Instituting the "Reasonable Person's" Dress Code

One thing that stinks about the East Coast is the craptastically hot weather. During a portion of my freelance gig (which recently ended), we had a heat wave in NYC. Let me break down my commute on a hot day for those of you having the benefit of traveling in a bubble of flowing air conditioning for your entire lives:

1. Wake up in an air conditioned house & get dressed.
2. Walk outside in the heat to the nearest subway station.
3. Go to subway station located underground.

Note about the subway stations in NYC: about 95% of them do not have fans of any sort in them & very few are located outside. There is NO air conditioning at ALL in ANY of the NYC subway stations that I have been in (mostly in Manhattan & Brooklyn but if there's no A/C in Manhattan, I guarantee there is none in the outer boroughs where tourists aren't visiting). Most of these stations are underground, where the heat is worse than it is outside.

4. Get on an air conditioned train. If there are lots of people on it, as tends to happen in the morning commute, the effects of the air conditioning are reduced. Sometimes, this is reduced to a minimal degree particularly if you have to carry anything with you like a laptop or a purse.
5. Switch trains at another sweaty subway station. In fact, the one I had to switch at was so hot on the other train's platform you could feel heat rising off the platform and cascading over you.
6. Get on another air conditioned train. Remember though, if there's lots of people on it you will not be feeling much of it.
7. Get off the air conditioned train and traverse out in the heated subway station to go outside, where there might be a breeze but where it could very well be sticky outside.
8. FINALLY, get into the air conditioned building where you are working.

Two more pertinent details as related to me:

1. I have sensitive skin. If you look at it weird, it will turn red. If I get too hot, I get sweaty. If I'm sweaty, I get zits. Those zits are usually in uncomfortable places & hurt like Hell. I HATE getting zits. Zits also aren't good for your skin.

2. I'm from the Southeast. If the people I knew down there are any indication, Southerners are hard core when it comes to their air conditioning. Any place you go in the South will usually have central air conditioning or at least have booming cold air anyplace you go, including in a Southerner's car (this was the case in my hometown & Atlanta, at least). I don't know a single native Southerner of my generation who was too cheap to have air conditioning in the summer & it was actually a factor for me in deciding where to go to undergrad (the school with air conditioning in all the dorms won out). Even the ones who were older & didn't have the same access to A/C as us would take advantage of it or use it themselves.

Based on this, I've concluded that Southerners are hard core when it comes to air conditioning. Not having it for a Southerner is asking for trouble. Remember also that Southerners are known for being more aggressive than Northerners, particularly when it comes to protecting their families (per sociological studies); I wonder if anyone's determined that hotter temperatures & more humidity might be a factor. Heat does make people more irritable & I tend to be much meaner if it's hot outside. I might get into a fist fight with you if you give me shit on a heat wave day over my attire.

Keeping those factors in mind, I thank God that I'm not some typical attorney in a law firm. They don't have reasonable person dress codes & demand their attorneys to show up in uncomfortable & stifling clothing in triple digit heat for the sake of "the clients."

I had a horrible experience wearing a business suit for a job interview in NC. After I graduated from college & was deciding what to do, I tried to get paid employment in NC.

I had a job interview for a position with the Department of Social Services where my interview was in the summer (early July, in fact). When I showed up for that interview in my long sleeved business suit (Have you ever seen one with short sleeves, by the way? I haven't.), their air conditioning was out. Since I didn't want to make a bad impression in my tank top I was wearing underneath, I had to leave on my stifling jacket in a room with ZERO air conditioning. It was torture. I was thrilled to get back to my car when the interview was over. No one offered to have me take off the coat & no compassion for the situation was shown.

Despite all that, I thought I turned in a decent interview. However, they took forever to get back to me. The guy I'd been dating before graduating had invited me to go to Florida with him the same week as the interview so I was also irritated about missing out on that (though he was visiting his family & based on how he acted later, it was probably better I opted out). This guy had offered me a place to stay if I returned to Atlanta, which prompted me to leave at the end of the month.

I didn't hear back about this job until I was working a couple weeks at the law firm, only to learn I didn't get it. This was only one in a series of jobs I didn't get in my hometown so perhaps I made the right choice to leave, huh? Shows that not everyone should be staying in their hometowns. I knew I wasn't going to be happy there & it felt like all this failure with job searching (back in 2003) was a sign from the universe that I didn't belong there. I got my law firm job in two weeks while I didn't have a job in NC after 2 months, despite my best efforts looking and applying for work.

