ascanius

I haven't posted a real update here in a while, but today was pretty typical of what my life is like right now, so I'm going to talk about it.

I'm taking the bar in July. At least, I should be taking the bar in July. As of last week, I'm taking time off work to study for the bar. What I'm really doing right now, though, is trying to finish up a paper that I should have finished a year ago to be done with my law school's writing requirement which is the last thing I need to do to actually graduate from law school. I didn't get to work on the paper today, though, since I spent the whole day at my old job (which, as you might recall, is managing the family's apartment business.) While I'm away from work my dad's ex-girlfriend is filling in, and I had to stop by today to make help her write up the three day notices that NY state requires before you file an eviction petition against a tenant. We don't evict people very often, but we have to send three-days all the time. Some people just need that reminder. Anyway, one of the three days we have to send out is to a woman that we are definitely going to have to evict. I rented the apartment to her, so it's going to be my responsibility to see her eviction through, and the Bar be damned. My dad has been a landlord for thirty years, but I've only been doing this for nine months, so I've made some mistakes along the way. One of those mistakes was working with a local emergency homeless shelter to find housing for their 'graduates.' It seemed like a good arrangement at first. They wanted to place their people, we wanted to rent apartments. Match made in heaven. Well, not quite. I've learned that people in homeless shelters are probably there for a reason, and they aren't going to make the best tenants in the world.
All of this is to say that we now have a tenant who we have to evict. Her rent is paid every month by the State of NY and the shelter, but we've had numerous domestic disputes, reports of drug use, and most lately a pile of trash in the hallway outside her apartment. A pile of trash! In the hallway! How hard is it to carry that shit down to the dumpster! So yeah, I've got to evict this lady, but the fact that she has no money at all means we can look forward to a Legal Aid attorney at the hearing, so we have to do the whole thing entirely by the book. I had to stop by her apartment three times today to try to personally deliver the 3-day notice. Ordinarily I could call her up to notify her, but surprise surprise, her phone is out of commission because she didn't pay the bill. I hate this! I hate this job! I hate dealing with people who don't have a clue how to live in this world, and having to be the guy to put them out on the street because they're making life miserable for our other tenants!

Ahh! I'm sorry. This is a complete rant, but I don't have anyone to rant to in my corporeal life, so you'll have to do, internet.

Anyway, so I've been trying to get in touch with this lady all day, and no dice. The other thing I had to do today was to go into the police station with my brother to get our finger prints taken. Why? Because one of our tenants found a hidden camera in her apartment. It just so happens that this tenant gave a copy of her apartment key to her old boss, who she knew was trying to sleep with her, but my whole crew is going to have to get fingerprinted now. These guys have all been working for us for years, and we've never had a problem with any of them, and this girl had to change her lock because her boss was coming into her apartment when she wasn't around, but they've all got to give their fingerprints, to rule them out as suspects. And me, too. I've got to enter my fingerprints into the FBI data base forever, because this girl gave her sleazy boss a key. (Okay, I don't have too, but does it really make sense to not cooperate with the cops here? I don't think so.)

Then I had to compile a list of tenants we rent to who belong to minorities because dad's getting sued for discrimination from way back when he was on the local planning board (years ago.) Fact is, we don't rent to a whole lot of minorities. You know why? There aren't a whole lot of minorities in my homogeneous way-upstate New York town. But I've got to spend time going through our entire rent-roll when I should be studying for the bar (but really writing that damned paper!), making a list of everybody that I think might belong to some kind of minority. What the fuck?

The upshot of all this? I'm taking the bar in Vermont. I'm moving back. What am I going to do there? If I'm lucky I'll get a job lawyering, but I'm not hopeful. I was a shitty law student. Whatever I end up doing, though, has to be better than this. I have a very wise great uncle who once told me that whatever I do, I should make sure it's what love doing. "If you do what you love", he told me, "you will always do it well. If you do something you don't like, though, no matter how hard you work you'll never be the best at it, because it isn't where your heart is." Sort of a 'to thine own self be true' speech. I believe him, but I have no idea what the fuck I love doing. I'm not sure I love anything.

I met a girl tonight, which is where I was originally going with this whole post. I went out the bar tonight, because it's been a hell of a day and why not. She was waitressing, but the kitchen had closed so she was mostly just sitting at the bar reading, and waiting for her tables to clear out. She was reading The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir, which was pretty interesting. I was reading some bullshit law, which is boring, but on my Kindle which is interesting. Anyway, we got to talking, and evidently we already met at my best friend's wedding last summer. I don't remember, but she does. So, we talked about books, and she invited me to stop by the bar at some point in the future to figure out how The Mandarins turns out. Was she amazing? Nope. The prettiest girl I've ever seen? Not really. Not even close. A big step down from the ex-fiance, in fact. But she was interesting (and definitely interested), and I haven't been with, or really wanted to be with, a woman since the ex-fiance left in December. Who knows. It might be time to get back out there. And I do have to find out how the Mandarins turns out.

Again, this is a hell of a rant to dump on you, oh internet, but once again you're all I have. Ehhh.