A huge waste of a Friday afternoon.
written: 10:46 p.m. on Friday, Jul. 17, 2009

The best thing I can say is that I'm so glad it's over and done with. Other than that, it was just...the only thing vaguely useful was the EFS portion, but even then, my firm has a filing department, and by the time I go back for pupillage I totally would've forgotten whatever went on today. In fact, I am forgotten already.

The rest of it was so utterly shameless in its pointlessness that after a while, I simply stopped feeling irritated and outraged that my precious time was being wasted in such a blase, uninspiring, and wholly mind-numbing fashion. What was the point, pray tell, of companies running technological services for litigation coming down to tell US, PLC students, what services they offer? What was the point of that when pupils get zero say in the technological services to which their firms subscribe? It would've made more sense for the sales pitches to be directed at partners, senior lawyers, people who actually call the shots; but people like me? Are you serious? I mean, I'm sure I can totally go back to my firm and tell my head of department, "Hey I think we should totally use this great new technology thing from this awesome company!"

Fuck off and die lah. For sure the MS Word 2007 tutorial was fun, but Boaz pointed out that his firm uses 2003 - and so does mine. What was the point? Why would law firms spend money to upgrade the software when the existing one works perfectly fine? And don't even get me started on the video-conferencing portion at the end. In fact, this whole "e-courts" nonsense should be nipped in the bud because I cannot stand the idea of the court process being reduced to mere video-conferencing. It's like dehumanising even more a process that is inherently emotionally detached, mercenary, and if I'm being honest, a huge waste of money (you'd never guess how much it costs a day to use the technology courtroom. It's insane). If justice was so damn expensive, it's no wonder not many people like to litigate. And now this e-courts thing...I'm sorry, but that's probably the most ridiculous shit I've ever heard of. I'm sorry, but I'd rather fly my remote witness to the country, house him in a decent but not too expensive hotel, and save the exorbitant costs of using that silly tech courtroom.

And that last guy. I don't know why, but people who are too enthusiastic about the law and the profession really rub me the wrong way. I didn't see the point in him asking who was from which firms because, really, did it even matter? My irritation reached its peak towards the end when, after the roleplay thing, he said that the interlocutory video-conferencing whatever was used for applications such as an application for summary judgment. He then went on to ask, "Do you know what a summary judgment is?"

He then went on to explain what a summary judgment is. Nevermind that it was completely irrelevant to his objective.

And for god's sake, of fucking course I know what a summary judgment is. Ordinarily I'd feel sorry for him, that he's clearly into this profession but isn't qualified to be a lawyer; but honestly, I was just so irritated by the pointlessness of the ENTIRE afternoon, and how it kept dragging, and how I wasted five hours of my life that I'd never get back on something completely useless, that I just didn't care.

I'm just glad it's over. Now, to tackle tomorrow's 9 to 5 Advocacy session...

Speaking of which, I haven't prepared, but I'm not too fussed. I found out over lunch today (I took a three-hour lunch break. No way was I spending my whole day there) that each exercise was only 4 minutes short. The injunction thing, examination-in-chief, cross-examination.

Seriously, 4 minutes for EIC and Cross-X? Are you serious? Excuse the Singlish, but...worry for what? Already did the full thing in Year 2 what.

The injunction thing is a bit trickier 'cause I've never done it before, and because I have no idea what the law is on granting an injunction. There's an article in the file but it's really long and I can't focus long enough to read the whole thing. Oh well. But it shouldn't be too difficult, even if only for the fact that it's 4 minutes short.

I met Tong for dinner tonight. The train to Yio Chu Kang positively took forever, and it was also so crowded that I was quite traumatised.

I ordered ramen at the Japanese place outside the YCK sports centre (where Tong, in his own words, got raped by his coach on the squash court. Aww poor thing) and in the process, forgot that I don't like Japanese ramen. I forgot that the soup is pork-based. The first thing I tasted when I drank the soup was pork. How wonderful.

But then, I could be eating the most disgusting, horrible food in the world and I still wouldn't care because it's not the food that matters; it's the person next to me.

Okay, going to stop writing now before I gross everyone out.

Lastly, I realised that I didn't wake up with an aching body today, which means yesterday's tennis wasn't strenuous enough. Shit lah! Yesterday at 7 I felt like I could still go on for two hours, no shit.

Oh, and as I walked towards the squash courts, along the tennis courts, I took a peek at the people playing there. Kind of couldn't help but laugh. Partly because I totally played - "played" - like them once upon a time, but also because some were quite tragic. And...that's me being polite. I'm very insistent on people hitting the ball properly and correctly, such that the point isn't getting the ball over the net, but how you get the ball over the net. You can hit the most powerful shot, but if you do it in a way that is not proper - no backswing, weird-looking follow-through, and worst of all, PLAY WITH ONE ARM and leaving the other arm limp and weird - I'd still be like, What the hell was that? I'm a snob when it comes to the things I love and care passionately about. That, apparently, includes tennis. And that is also why I cannot stand my own forehand; I'm convinced that, if I were to video myself playing tennis, I'd be cringing throughout all my forehand shots. I just can't do it properly anymore. I really don't know why. It's fucking irritating.

Lastly for real now, I forgot to mention this yesterday. At dinner last night, Tong squeezed my lime for me. Which I found utterly sweet. I never squeeze my lime into my mifen or whatever (or lemon onto my fish and chips) because I don't want to dirty my hands, not because I don't like the taste. And he squeezed it for me. And he also took all my sotongs.

Yay!

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010