It was at that time that I came up with my "dumb ass" theory on employment. I still stand by it today.

So I have sworn that when my company has an office, we're instituting a reasonable person's dress code. It seems many of these businesses haven't bothered to consider legal ramifications of someone getting heat stroke trying to get to work b/c the company made them wear something too stifling for 100+ degree heat & they had to wait in a hot subway station for the next train (I did have to get off at a hot subway station once to get a different train when the train I was on had problems; it was crowded & there was no other train to transfer to nor any breeze of any kind in that area).

The first basic rule of a reasonable person's dress code is that the employees must be adults. I'd rather not employ little children myself considering if I wanted them, I'd go adopt some or have them myself. I don't know why more companies haven't followed suit.

My basic stance on a reasonable person's dress code is to dress reasonably for the weather without showing your private parts with equal opportunity for both sexes. If men get to go shirtless, then women get to wear bras or bikini tops; if it's too horrid, they can also go shirtless. The men also get to wear shorts.

This dress code would also state that everyone gets to wear comfortable shoes. You DO know that high heels cause collapsed arches. Personally, I'd rather not have collapsed arches. If that's not enough to scare you, watch Sheila E.'s episode of Unsung. She talks about how she ended up losing height & having all kinds of health problems due to her touring schedule & how her footwear was a contributing factor.

Of course, this dress code would be optional. If you want to die in the heat or get collapsed arches, be my guest. You just won't get to sue my company over it since you made the voluntary choice to dress that way. If the air conditioning is blasting, you need to bring a sweater for the office; I always do that in case I get cold & will wear it as needed.

As for clients, a free tip: you want people to be comfortable & in a good mood when you meet with them. You do NOT want to meet with me when it's triple digit temperatures outside & I've been forced to endure stifling train platforms and gotten super sweaty on my way to the office. There are certain environments I make sure to stay clear of since it would be a disaster for all concerned such as working in small confined spaces on hot days.

Court would also be a place that should be doing this but we all know that's never going to happen unless we get some much younger judges who don't like dying in the heat. We CAN, however, start setting this up in private businesses. If the tech people were able to get casual dress into the corporate/office workplace, then we can surely get a reasonable person's dress code in there as well. Especially in light of global warming & the documented long term damage of high heels to women's feet, legs and general health.

Honestly, I think higher ups in companies not instituting this stuff go to work in NYC via cabs, personal drivers, any method not involving the subway & live in a cocoon of constant cold air since only a sadist piece of garbage would demand someone to show up in sleeves on a heat wave day. That person should be forced to wait at the 4/5/6 downtown bound platform in Union Square during morning rush hour during every single hot day in NYC for 3 of the hottest summers. That would teach a lesson.

Also, if you are a bus driver & you don't cut on the air conditioning at full blast when it's over 80 degrees, prepare for me to loudly comment on how you're going to cause a lawsuit against the MTA b/c of someone getting heat stroke (and I will make sure those aggrieved people get to sue the pants off you by finding them a lawyer & informing them of how quickly they have to file the proper paperwork). If it's a heat wave day & you have no air conditioning on, be prepared to die a slow & painful death. If the heat doesn't get you, I will.

I wonder if my theory on Southerners is true. You'd think every single business in NYC run by a Southern transplant would have A/C & then some but I don't know for sure if that's the case. I'll tell you this: I would deal with that expense if I were one of these business owners since I'm not spending time in an unbearably hot space. Society as a whole doesn't want me doing that either & the lawsuit will probably cost more.

Conspiracies to Deny Effective Participation & The Problem With Unions

When I get cards in the mail about my husband's latest union meeting & knowing where our community board meetings are held, I do ask myself that question.

First off, some facts about where I live in NYC. Queens, to be precise. There are parts of Queens that should just be annexed to the suburbs since as far as I'm concerned, you're in Nassau County if you live outside the MTA subway line. You may as well be Staten Island & everyone knows how NYC residents feel about Staten Island (most of us would like them to become their own little community already).

Some of these transit nightmare parts also exist in neighborhoods where the MTA subway line runs. A portion of these are in my local community & henceforth, I don't feel great loyalty there. Why would anyone want to be someplace where you get all the disadvantages of both the city and the suburbs? Plus, if I can get to a restaurant in Manhattan more easily, why would I get on a bus that only runs every 30 minutes or so to get to a restaurant in Queens (assuming everything with the restaurants is equal)?

