the sandbox is the true secret borad of ilx

^^^

hey this is a pretty long, encouraging thread

encouraging you is one of life’s pleasures.

now that i know i encourage you just by doing my job i dont feel like i need to post here

I hope that harbl is always encouraged

i am supposed to ahve my 1st jury trial tomorrow and i am not sure how to do it

stay up all night watching a law and order marathon?!

Seriously wishing you poise and confidence and equanimity under pressure.

awesome, good luq

do it harblously.

think of the jury as a row of fruit flies, your argument as the vinegar in the jarbl. it’ll be a snap!

how’d it go

i was wrong, the client was v lucky and got a judge who is a stickler for starting at a certain time and the state put its witness on call and she was late so they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse and there was no trial

that is what’s known as a plea jarbl

well done, harbly<3

that stickler judge would not like me at all.

the subject of the trial was going to be telephone misuse lol

harbl, do you know this man?

haha not personally. it is seriously the shittiest worst most suburban dull ugly boring county. except a bunch of other counties in maryland.

like i was surprised by it but it helped make sense of other things that go on there

harbl do you find the usa/md system of government/justice more or less depressing than you used to?

ie tell me everything’s okay?

hard to remember how i used to feel about it but it comes and goes in waves. sometimes i’m like what the fuuuuuuuck this is bullshit and other days i’m like ok. mostly i am just mad at it and the people who believe in it. there is a lot of false helping. people who believe that what they’re doing is helping someone. for example probation with mandatory drug treatment or anger management (and if you fail probation getting more jail time than you would if probation didn’t exist, so you get punished additionally rather than for the original offense) or the crap prosecutors put domestic violence victims through. also SO many people who think making drugs a crime is doing anything for anyone. i could go on!

everything is ok

i like losing an hour of my life because i hate my life!

stop!

but i’m tired and i drink a lot of wine

i have a motions hearing tomorrow and i know i’m going to lose it (boss said he cannot remember ever winning a single one of this type of motion and he is 50 but the point is not to win it anyway) but i have no idea how it is even done so i am just guessing! i am stressing myself out. i am tired of doing misdemeanors and i want to be able to move up when the opportunity arises so i am putting extra pressure on myself to do a good job. people know that i am smart and i care, i think, but i am not technically skillful.

i think you will do a great job!

we, and zipper, have faith in u

oh harbl. i would encourge you but you have so much courage already so i don’t think you need it. instead i wish you confidence.

lxy otm

i didn’t die

hurray

excellent news!

congratulations!

we come to encourage harbl, not to bury her.

might have a jury trial tomorrow

justice never rests

maybe we can strike a plea jarbl but i don’t think so

i’m gonna get ethiopian takeout and have a beer and work on it

perfect choice. next time you’re here we’ll go out for ethiopian.

i didn’t have one, but i’m going to have one tomorrow

(i had ethiopian in seattle last month!)

harbl do you have to pick jurors? and is there a white noise machine to hide what ppl say?

my only jury experience was in dc, which tends to adopt the worst legal practices from the 50 states, tho

yeah it’s more like they are lined up in order and we strike until we run out of strikes. the judge asks the questions, which we suggest. i think in most states the lawyers get to question the jurors. there is a white noise machine, i hate that.

i got a summons! but i don’t know if i have to appear until the night before!

mookie, where did you go for ethopian?

what’s this white noise business about? i’ve been called for jury duty a ton of times but i’ve never been empaneled. which is fine by me because i’d hate it. one time i got all the way to the part about sitting in the jury place, but then one of the lawyers nixed me for an unspoken reason. never noticed any white noise.

pan africa — food was good, service was whatevs?

in dc, ppl got called up to ‘approach the bench’ and were briefly questioned with judge, prosecutor and defense attorney right there. but no one else in the (large) room could hear because of the white noise machine WHICH WAS REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING.

good luck, harbl

thank u all but i guess i lied again. we did too good of a job and made it poof go away. it was gonna be kind of cool because this guy who is married had at least 3 other girls that all knew about each other and had each other’s phone numbers/facebook/etc. so there was a lot of cross-harassment and this lady got pissed one day after he didn’t answer any of her 50 phone calls, lured him to a gas station (she was gonna get him to go to her house but he said he had no gas so she came to “help”), falsely claimed he robbed her and made 4 different reports about it to various things like 911, statement of charges, 2 different stories at the hospital. oh well! she even helpfully gave the state a printout of a facebook wall conversation she had with one of the other girls that was like “hes mine tonight imma be movin on top of him go play wit ur grandkids” lol.

also when individual jurors go to the bench with the white noise they do that so if anyone wants to say they were raped or are a racist they don’t have to do it out loud. so just imagine all the bad things you are missing!

oh i get it. we all had to say our dirt out loud for everyone to hear. or if a person wanted to say something secret s/he would have to say in front of everyone “i have something secret to say” and then go up to the judge’s counter and whisper. no white noise in king county.

yeah we can request it for certain questions, so if anyone says “yes” to the question (which is pretty vague, like have you been the victim of a crime) they go to the bench to explain so no one is pointed out. some of those people might get on the jury eventually.

i again did not have a jury trial today so i am sitting at the table with someone else doing one, it’s an inmate-on-inmate cutting! gangs and stuff! i watched some of the jury selection and one guy got excused for cause because he said he did not trust authority or the cops, which i think is not good cause. sounds like a suitable juror to me!

i would like to be employed as a court-appointed tsker.

harbl, so excited about your home-ownership ambitions!

did the mural house ever get relisted?

harbl, I am summoned for us dust court jury selection on Monday! do you have any advice for me?

