasons, not the least of which is that I am more than ready to leave 2005 behind me. There were a few bright spots, but the majority of this past year was spent wrestling with the bar exam demon and I am anxious to start my "real" life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!