First real day of work

After checking my email and twiddling my thumbs for half an hour after I got in, I wandered around the department and asked people for work. I mean, what was I supposed to do, sit there and surf the web all day? That was last summer, dear.

Everyone said things were pretty quiet this week, so I got a kind of make-work assignment from an associate at first. It involved looking through some leases and amendments dating back fifty years, which was kind of cool.

Then the group took me out to lunch to a place where Brian Williams, the NBC anchor, walked in and then walked out 5 minutes later. I had the Kobe hamburger; it was tasty. The group was chatty; I was quiet. Everyone seems very smart and very nice.

After lunch, I got a real assignment that involved revising an agreement from another deal (a precedent) to conform with the details of a new deal. They were very similar, but it took me about 3 hours to read through the document and make sure I hit everything. When I turned in my results to the senior associate, she asked me, "You're done already?" which makes me nervous, but only because she makes me a little nervous. I think she's the only one in the group whose judgment would come out harsh.

That's what makes this so frustrating. Three years of school and 30 years of life experience, and I have no idea how to do anything. Everything depends on other people showing me what to do. And I can't figure it out intuitively -- nothing about corporate law is intuitive! I tried my best today, but I could have gotten it all wrong. Or I could have gotten it all right! I just don't know, and that sucks.

Dinner: a tiny carton of raspberries, which nevertheless cost $4, and some cereal. Mm. Raspberries.
(10/730)