dust court aka dist court

i advise you to highlight your participation in domestic outrage & desperate housewives threads

the mural house came back until it was unlisted again this week! not sure what’s going on with that. i don’t think i should get it though, not enough garden space. i have my eyes on another one now that is on an interesting street and next to a very large park. i need to get moving though. my friend said to find a buyer’s agent i can go to open houses that i don’t care about just so i can see if i like the agent and then ask them to be my agent. i feel weird doing it though! how did you buy a house?

tza do you mean federal district ct? either way i have no advice lol. do you want to be picked or not picked?

my agent was the brother of jergins’ life-long friend. if i’d met him at open house i never would have picked him, i think. we’re nothing alike, and he hated the house i wanted to buy. once i convinced him that i wasn’t just making a rash decision to buy the first house i saw, he supported me 100% and really fought on my behalf. in the end he worked really hard for me, and was completely upfront and honest and generous and flexible.

i am not certain he would’ve done the same for a complete stranger—even though i’d never met him, he’d known j. since they were kids so it was kind of a family connection in a way—so i can’t say it would’ve been rhe same if i’d picked him out of the phonebook or whatever.

so my recommendation would be to find someone who is a family friend or has some connection to someone you’re connected with. or ask people you know to give you a referral. once you find someone, be sure of yourself, do your part to learn about the process, ask one billion questions, and make sure your agent knows you’re smart, dedicated and serious about buying. s/he will, in my experience, work harder for you if you’re a partner in the process.

what did he hate about your house, lxy?!?!?

my one friend who has bought a house in the past few years had one agent who was bad and yelled at his wife and made her cry. then they switched agents and got a good one but she is not an agent anymore or has moved or something. i’m gonna ask my boss if he knows anyone.

i’m feeling a bit panicked bc 2 months ago there were lots of pretty houses in the area we want, for good prices, and now there are none for less than $450k. hopefully this is just a spring/summer trend and they’ll drop back down a bit next fall?? we can’t buy anything for at least 7 months anyways, bc it looks like (fingers crossed) ytth will be starting a new job soon.

but we’re gonna go look at 2 open houses today bc a. i love looking inside houses b. i REALLY REALLY love looking inside houses

you ppl and yr houses : /

ruby, he doesn’t like the neighborbood (too industrial) and he doesn’t think it will have high resale value. but i love the industrialism of my neighborhood, and i don’t want to sell my house so who cares about resale values? i want a place to live, not a place to sell!

it didn’t see all ~that~ industrial to me?!? and it’s so adorable!!!

we looked at 3 places today, all out of our price range, but one of them was INSANE—it had those cute old fashioned fire burning stoves in like three rooms, a HUGE fully landscaped garden with fountains and shit and an outdoor hot tub and this completely weird ‘viewing room’. it was about twice what we could afford but it was fun to see how the 1% lives.

it IS adorable! but also pretty industrial. it’s zoned industrial, there’s a factory at the end of the block, warehouse behind, business across, etc.

that’s why it was so hard to buy, too. no one would lend for the property cuz of the zoning. but that’s why i wanted to live here!!

I will never be able to afford a house :(

Harbl yes federal district court. I’ve always been kind of interested in serving it I’m nervous about missing work bc it’s kind of a bad time to be out so I don’t really know what I want.

chances are you will not be picked anyway! and i agree lxy’s house is great wtf realtor. i am glad i live in baltimore (now i am because it’s not that hot yet) bc i think i can safely pay under $150k. i could not ever afford one in california! but i am not glad because property taxes are crazy here.

I was not a chosen one! Maybe bc I said I previously worked as a paralegal when they asked about any legal experience. The white noise thing is weird!!!

Harbl, there are houses within a 30 min train ride of downtown sf for under 150k. Not the greatest houses or the greatest neighborhoods, but livable.

i finally did have a jury trial and i won. i was pretty nervous and did not do a stellar job but i was lucky to have one of the dumbest prosecutors.

congratulations harbl! you should reward yourself with a quick trip to los angeles!!

a+

so clever<3

lxy otm

i wish i could! i feel like i will never get a vacation. but maybe in the fall again. i want to visit my dearest friend adamrl.

now i have fumblingly won my first bench trial and my first jury trial so all i need to do now is transfer to another division and win my first appeal

congrats, harbl!

harbl we went to ft. st. george and i ordered the teriyaki tofu because i wanted to be like you <3

haha i liked that place with its funny mixed drinks

xps harbl, does your dearest friend adamrl live in my dearest city los angeles?

we should go there when you do. this fall.

i need to stand in some salt water to soften up my new boots. it’s the perfect excuse to go to LA, don’t you think?

he does live there!

harbl, may i encourage you to take an express to boston this weekend during your staycation? we’ve got some fun planned.

that wouldn’t be a staycation now would it

yes but if you come for the weekend you will still be staycationing on your days off work. now wouldn’t you be.

i taught a class about theft today

can you teach us how to theft?

did you start with how to hide a hair scrunchie up your sleeve.

i was telling my future colleagues about the lost cause of defending an accused thief

i think i should get a less defeatest theft teacher.

bon voyage, harbl, my youngish mariner friend

non voyage, my adamantly staycationing friend.

harbl we went to some weird grocery stores today and said what would you think of this

*encouraged*

here’s the entrance to one of them

is that ripley in the back?

ha i am imagining that is in some guy’s yard. it looks awesome! i’m skeptical of the suitcases on the side though.

ooooooh

harbl i think i am going to a baseball game in baltimore this weekend. can you encourage me to believe this is a good idea?

harbl, there’s a series of summer musical movies being previewed during this Japanese animation series i’m going to and it makes me smile and think of you every time Ricki Lake belts out “I love you Baltimore!!”

i went to a baseball game with my boss on opening day. it was ok. i had fun. also i love hairspray! the movie not the substance