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Not much court. Plenty of stupid, though.
Aug. 14th, 2019 05:37 pmOnly court days this week were Monday and will be tomorrow- neither with clients in tow, so none of the aggravation I went through last week. That's given me time to catch up on calling people, getting some Project-y things prepared, and, unfortunately, using my brain where I'm the only one with that particular body part turned on.
Just a few examples of that:
- Trying to get a foreclosure wrapped up by my client refinancing his way out of it. The figures work, the documents are all prepared, but the lender keeps insisting that the OLD lender "lift the foreclosure" before they will scratch a check. I've spent probably two hours on the phone just this week brainsplainin' to these people that it doesn't work that way: the old lender provides a figure (provided), promises to sign all the "lift the foreclosure" documents once they get it (promised), and the borrower and his attorney guarantee those documents will get where they need to get (guaranteed). They're pissing people off in three states over this, and I've yet to see a plugged nickel for my efforts.
- Needing a break from the nonsense and yesterday being stupidly sticky humid, I cut out of the office early and got my hair cut. At this salon, the stylists are required to stop what they're doing and answer the phone whenever it rings- which it did, repeatedly, while I was waiting for my appointment. My stylist took the last of these, which went something like this: Hello? What? Um, no. This is a haircutting place, not a dog grooming place. Of course, that meant I didn't get any treats when she called me over; I was so upset, I shed all over her chair;)
----
In non-stupid other news:
I spent time the past couple of nights catching up with my college roommate(s) from three of our four Cornell years. The parentheses are because Jim's wife pretty much lived with us much of that time when we were off-campus. I'd written them back in May after the Hamilton and Who experience and Jim just got back- understandable, since Jean's older brother John passed away earlier this year after a long illness. I'd met him a few times at functions including their 1982 wedding, and he always struck me as a good soul. Not much religiousness in his departure; his wife chose as send-off songs two quite dear to me, the aforementioned Who's anthem "Love Reign O'er Me," and Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart." I'd been thinking of them this week as I always do around August 15th; that was the day our first off-campus lease began in 1978, and I, with the help of my sister and her then-BF, was the first one to move in, because I couldn't get off Long Island quick enough after a horrific first (and last) "summer at home." I became so much more independent in those first twelve months, learning to shop for myself, eventually understanding the difference between a head of lettuce and a cabbage; finding a school-work balance that worked for both; and for the first time, choosing and being chosen by the people I lived with.
When Eleanor gets home, a bit earlier than usual tonight, we're heading out to the poetry reading in the Elmwood Village we've attended many of on Wednesdays for the past year. This one's special because one of the hosts of the program is bidding Buffalo farewell tonight. His beloved is moving to Nairobi for school, and Ben will be right by her side for this adventure. The co-host will be continuing the tradition, though.
Over the weekend, we saw The Farewell, an indie picture set and filmed mostly in China. The actress/rapper Awkwafina stars in a role much toned down from her turns in Oceans 8 and Crazy Rich Asians, and she and the rest of the Chinese cast do an awesome job. Like the film Yesterday we saw a few weekends before, the somewhat spoilery main premise of the film was pretty well known before we got there, but they managed to leave some surprises for us to discover which I will not spoil.
On the boobier tube, I just finished the 13-week run of the current season of Handmaid's Tale. It's had its up and down moments, but the final few episodes brought some much-needed Blows Against The Empire and an ending filled with both hope and schadenfreude. Margaret Atwood (author of the source material and a producer of the series) has announced that her own novelized sequel will be out in the months between this ending and the eventual fourth series, so it'll be interesting to see how much runs in parallel and how much differs. Eleanor has passed on this experience, but we've picked up our own communal binge- of Rita, a Danish TV series that ran from 2012 to 2017, the final two co-produced by Netflix and those four years' worth now streaming here with subtitles. The writing and performances are spot-on, the humor has an edge, and we're already finding ourselves quoting things and referencing characters from it.
The humidity's down, so I'm off to read for a bit before we go. Hopefully neither it nor the clients will be stupid from here on out.
Just a few examples of that:
- Trying to get a foreclosure wrapped up by my client refinancing his way out of it. The figures work, the documents are all prepared, but the lender keeps insisting that the OLD lender "lift the foreclosure" before they will scratch a check. I've spent probably two hours on the phone just this week brainsplainin' to these people that it doesn't work that way: the old lender provides a figure (provided), promises to sign all the "lift the foreclosure" documents once they get it (promised), and the borrower and his attorney guarantee those documents will get where they need to get (guaranteed). They're pissing people off in three states over this, and I've yet to see a plugged nickel for my efforts.
- Needing a break from the nonsense and yesterday being stupidly sticky humid, I cut out of the office early and got my hair cut. At this salon, the stylists are required to stop what they're doing and answer the phone whenever it rings- which it did, repeatedly, while I was waiting for my appointment. My stylist took the last of these, which went something like this: Hello? What? Um, no. This is a haircutting place, not a dog grooming place. Of course, that meant I didn't get any treats when she called me over; I was so upset, I shed all over her chair;)
----
In non-stupid other news:
I spent time the past couple of nights catching up with my college roommate(s) from three of our four Cornell years. The parentheses are because Jim's wife pretty much lived with us much of that time when we were off-campus. I'd written them back in May after the Hamilton and Who experience and Jim just got back- understandable, since Jean's older brother John passed away earlier this year after a long illness. I'd met him a few times at functions including their 1982 wedding, and he always struck me as a good soul. Not much religiousness in his departure; his wife chose as send-off songs two quite dear to me, the aforementioned Who's anthem "Love Reign O'er Me," and Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart." I'd been thinking of them this week as I always do around August 15th; that was the day our first off-campus lease began in 1978, and I, with the help of my sister and her then-BF, was the first one to move in, because I couldn't get off Long Island quick enough after a horrific first (and last) "summer at home." I became so much more independent in those first twelve months, learning to shop for myself, eventually understanding the difference between a head of lettuce and a cabbage; finding a school-work balance that worked for both; and for the first time, choosing and being chosen by the people I lived with.
When Eleanor gets home, a bit earlier than usual tonight, we're heading out to the poetry reading in the Elmwood Village we've attended many of on Wednesdays for the past year. This one's special because one of the hosts of the program is bidding Buffalo farewell tonight. His beloved is moving to Nairobi for school, and Ben will be right by her side for this adventure. The co-host will be continuing the tradition, though.
Over the weekend, we saw The Farewell, an indie picture set and filmed mostly in China. The actress/rapper Awkwafina stars in a role much toned down from her turns in Oceans 8 and Crazy Rich Asians, and she and the rest of the Chinese cast do an awesome job. Like the film Yesterday we saw a few weekends before, the somewhat spoilery main premise of the film was pretty well known before we got there, but they managed to leave some surprises for us to discover which I will not spoil.
On the boobier tube, I just finished the 13-week run of the current season of Handmaid's Tale. It's had its up and down moments, but the final few episodes brought some much-needed Blows Against The Empire and an ending filled with both hope and schadenfreude. Margaret Atwood (author of the source material and a producer of the series) has announced that her own novelized sequel will be out in the months between this ending and the eventual fourth series, so it'll be interesting to see how much runs in parallel and how much differs. Eleanor has passed on this experience, but we've picked up our own communal binge- of Rita, a Danish TV series that ran from 2012 to 2017, the final two co-produced by Netflix and those four years' worth now streaming here with subtitles. The writing and performances are spot-on, the humor has an edge, and we're already finding ourselves quoting things and referencing characters from it.
The humidity's down, so I'm off to read for a bit before we go. Hopefully neither it nor the clients will be stupid from here on out.