A Question for Poly's Literati (or: Getting D laid more often: A project not worth your time)

[Flubber]

At that point they finally realize that this **** doesn't end. They are going to be overworked bundles of unhappiness their entire lives.

You simply would not recognize our legal department LOL. We all made the choice to give up the chance for huge bucks in the law firm setting for more of a life with less money. Its still a good living and I for one am enjoying a 5 day weekend

[Jon Miller]

I think that I would want a 4 day weekend, not a 5 day weekend.

JM

[Flubber]

I think that I would want a 4 day weekend, not a 5 day weekend.

JM

Your choice-- we had Canada day Wednesday and a flex day "Golden Friday" so it was only natural to take Thursday off as a vacation day-- I actually think most of the company took it off--

[Jon Miller]

Oh, I thought you meant every week.

I am happy to work less than 40 hours a week, I think. But 30 sounds good.

JM

[Darius871]

If you are clerking now while a student that clarifies a lot and as a lawyer myself of 15 years experience I can say these things

1. There are LOTS of female lawyers that would find your work fascinating-- when I dated other lawyers we could passionately debate and explore for hours. So don't give up on your dream girl idea-- Its not like you are in a male dominated field like some of the hard sciences. I dated a lot in law school

2. In almost any legal career you choose, its unlikley you are clocking out at 5-- ever-- But it does get more manageable and there are choices you can make to get to where you desire ( I left private practice to go in-house essentially to work less)

Yep, that's pretty much what I'm banking on at this point. I don't mind waiting one bit.

3. You probably don't have much time right now for a relationship (as you acknowledge) although other law students could be a fertile ground. They are generally on the same type of schedule and understand if you have to disappear for a few weeks except for the occasional booty call

I guess it depends on the school, but among weekday students so far all I've seen are shiftless rich chicks taking a mere 12 credits and otherwise [apparently using "club" as a verb] on the weekends. The weekend program is the sole exception, but 100% of the women there are older and 99% are already hitched, so no luck.

Does this carry over into other things? For instance can you "not stand" movies and television shows because they are again fictional.

Typically I can't, but at least there's a catch here: each is frequently a social activity. If friends are having a brew and watching the tube or a DVD, sure I'll watch and take it for what it is. Same thing with a date at the movies. It's a social venture, and I'm not about to say no. But when left to my own devices, e.g. channel-surfing alone while going to sleep? Definitely news and documentaries. When I watch actors reading scripts in front of a camera, all I see are actors reading scripts in front of a camera.

I guess I should not sound as critical as I do . . . tastes vary and there are many things I fail to appreciate (heavy metal music for an example) but it just seems to me to be writing off far too much to reject all fiction.

I don't mean to make it sound like I "write off" anything; as I said, if there's some social reason to watch it I'll watch it and enjoy it to some marginal extent, but where I have a choice in the matter, I naturally lean toward something I enjoy more just like water rolls downhill. It's just preference, not a "rule."

Would it help your enjoyment to know something is rooted in reality? If it does you could try the Mauritius Command by Patrcik O'Brien. While it is book four of a 20 book series and you lose some context/backstory-- it does stand alone well enough and is probably the book that purports to most closely follow real events.

Sure, being even loosely inspired by actual events and accurately portraying a historical period always help. For instance, I knew the plot and characters in Saving Private Ryan were phoney-baloney crap, so most of it bored me, but of course I could still be mesmerized by the visual spectacle of the D-Day landings like anybody else. I'm sure that'd apply to books as well.

[Darius871]

Darius- if you do not gain enjoyment from reading things that are not real then why do you read apolyton?

Nothing here is real... Just ask Wigalf?

A) It's a source of news.

B) It's a source of diverse international perspectives on history and current events.

C) It's interactive rather than passive.

Pretty simple really.

[DarkCloud]

Books are a social activity as well (just like movies)- you just have to delay gratification to talk about them with someone else. (and you certainly delay gratification even with movies unless you talk through the screening.)

B) It's a source of diverse international perspectives on history and current events.

Same with books. Books tell about the human condition; they also speak to geopolitical events past present and possibly future. (Blade Runner was first a book; Minority Report was a short story, many of Jules Verne's imagined ideas became realized, etc.)

C) It's interactive rather than passive.

Books are interactive- you are supposed to think and challenge yourself by recognizing literary allusions to real life events... and to human nature and its struggles. That is what differentiates "good literature" from popcorn reading.

--
Fair enough on the answers regarding Apolyton, though.

[Drake Tungsten]

First hit on google 'infinite jest hipster'

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/RDL3NLW6FG3Z

Awesome.

[Drake Tungsten]

Infinite Jest is unreadable.

No ****. That's why pseudo-intellectuals like to blather on about how they are one of the few that "got" it.

A Confederacy of Dunces

My hipster author friend raves about this book, so it must be catnip to smelly art chicks.

[-Jrabbit]

You gotta admit, it's a great title.

[KrazyHorse]

A Confederacy of Dunces

My hipster author friend raves about this book, so it must be catnip to smelly art chicks.

It's okay. Not terrible. Not awesome.