I already have a number of reasons I prefer going to and dealing with things in Manhattan over Queens. I'm apparently not the only person noticing better sanitation grades in parts of Manhattan I can get to, better service on the whole in Manhattan or more convenience.

Our community board meetings & my husband's union meetings are both held in transit dead zones or places where transit is a total joke.

I can't help but wonder if the location of these meetings is deliberate so people won't attend & won't participate. Would YOU participate in a meeting you can't attend virtually & would have to drive to when you don't have a car or would have to leave your alternate side street parking spot to get there?!?!?!

Is this the case in other communities? I do feel like it's totally the case in mine. Do organizers in government, unions & elsewhere deliberately set up meetings in out of the way or inconvenient spots so the average person won't participate & therefore, little Hitlers can reign?

My husband's union reps should be glad I'm not part of it because I'd be in their faces all the time & demanding accountability. I hear about so much appalling behavior going on in my husband's workplace that would turn anyone against unions.

Are you curious? I'll give you some basic examples of problems I'm aware of. First off, the no-strike clause. The very first thing anyone associates with a union is the ability to strike!!! Being a union whose workers can't strike? If it were a person, it would be a man with no testicles (literally or figuratively).

Second, a number of his co-workers who have never had to worry about being laid off in the past few layoff rounds are STILL working there after being called for discipline multiple times, being kicked out of multiple branches after being bigoted to colleagues & members of the public (one person who was offended was a city council member).

Meanwhile, a number of people there (including my spouse) work their butts off, have gotten great reviews from co-workers & management but continue to get denied for promotions AND are put on the layoff list. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? One of these people was in fact laid off while all these deadweight scumbags got to keep their jobs.

I think the city needs a citizens' accountability group for taxpayers to reel in these wastes of public money by public officials & institutions. I haven't found a local one to exist; if it does, it's surely too wussy and passive to really do what I think a good group should be doing. We'd be front & center, bringing in the media & causing a huge ruckus if I was leading it.

Furthermore, if you want to encourage citizens to participate in unions or local government maybe you should have meeting locations that are accessible to everyone, not just your golden children.

Who wouldn't suspect something shady with putting your meetings in locations no one can get to easily?

Unions in particular ought to be shaping up as well if they want public support. Stop encouraging loafing & laziness in your ranks. Get rid of the dead weight, the people who don't want to be there and the utter assholes! Jobs aren't a fucking right or an entitlement, damn it! You EARN them!!! Maybe instead of covering up for these types, they should be gone so competent people who actually do their jobs well could get promotions instead of layoffs favoring the lazy assholes.

Do I sound bitter? Maybe, but consider how you'd feel if it were your loved one losing all passion for his/her job due to this kind of bullshit. When the only way you can move upward is by sucking the right dick & you have to commit a felony before you can be fired from a job you're stinking at, you might feel better about some private businesses.

This is not to say there's no BS in private business but it seems like they have more incentives to get rid of under-performing or abusive assholes. Racists managers are a PR nightmare in a for profit company; so are sexual predators, thieves & lazy jerks. A poorly run private company will eventually go out of business. I as a consumer will certainly not support one if I hear or see that they're harboring incompetents. I would certainly get rid of incompetents in my own company in a second & I know my partners would never expect any one of us to suffer abuse, laziness or actions that would ruin our business reputation if made known to the general public. Being my friend or relative means nothing. If you aren't hacking it, you're gone.

My personal solution is somehow creating a union that considers + rewards/punishes actual work performance instead of just seniority. Even a system to clear out the dead weight quickly so those people sitting at home unemployed who'd do twice the work for half the pay could get a shot to succeed instead of some entitled, bloated lump. Yeah, I'm not a fan of tenure or teacher's unions either.

Final thought: not everyone can be the boss. If you can't be impartial, deliver the facts in a concise way & treat people with respect, then you've got no business managing anyone. I say this having fired & interviewed people. Wusses need not bother working in management.

There's a lot more to it & certainly to business ownership but I view the presence of incompetents as a malignant tumor to a business. They should be doing something they want to do & given real training for it but if after all that, they're still screwing up the answer isn't to let them get disciplinary records longer than the entire city subway line while continuing to pay them a salary & laying off competent workers with "less seniority."

