busy

There is a great thunderstorm going on outside, I'll give this a few minutes and them I'm out there… I want to shower before I go to bed anyway and feeling cold rain against my skin is a carnal pleasure of mine. So I'm odd.

sue me.

Usually I like having a lot to do. I'm one of those people for whom the "task fits the time" so when I have more to do, I do more.

The last two weeks got to be a little overwhelming though. Family illness, travel, writing deadlines, work. Got to where the things I do for fun seemed like work. Then there was work. Thursday meetings with people to learn the ins and outs of outsourcing. Then a seminar on the business of filmmaking… pretty interesting. It is hard to go to classes that aren't either too basic or too detailed, yet it is a requirement and a way to network a bit.

The meeting Thursday was on the 21st floor of the Houston center, and I was pretty blown away by the view. It was a grim reminder of what can happen though, as I looked out at the oil fields and refineries. I wish I could tell you it was beautiful, but it wasn't. It had that dreary Houston pallor. The subject matter was pretty depressing too, but I don't want to talk about that.

The class on Saturday was more fun, at least in the things I learned. One of the things I do is pro bono work for artists, yes, including my beloved writers. I know, not like poverty law, but it is something I enjoy. I've already paid my dues on that other stuff. Anyway, I got to learn about rights negotiations and a few tax issues… what more could I ask? AND I got to watch some clips of films that will never be released, because the rights weren't properly secured. So I guess there is justification for lawyers sometimes!

I had a dozen things I wanted to write about, and now of course none of them are still here in my head. So I'll write up a memory from when I first started practicing, since this is a sort of law related entry.

A little scene setting first. I was always a tax wiz in law school, it was the way the numbers fit together and made loopholes that appealed to me. So it was natural that I was recruited by the IRS during my last year of school. They have an "honors" program, where they hire a certain number of law grads (I have no idea if they still do this) early in the 3rd year to be placed in the offices where there are openings somewhere in the country. You don't know when you accept the position where they will send you, kind of Northern Exposure-esque that way… though you get to list your top five locales.

That works fine for the people who are the only career to consider, but of course, I was married already then so didn't really have that luxury. The separated married couples you hear so much about were only the actors and celebs, I guarantee that the Midwesterners who made up my peer group didn't support arrangements like that. It would be considered the prelude to divorce.

Now you need to understand that the money was phenomenal then… the IRS was competing for the best and brightest, not just in Des Moines where I was, but also in Chicago, New York, etc. So the starting salary had to be competitive… I want to say it was $32,500. almost twice the rate for even the silk stocking firms in Des Moines at the time. It was a real coup. (by way of contrast, the starting salary for beginning lawyers from top schools in good firms in Houston TODAY is $120,000. The government hasn't kept up.)

When they finally gave me a location, it wasn't Des Moines, where I had requested. I took a job in a bank and nearly died of boredom. Six months later, the IRS let me know that they had an opening in St Louis. My husband was able to work out a deal with his company to transfer to Illinois… and by November, we were looking for houses half way between his office and the city. I know it was November, because the day after we had signed a contract to buy a house, and were headed back to Des Moines to close up my bank job… where I'd already given notice, we turned on the TV to hear the newly elected president, Ronald Reagan, declare a federal hiring freeze. And make it retroactive to the date of the election. My official offer had been signed on November 4… my start date was January 2. I was out of a job.

You want to know other reasons I've never voted for a republican? [smile]

That isn't the story I meant to tell, but this is too long. Another night I will write about TW. (Things turned out fine.)