Losing My Edge

I turned 31 yesterday, so I thought I'd share some lyrics from a song by LCD Soundsystem . . .

I used to work in the record store
I had everything before anyone

But I'm losing my edge
to better-looking people
with better ideas
and more talent
And they're actually really, really nice

I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties

. . .

Since I bought my car I've been surfing every weekend. And I just found a local surfing site that is perhaps the best internet site in the whole wide world. Swellnet has the kind of surfer weather-nerd detail that you thought you could only dream about. Today's forecast, for example, has a nearly 1000 word discussion of the systems in the Southern Ocean and their potential consequences for the southern Victorian 'swell window'. Apparently, a powerful low is going to 'stall inside Victoria's swell window' and bring a 'prolonged round of swell energy'. I love the internet.

As You Like It

It's last Saturday night and Paul and I are moving our way, one beer at a time, up and down Brunswick Street. Our conversation turns to what books we recently liked or hated. I liked Gun With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem. Paul enjoyed The English Passengers by Matthew Kneale. I hated The Ambulance Chaser by Richard Beasley. Never buy a book in an airport! I drunkenly exclaim. Better to stare at the back of a seat! I yell loud enough to draw uncomfortable looks from the punters.

I mention that I've nearly finished The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial by John Langbein. After that self-consciously nerdy reading experience I'm ready for something light (I'm thinking maybe I'll try a Terry Pratchett book). I ask Paul if he has anything to lend me. He says he'll think about it.

Later, I walk home via Paul's place and Paul keenly peruses his bookcase for something 'light'. He struggles mightily to find anything fitting the description (I can read his thoughts - he looks at Musil's Man Without Qualities and thinks 'That's a good book, oh, perhaps its a little longer than what Dan's after).

Finally, Paul's hand rushes to a book. He's found something perfect. He hands it to me. It is As You Like It by William Shakespeare. I look at Paul with drunken confusion and say 'This is Shakespeare, this is not what I meant.' Paul replies, without a trace of artifice or irony, 'It's one of his comedies.'


Paul (far right) and I showing our bowling prowess with the hipsters at Fitzroy Bowling Club

Better Than Delivering Pizzas

My job search for next year has received a boost with an offer from Zeldes, Needle and Cooper. They are going to hold the offer open for me so I can apply for some ACLU fellowships. I think Zeldes would be a good place for me. Hopefully, I would get to do a lot of work with their criminal practice group and particularly with Shelley Sadin who defended a death penalty case last year (the case ended with a life sentence for the client). Zeldes also has a legal ethics/professional malpractice group so I would get to represent the Lionel Hutz's of the world ("Yes, but what is truth. If you follow me."). If I go to Zeldes, I would also do ordinary civil litigation.

The downside of Zeldes is that it is in Bridgeport which is euphemistically known as a 'distressed' city. It is extremely poor and crime-ridden. I'd have to live in New Haven (with a 30-40 minute car commute) or South Norwark (with a 15 minute train commute). I'd prefer New Haven but the commute will be awful.