Getting To Know the iPhone 4, Too Much Politics and More

It's no secret that I have a very cynical view of politics & politicians. Any smart political candidate would want to have me around since I know how one becomes cynical & how to get people to give a crap about some issue. I like to think of myself as the crash that will lull you out of your complacent sleep. I sort of view it as my goal in life to shake things up, not be a "yes" woman & tell unpleasant truths to people who never hear them but actually should + would benefit from hearing them.

I have a friend (I won't say who) who lately, has been posting political diatribes. Now you'd think this person would just create a rant blog like yours truly. If you come here, you know you're going to get rants. Since I agree with people's rights to have their own opinions & have plenty of people in my life who don't follow lockstep behind every cause I support or reject, I didn't de-friend this person like some other people apparently did because of it.

However, after seeing more of it today, I'm wondering whether some conservative leaning political pundit has hacked that social media account. It's been EVERY SINGLE status update. That gets old for me.

A) If you want to rant about politics, create a political rant blog. That way, people know what to expect & what they're getting. People friending you on a social media network aren't necessarily expecting that. While I take great care in who I friend on certain sites, I don't post about the same thing ad nauseaum. I try not to overwhelm folks with Occupy Wall Street stuff or anything else (though I pass on important links).

B) I do believe it takes all types in the world but I'd rather debate folk in person. That way, you can catch tone, subtleties & things you miss in the written word. It's too easy to think you're being patronized, insulted, etc. when the other person didn't actually mean it that way.

C) I wonder if this person has considered backlash to career. The person works in the entertainment business & has a similar path to mine (though I've been an attorney longer & this person has done more than me). However, this individual doesn't strike me as someone who is so hard core set on their views that they are willing to risk alienating people. This is not someone who did humorous rants or came up with hyperbolic suggestions on how to reform things (in other words, if you were the average person who saw these, I'm not sure you'd find humor there). I as a colleague would certainly be influenced as to who I'd refer or not refer. I'd certainly not refer anyone who loudly favors the ethic of the Occupy protests. If you think I'm being a hypocrite, I disagree.

You might disagree with me but at least I try to entertain & not speak with judgment. This person, not so much with these updates. You felt like you were dealing with that fundie cousin at Thanksgiving or something.

As for my Thanksgiving, it was actually decent. Went to the in-laws again but next year, we have to go to NC. For one thing, my husband's finally got a work schedule where he can get the time off (in over 5 years of marriage, we've never spent a holiday at my parents' home as a married couple--yeah, I'm still pissed about that). Second, my sister recently learned that she was pregnant. If things go well, we'll have another niece or nephew to corrupt & spoil (by corrupt, I mean teaching that kid to think for himself/herself, believe in doing anything (s)he puts his/her mind to and that if I could do what I'm doing, so can (s)he). If it doesn't, everyone will be bummed out & depressed. Either way, I'll have to go. We're hoping for a girl this time to balance out the male/female ratio. This will add up to 6 nieces & nephews for hubby & me. No way do I need to be having kids.

Yesterday, I managed to avoid Black Friday shopping hell & am thankful that I did. I know people who did in smaller places who said they couldn't see going out in it in a major city. Since I don't have small kids & still remember the ethic of What Would Jesus Buy? (you can also become a fan of the Rev. Billy on Facebook), I'm just not into shopping for things I don't really need. Even coming up with a Christmas list means me thinking of things I will use, stores that sell things I will actually buy & of course, considering asking for things we think are too expensive for us to buy. However, people in my family plan this way in advance. We've even finished all retail shopping at this point so we don't have to go out in that shopping hell. I'd be interested to see how much the Internet has displaced brick & mortar shopping over the years, especially during the holidays.

Wouldn't you know the dumb asses at the MTA decided to shut down my local subway line this weekend? Last year, they shut it down during the weekend of Comic Con. Do these idiots think no one in my area goes shopping? Are they trying to harm the city's tourism & commercial dollars? My area's never going to be some great alternative to Manhattan until they stop with that BS. The only good thing is I live in walking distance of another subway line that is running so I'm not at the mercy of a shuttle bus.

