Emotional Recession

“If I had a dollar for every time someone mentioned a recession, I’d convert them to euros.”
- Steven Cobert

Well, I just finished my deposition in my Witness course. The professor randomly picks our names out of an urn at the beginning of class. I was drawn fourth out of the five students that are picked every class period, the rough equivalent of the first post position on a rainy afternoon at a sloppy racetrack: meaning, my co-counsel has (in their collective sixty minutes of inquiry) expended all the easy questions and left me the tough stuff. At the end she commented on each of our performances, and as she was critiquing my three predecessors I kept thinking, oh crap, I did entirely the wrong thing. Each of them had passed their time posing specific questions they had dutifully prepared drawing upon their backgrounds as trial advocacy participants. The only edge I had on them was that, of all sixteen students, I was the only survivor of a Patent Law course (with a good grade, I might add), so I figured that’s the angle I ought to play: use any edge you have, right? So I went up and, without the benefit of any unconquered territory left to mine or experience from whence to draw, pretended I was a patent attorney and asked him to walk me through each of the pertinent patent claims line-by-line. Ultimately during the so-called critique period, the professor said she had been waiting for someone to do that. In the course of his explanation, the expert witness we were disposing had actually stood up and started drawing diagrams on the board. I was the only person who got him so engrossed in his explanation that he actually did this, which she said was an absolutely great thing - “The things you learn once you get them drawing...” So I suppose it wasn’t an absolute disaster. Could’ve been worse. At least I’m free until April, by which time I ought to have myself physically pulled together and accordingly infused with confidence. But Mom got me a Martina McBride ticket for Friday. Hooray! Something to look forward to!