Skau-ndrel's Life

Happy Birthday to my father. I miss you

Jane's Birthday is coming up. Who wants to go to Ipanema Brazilian steakhouse with her to celebrate?

We're thinking sometime 7-8ish, but reservations have yet to be made... that means those of you who want to go should think about responding to this or sending me or Jane an e-mail so we can get a headcount.

robotangel usually photographs rock stars. I managed to convince her to take some pictures of me.

I wanted some professional shots that were a bit different than the usual "lawyer-at-desk-with-wall-of-books" that you see on most online lawyer bio pages. We ended up shooting at Bauhaus and Cupcake Royale on Capitol Hill, along with some outside shots on a drizzly day.

Some of the preliminary results can be seen on my Facebook page.

*squeee*

One possible fallback position should I fail to find a job is to simply hang a shingle and sell my legal services on my own. To that end, today I got up at the crack of still-dark, got gussied up, and headed downtown to a King Co. Bar Association CLE aimed at solo practitioners and small firms. Since I'm not technically a lawyer yet, I got a highly discounted rate on the seminar. There were talks on the pros and cons of various business entities, how to make a business plan, how to set up and manage IOLTA client trust accounts, and client intake and management. Overall there was a lot of good information. While the prospect would still be pretty daunting, I feel that I could fairly confidently set up either a solo practice or a small LLC or PLLC... heck, even an S Corporation, and I would know where to find the resources I would need to make it work.

I would much rather some nice software company hire me as in-house counsel, or perhaps some firm, but in this economy and job market I'm hedging my bets as much as I can.

I intend to have a celebratory dinner at Buca di Beppos on Westlake Ave. on Friday Nov. 6. Please let me know if you would like to attend by Monday Nov. 2 so I can make reservations.

On the recommendation of others, I picked up R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy a year or two ago and was impressed. We in modern times have trouble really understanding the mindsets of those medieval people who took part in things like crusades. They lived in a cultural paradigm sufficiently different from ours that we're tempted to dismiss them as more primitive, or fanatical. Bakker, as a philosopher as well as a novelist, manages to tell a story steeped in such that cultural paradigm where you understand that the people involved are human beings, intelligent, with varying degrees of piety, but for them a religious interpretation of reality isn't questioned, it's understood. In addition, the plot was tightly woven, the characters were well-developed, and the series itself was creative and original.

I picked up the first book of Bakker's sequel series The Aspect-Emperor. In general, it did not disappoint. It is, if anything, darker than the original, and it fleshes out elements of the world and its ancient history that were only alluded to in the first series. I want to state for the record that I liked the book and enjoyed it before getting to the thing that bothered me. The dust jacket had one of those review blurbs saying that Bakker is a "worthy heir to Tolkien." Nothing new there. Fantasy authors are constantly being reviewed in Tolkien's light. I thought it a bit odd because Bakker's world and Tolkien's are utterly different and I couldn't really see any reason why Tolkien would jump into a reviewer's mind. But then I realized that Bakker essentially lifted an entire plot thread from Fellowship of the Ring, plot point for plot point. And it wasn't even subtle. Not even a little. Even if you've only just watched the movies you would readily and almost immediately recognize the Pass of Caradhras, Moria, the Balrog, the Endless Stair, even the apparent demise of a "wizard figure" who doesn't actually die.

It's one thing when a hack like Terry Brooks basically rips off Tolkien for an entire book (Sword of Shannara) but it disappointed me that an author as otherwise brilliant as Bakker should do so. Perhaps it was unconscious, perhaps Tolkien has become such a literary meme that it's impossible not to allude to his works, but copying is not allusion, and his editor should at least have pointed it out.

Ah well. That part was just one plot thread among many, and for those who have read the brilliant prior trilogy, by all means pick up this new book.

I found this article, from a British publication that is, if anything, slightly to the right (at least economically), spot on when considering our American political culture.

Many lawyers advised me that upon taking the Bar, I should immediately take a trip. That advice was good advice.

I have returned from an Alaska cruise with the York Exploration Society, 18 folks inspired and organized by lawdogman and druzbasky to all go vacationing together. It was exactly the sort of vacation I needed to push my brain's reset button. A week of having to make no serious decisions, of endless food and drink, of picturesque scenery and good companionship.

I ate a lot. Seriously. Wow. I'm pretty sure I gained in poundage.

I drank a lot. Seriously. Back to back "$15 tastings" was the doom of me.

And it in general refreshed me for the painstaking task of begging for work in a crappy economy.

Pictures are here and you can see the red sweatshirts/T-shirts/tote bags with the Y.E.S. insignia that the Yorks thoughtfully provided to each and every one of us. We were like a traveling gang, wearin' our colors.

All done. Now I get to wait 2 1/2 months to see if the last three years and tons of debt was worth it. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Wow, they even have Brotherhood of Steel scribe robes.

Fallout - the LARP