Yesterday, I finally discovered how to create & put custom ringtones on my iPhone. I'd been able to get the ringtones on there as music but not get them added as actual ringtones in the ringtones section of the phone. Figuring this out has been significant for me, along with the discovery that you can use apps to create ringtones from your own songs. I hate being at the mercy of big business or having to get something everyone else likes but not songs that are more obscure & that I'd rather have. I generally also like my ringtones instrumental & made some great ones, including some from the opening song in Office Space. No store will cater to my tastes & preferences so it's best that people like me get to create their own stuff.

Today, I've continued working on the ringtone project. One thing I really hate about iTunes is that it seems to be all or nothing with files. For instance, I created test ringtones. Why can't I just delete them with a right click or a button, though?! I don't like how they came out so I don't want them. iTunes seems to make it more complicated than it should be to get music on your iPod or iPhone or get rid of songs. That's something I really don't like about it. Once you get the hang of it, though, you're good. I feel like I'm going to have to keep a written tutorial for myself, though since it's not one of those programs where the obvious solution works.

Oh, and I continue doing video blogs periodically on Mobli. If you want to find them, I'm under "angryredheadlaw". Don't think I got that hosting job but when I saw an ad later stating that it would be unpaid, I think it's for the best. The saga that is my life continues.

Someday, I'll Own the MTA

Okay, MTA board members. Contrary to popular belief, not all people who take public transit are the uneducated, unwashed sheeple! Some of us are smart! Some of us are lawyers! Some of us just don't take crap off others.

Let me tell you something else: some of your employees are engaging in behavior that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. I don't know whether they or management/policy writers ought to be blamed but here are a couple of tales you should take to heart.

#1 My husband spoke of a bus driver who NEVER had adequate A/C on when needed. One day last year, I got onto a bus where this driver was present. It was over 90 degrees outside and kind of that hazy heat wave stuff we're going through now.

I get on the bus and loudly mention that when a small child or elderly person passes out from heat stroke as a result of being on that bus, I'm going to have some clients and they'll own the MTA. I also mentioned being an attorney.

He got the message & we stopped sweating like pigs on the bus.

But if you think that was bad, I must mention yesterday. Oooh, yesterday. If I didn't have a viable career path, decent employment and a husband who wasn't getting laid off, I'd have likely hurt someone.

Before I left my home, the heat index was over 100 degrees outside. I dressed in shorter attire (call it sexy if you'd like) and even put my long hair back away from my face & neck. It took 4 hair bands to do it!

I was also traveling on my primary subway in an area where it's the ONLY subway to get to Manhattan. We all know that even a lukewarm breeze in a subway station is a luxury.

These circumstances bring me to legal outrage #2, which is far worse in my book.

#2 I take the subway to get to Manhattan in order to meet my husband for dinner and use up a discount coupon he got for his birthday (yesterday was the last day to use it and good locations of this place are sparse).

We get to Bedford Ave aka Hipster Alley, when the conductor announces that our cool, A/C filled subway is ending at our stop and going back where we came from. We are told to depart the subway into a boiling, blisteringly hot subway platform already semi-crowded with people.

When everyone departs the train, the doors close & the train just sits there. No regard or attempt for the fact that everyone's on this crowded, breeze-free platform! No consideration that the heat index is 100+ degrees outside & you're not supposed to not be in hot places for extended time periods. Never mind the fact that there could easily have been small children and older people on this subway. It just sits there, mocking everyone with the interior coolness while we're feeling like we're going to die.

One of my law professors once said that widows and children always win. Basically, this means that if your injured party is a child or a widow that person will get maximum jury sympathy in a negligence/personal injury lawsuit.

Absolutely NO offer whatsoever is made to allow passengers to cool off in the train while we're waiting the 6-7 minutes for the next train.

During this time, we continue to hear announcements stating that we can't take this train into Manhattan and have to take the next Brooklyn bound train 9 stops back to transfer elsewhere.

After this, a train going to Brooklyn pulls in. It is stuffed full of people. Only a trickle walk out. I said "This is unconscionable."

Thankfully, a Manhattan bound train shows up but by that point I decided I'd rather not stand in another hot as Hell subway station for another train. I take my chances walking on the NYC streets where I might feel a breeze. Wouldn't you?

Also, like many people I tend to get very irritable when the temperate is above 90 degrees outside & you force me into a space that has no air conditioning. School administrators in the South understand this basic concept. Why can't the MTA's top brass or employees? I was very tempted to walk up to the subway operator that people were talking to & point out the legal issues/events that will lead to someone getting hurt.

