Beware the Ides of March

Wow, but this writing twelve posts in twelve days is about killing me. The discipline required for day 4 has me ready to hit the delete button for the entire blog. And I'm the chick who thinks she is going to run the NY marathon this year to mark her 40th.

(Thing 2, by the way, is a very nice girl and not standing behind me with a large stick, demanding to know how long I will be sitting at "her" computer.)

Anyways,

March 2009

March is always a torrid month in my world. Even on a good year.

It's Lent,

it's suffering,

it's denial,

it's cold.

Yet it's birth,

it's Spring,

it's life,

it's Easter.

It's death again,

and it's life again.

March is that last snow day long after the crocuses peek through.

Too many birthdays, too many good people who have died. March 8 for my sister I never knew. March 20 for my Dad.

March 26 for my dear, dear Hubbins. And March 30 for my new nephew, Michael, and March 31 for my old brother-in-law, Michael. And probably 2-3 other nephews/nieces as well.

It's like that old hardcore song -- Birth School Work Death -- sung over and over. Or, less cynically, the Circle of Life... that moves us all. All of which sounds great after 2 glasses of w(h)ine, but which bear no specific relation to March 2009.

What can I say? March 2009 was one of great transition. I spent the month giddily pouring over internet articles about The Firm, trying to extrapolate what a 7th year in Stamford should make from the stats for a 1st year in Philadelphia. (FWIW -- no correlation.)

I was also extremely apprehensive about having a new set of rules to learn and a new set of politics to master. Let's face it -- my record was less than stellar. I had a horrible time at The Old Firm (2006-07) because I was unable to understand the politics. Mind you, they had the collective IQ of a smallish squirrel, but still I'm not sure it would have been possible for me to have been perceived worse in that environment. (I dunno. I supposed I could have shanked one of those nice senior named partners, just to watch him die...)

But, on balance, a good month. I spent March 30 and 31 at orientation at the mother ship in Philadelphia (just don't call it "headquarters), where I believe I told the head of litigation that I would practice knitting law, if such a specialty existed. And I had lunch with Mr. Suspenders-Wearing Wanna-be-Partner, who probably will be promoted April 2010. I had a hard time taking him seriously. Especially when, two months later, he (as representative of the Philadelphia-based associates) sent a loin-licking memo to the executive committee essentially thanking them for observing wage and hour laws. ("O Noble Executive Committee, we beseech Thee and thank Thee for the condescension of Thy honouring of the productivity bonus program pursuant to which we each worked many hours for Thy glory. Lo, though we are not worthy of licking the sweat of Thy balls, we humbly prostrate ourselves before Thee and make an offering of seagrass and pomegranates and our firstborns. Amen.")

I'm on the Associates Committee this year. And we'll be having none of that on my watch.