kal ho naa ho

Work's going well. Tuesday I sat in court in the morning. Yvette had a hearing; it was only to ascertain the status of the criminal case of the respondent's. It turned into a long verbal battle between the judge and the respondent. (The criminal case, by the way, for the respondent is felony assault, I believe. He beat his girlfriend so badly that she had to get the back of her head stapled back together.) He kept arguing that the court documents had been falsified because his social security number wasn't on them. I'm afraid I'm becoming more conservative, and I've only been working there for two days. I knew that the respondent had a right to be heard, ect., a right to an affirmative defense, whatever. But I just wanted to yell at him, 'you almost killed her, you bastard. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.' Kristina said that I would probably become desensitized to the work after I'd done it for a while. We'll see. In the afternoon, I met Kelli, the paralegal. I like Kelli a lot. She's my immediate supervisor.

Today I had off from work, because, well, it's Wednesday. We went on a tour of the Capitol. It was more interesting this time than the last time I took a tour of it. (But then, I think I was 11 at the time.) We got to see the chamber where the Supreme Court used to meet, almost 200 years ago, very cool. When we got to the room where the House of Reps used to work, we stood where John Quincy Adams's desk used to be and our tour guide, Andrew walked over to the other side of the room, so we could hear him whisper. Also, very cool. After the tour, Lori, Alyssa, Tiffany, Scott and I walked to Union Station. We got some lunch, then decided to go to the National Zoo. Scott turns 22 today, and that's what he wanted to do. We saw some cheetahs, oryxes, a panda, a really cute giraffe, and other assorted animals. My feet are killing me. I must have walked a couple miles today. I hardly notice it anymore, though. I have to walk because I don't have Clytemnestra with me. (For those who don't know, Clytemnestra is my baby, my iridescent slate-blue 2005 Pontiac Grand Am. I miss her. A lot.)

I'm glad we have Wednesdays off. Between work, and classes, and the tours and field trips we have, I need a little break in the middle of the week. I already can't wait for the weekend.

(Note: Edited by the author 11/9/2006.)