If this kind of crap is characteristic of a month in the life of the MTA service, someone owning the MTA is eventually going to happen. Based on the odds, a multi-million dollar lawsuit is bound to happen. Some little kid or an old person dying or suffering permanent injury? Some worker being assaulted or killed? Whatever might happen by forcing travelers to suffer in spaces as hot or hotter than the outside streets in a heat wave is going to be bad. If it happens to me, you'd better believe I'd take action & mention the legal issues in a second. Sane people know better than to mess with me.

And if I didn't have prospects or get laid regularly, I'd be a much more dangerous person. More on the getting laid part in the next rant.

Get Off Your Butt & Take Action

Well, I had a horrible day before my husband came home. I'm still not entirely big on hanging around the general public & tomorrow's my 4 year anniversary. Yes, I got married on October 13th; Friday the 13th, in fact. That was deliberate & as my husband isn't some traditionalist with a perfect love life, he was all for my idea to do it. Even now, Friday the 13th tends to be a great day for me & for him.

So, my horrible day. Here's a list:

* Go to the subway station. My closest station has full body turnstile gates to get in. I scan my card & go in after the person in front of me like a normal person. The gate swings back & hits me in the mouth, causing it to bleed. The gate is apparently defective in having the little swing back after you've paid. My lip has a noticeable spot & swelling where this happened, ruining my plans to kiss my husband good-bye this morning.

You'd better believe I'll be making an issue of it w/the MTA & that if I EVER get injured anywhere I'll be filing a lawsuit immediately. I'm even tempted to find Jay Walder's personal telephone number, call it up to give him a piece of my mind since I bet you a million dollars those pricks won't fix that gate & publish that number for the populace to ream him out for supporting the massive fare increase in December. Will I be mentioning that I'm a lawyer? Do men check me out all the time? The answer to both is a resounding "Hell, yes!"

* When I get on the subway, I realize I forgot my lunch so now I have to spend money to buy some. This after STILL not getting my first paycheck for a temp assignment I've been at for over a month. If that's not fixed, I'm not paying transit costs to do a freebie. I have too many other more useful things I can do at home & I don't need the hassle of finding a parking space or altering my sleep schedule. I also don't take kindly to not getting paid & have no tolerance for waiting around for my paycheck. That's the same song & dance I got from Bennie the Con Man and he had to pay for my travel or I wouldn't show up.

* Then I find out my cell phone battery is dead, meaning I can't call anyone or speak to my husband during this crappy day.

* Work became a few catastrophes with color running out of the printer, the phone not ringing through, etc. but did resolve itself. Thankfully, I was doing something requiring me to be alone; that was great b/c I was definitely in an anti-social mood.

* After work is finished, I go to the subway station to refill my MetroCard. The machine says the MetroCard can't be read. Funny but I used that card this morning to suffer the mouth injury. I go to the agent & apparently, the card is damaged. However, she says that the last time the card was used was on Saturday. It doesn't say a thing about this morning. I know I'd have been more pissed about going to the other side of the station, a number of blocks away from my home, to get a new card & have $ for the trip.

* While trying to get home, my iPod battery dies. Can this day get any better?

* Of course, I arrive home & there's no parking on the side of the street I need to be on for Thursday. What a shocker!

On top of this, we find a mouse in our apartment on Sunday. Rather, the cat does. Apparently the landlord thinks the holes in the wall don't have to be sealed b/c we have a cat; I plan to suggest that he pay some $ toward the cat's upkeep if that's his justification for not taking care of this. I'll also see what the city would have to say about having your renters live in a mouse infestation or their home being a wayward area for them despite your having a cat. The landlord knows I'm a lawyer & lawyers are better known for not taking shit from others.

The fact that we have a cat is irrelevant to this b/c what if we were allergic or were banned by the lease from having one? I would never live someplace that banned cats & I love my killer feline but if he's solely responsible for rodent control, that means a rent deduction until this problem's resolved. Same w/the messed up radiator that hasn't been looked at in our bedroom. If that's not resolved, I don't get full rental value of my home & you don't get full rent until it's fixed.

