coming of age(ing)

To those who
remembered;
diarised it and check their diaries; or
remembered enough then made discreet enquiries / lucky guesstimates
- thank you all. 'twas a nice one, and I sense a good year forth a-tumbling.

For as long as I have been experiencing Time as linear and unidirectional (i.e. for 20+ years), anniversaries of varying degrees of significance have been bringing me more distress than joy. A(nother) year passes, and what have I done to show for it? Historically I've coped by the tried-and-true formula of Avoidance+Denial, but with each new calendar the panic escalates, so as to require increasingly unattainable therapeutic doses of A+D. So for a change, in the Year of the Golden Pig, I am embracing all that come with being this half-baked age and AGY (Ain't Gettin' Younger).

Recent observations consistent with previously only sporadic concerns that I may be GOAB (Gettin' On A Bit, and not in a naughty way):

• spending more time in the kitchen than in eateries
• 'cook-up' overtaking 'piss-up' as definition of a 'good time'
• hangovers
• considering pinching items of clothing rejected/forgotten by mother to be an acceptable means of expanding my wardrobe
• thinking more about realty (albeit only in abstract) than, say, spirituality (too abstract? or is it me becoming too literal?)
• hardcore budgeting with no clear or apparent object in mind/sight
• a heightened+widened sense of crisis regarding all aspects of life, e.g. Will cycling cause arthritis due to overuse of the joints? If I don't see my sister as much as possible will I become estranged from her? When if ever will I be making enough money to not have to perform mental arithmetic at every turn? ...
• keeping the company of more people who share the above traits, than people who do not

Darn, there were so many more when I wasn't tryin' to write 'em down. Look out for updates!

9.1

Let us celebrate and remember today, a cornerstone in what promises to be an illustrious and enduring career.

My debut in court (as distinct from The Court) lasted approximately 2 minutes, the breakdown running something like:

• Introduction, including spelling out surname that apparently sounded tricky to spell: 20s
• Background, to get the magistrate up to speed: 20s
• Main event – requesting what in the trade is known as a "consent adjournment", which in the instant case was code for "hey judge-doing-the-cattle-calls-that-are-general-lists we'll need more time/attention than you're able/willing to spare, so please set us up a special appointment", but which is also frequently utilised in situations such as "neither side ready, but soon (hopefully)!" or "one side not ready, other side happy to wait and keep billing client in the meantime semi-colon close-bracket": 30s
• Main (perhaps only! yay!) blunder – referring to opposing counsel, who had done nothing to deserve it and who was not even present, as "my learned friend" which, although not technically incorrect, suggested far more decorum than I intended to show: 5s
• Orders entered (no nasty surprises thank fetch): 30s
• Magistrate making offhand remark about the other side having a fairly arguable case, and thereby rendering the impending hearing a foregone conclusion: 10s
• Miscellaneous – bowing, paper-shuffling, trying not to stack it, etc.: 5s

I was feeling pretty lucky to have gotten the magistrate that I got (if for nothing else than that he didn't fall asleep or rip my head off or both in either sequence or, worse - insist that the substantive issues be dealt with forthwith and hence force clueless-me to impromptu-BS something shocking) until back at the office Principal volunteered an unflattering caricature of the guy to whom I had sent microwaves of gratitude across the bench. This is in no way an averment about either man. It's just that the experience of hearing prominent (and the not so prominent) jurists and practitioners talked about as Average Joe's / Plain Jane's, is still a little bit surreal to me.