Tener Que Capturar Los Todos

 

In the life as an Oregon defense attorney, you get a lot of new experiences on a regular basis: new cases, new clients, new laws to memorize, and new hellish weather patterns (see my previous post).  While these new experiences can be engaging and exciting, they can also be exhausting.  As such, it’s nice to be able to revisit the occasional familiar ground.  For the past few months, I’ve had two persistent blasts from the past to help me decompress: studying Spanish and playing Pokémon.

At first glance, it seems a little counterintuitive to see learning Spanish as something remotely relaxing.  However, it takes me back to simpler times: trying as a child to understand my father whenever he spoke Spanish, learning the basics in high school, further learning in college, etc.  For the past two years, I’ve been using Duolingo to refresh what I learned a decade ago and give myself daily chances to practice.  Not only does this give me a daily feeling of accomplishment, but it’s also become useful for work.  As it turns out, I apparently speak (marginally) more Spanish than most lawyers in Tillamook County.  As a result, I tend to be assigned to a lot of clients who primarily speak Spanish.  While I certainly don’t speak enough Spanish to be able to communicate complex legal issues (and need an interpreter for client meetings), I feel a little pride in knowing enough Spanish to set up office appointments with clients.  With lessons from the past, I stay engaged in the present and work towards furthering my future career.

A cat buying groceries--a typical day of learning Spanish in Tillamook.

Compared to self-imposed Spanish homework, playing Pokémon video games seems like a more likely means of relaxation.  Indeed, a good deal of my post-work gaming last year involved catching up on the past few years of Pokémon titles.  With a new game having come out recently (“recently” here meaning six months ago; I tend to be late to the party), I’ve been spending a good amount of time after work playing Pokémon Violet.  It’s a little unusual in that it’s a far less structured game than previous Pokémon titles and has a mostly open world.  When I first started playing video games, I was blown away by the sheer scope of worlds to explore, especially in role-playing games like Pokémon.  At a time in my life where I am used to identifying game formulas and usually being used to the ebb and flow of gameplay, Pokémon Violet comes the closest out of most recent games to recapturing that feeling from childhood.  Everywhere I go on the world map leads to unknown challenges and I frequently know what to expect.  In short, it’s the perfect way to relax at the end of the day after several hours of legal wrangling and reviewing Spanish.

Enjoying a picnic with my electric sheep, fire crocodile, and dragon motorcycle--a typical day of traveling in the Paldea region.

Unrelated to the rest of this post: my regular diet has gone through a subtle change.  Where I once ate pasta with olive oil as my default dinner, pasta with ricotta is my new supper routine.