While on the subway this morning, I come to a realization. It's a very good thing that I am educated & know how to enforce my rights. Being a lawyer also pretty much tells the world that you know this stuff better than the average person or at least can locate the proper resource. If I were not a lawyer and people wouldn't bother listening to what I had to say, I would snap. I couldn't take being some poor person who's trampled upon and ignored. Being oppressed would cause me to snap, form my own army & take down some scumbags.

I was thinking about that classmate of mine who recently robbed a bank & realized I would never rob a bank. That's just stupid. A smart person would get a job, gain the manager's trust & then be an embezzler who doesn't get caught. Maybe that shows you a bit of the intelligence divide as to how you commit theft. I think most people would want me to help them commit a crime since I'm the type who if I do something, I'll do it extremely well.

Also, I don't tend to be a top suspect in a given situation. When I was in high school one day when my teacher had been a chaperon for a senior trip, I didn't have a class or teacher to go to since I was the only non-senior in that class. I walked around the halls, waiting for someone to stop me since I had no idea where to go or what to do & would have loved to hear what one does when (s)he has no class, no teacher + the classroom door is locked.

People around me were being stopped by teachers but no one ever stopped me. I bet I could have gotten away with leaving the campus if I'd had half a mind to do so. Well, and a car but I ended up hanging out w/another teacher in her class since it was her free period & I wasn't interrupting a class.

Oh, and I'm quite certain I could have effected a school shooting situation in high school that would have made Columbine look like nothing and would have been far better at it since I had access to things you average student didn't. No one planned that one b/c I'm pretty sure I've have been asked to participate given my general dislike of being here to start with, being a big mouth rebel + that special access/trust. I'd have certainly heard about it considering I'd have done it myself if I hadn't seen a future for me outside that town. I still think if you really want to do that right, then you have to recruit a "good kid" who's trusted by the man, so to speak.

Take a lesson, power brokers of the world. You don't want smart people to languish & get no opportunities to succeed or you just get master criminals. It's a point I've made before but I'm very committed to it and my first hand experience tends to support it.

On that note, I think smart attorneys who are so downtrodden & unable to find employment would do the same if they had lived in some of my situations or understood the concept of asserting yourself. I also think you're better off doing what you want in life, even if you aren't getting rich than to be miserable but have tons of money.

How You Know You're Following Your Passion

I work in Lower Manhattan & almost every weekday morning, I'm on the subway to go to work. Riding the subway is a unique, interesting experience. Some mornings you get free entertainment, an opportunity to buy candy bars, hear some interesting conversation and/or see some captivating people. It's one of those things I intend to do as much as possible, even once things start taking off in my career.

I feel like doing it is a way to keep yourself grounded & appreciate what you have. Not to mention the inspiration you can get from this ritual & it being cheaper than always taking cabs. I took MARTA in Atlanta but it has nothing on the NYC subway system.

This morning, I was sitting on the train as usual. What was different is that this guy in a suit carrying a style of bag you normally see lawyers with as well as what looked like a law book walked on. He stood in front of me & held the pole above my seat. He then opens the book, holds it in his other hand & starts reading. Since I always notice evidence of lawyers & law students on trains, I peered at the cover; it was a Constitutional Law book.

Two thoughts struck me:

1. Amazement that this guy could fully open & read the law book using one hand, hold the pole & not once stumble or lose his balance on the moving subway, even when we were traveling faster later on. I know I couldn't.

2. I LOVE doing what I do in the entertainment business. I love the fact that I can wear jeans & sneakers to work as well as be truly honest in doing things. I love that my opinion matters & that people listen to what I have to say. Even though I'm not making all that much doing it, I feel a true passion for it. The workday generally flies by, I have great co-workers to talk to & even if I'm not that busy, the day still moves on. I honestly look forward to going to work in the mornings & usually WANT to get up in the morning.

When I see lawyers on the subway, I'm happy not to be them. They usually look miserable & don't seem to have the passion I have for what I do. This is especially true w/younger lawyers.

I was struck by the fact that I'd be completely miserable if I were working in a law firm & having this calm, content feeling is great (finances be damned). I really think more people should figure out and follow their passion; the minute you start behaving like "a grown up" or tell others to do it & stop following "silly dreams", it means your soul has died.

People like that aren't able to see possibility & would rather whine about being miserable than take steps to change anything wrong in their lives. They really piss me off; if you aren't bothering to improve your own life, then don't whine to me about how bad you have it. Don't begrudge people of their happiness when you refuse to make yourself happy, okay?