Fischberg Flashback 42: Sleepy in Seattle

Note: this was originally posted to Ben Around the Block on July 21, 2014.  I have made various corrections and edits to respect anonymity. 

I’ll be honest: independent life in Salem has been quite good to me for the past month or so.  There is excitement, fresh starts, relaxation, explorations, experiments, trials, tribulations, and opportunities abound in the central city of Marion County.  Sometimes, though, a sense of mild ennui washes over me and I feel a craving to seek something outside my immediate boundaries, geographical and otherwise.  This past weekend, I managed to achieve by visiting the fair and hip city of Seattle!

I had planned this trip weeks in advance and made the necessary preparations, including train ticket purchasing, hotel reservations, and arranging to take two days off from work to prepare and travel.  Because of the third item, I only had two days of work last week: Tuesday and Wednesday (in case you’ve forgotten, imaginary reader, I don’t work on Mondays).  Tuesday brought an interesting surprise: another trial to watch!  This time, the case was a DUII (driving under the influence of intoxicants).  Like the previous trials I’ve seen, it was a one-day trial with a six-person jury.  Once again, I was amazed by the various bits of legal footwork that accompanied opening arguments, direct examinations, cross examinations, and closing arguments.  Because the trial dragged on for a while, I had to head out a little early, meaning that I didn’t actually get to see the verdict.  As such, I didn’t find out the result of the trial until tomorrow, which was…

GUILTY

I suppose my luck-bringing was bound to run out at some point.

After a day of packing and mental preparation on Thursday, I was finally ready to head out to Seattle for the weekend.  Waking up early in the morning on Friday, I grabbed my bags and walked to the nearby train station (which took longer than I make it sound--it’s easily 45 minutes away).  I got on the 6:42 train (as I said, I woke up early) and slept/waited through the five-hour train ride to Seattle.  Aside from a bit of sleeping, I spent most of the trip finishing a biography of Thomas Jefferson and finishing Professor Layton and The Last Specter (I spent an equal amount of time and concentration on them both, which says a bit about me).  Circa noon, I finally arrived in downtown Seattle, where the weather was pleasantly cooler than back in Salem.

At the King Street Station, I met up with one of my college friends local to the area (who wished to remain anonymous in this blog--let’s call them “Z”), who took me to the Pacific Science Center (which was surrounded by the Bites of Seattle food festival, where I snagged some great fish and chips, along with some killer frozen cheesecake).  The sole exhibit we saw (thanks to time constraints) was a nifty little feature on espionage from World War II on.  The exhibit was filled with all manner of amazing artifacts from the past, including the ice ax used to assassinate Leon Trotsky, a bomb disguised as a lump of coal, and a poison-tipped umbrella.

After the exhibit, we hurried on over to the hotel I had made reservations at, where I departed from Z, checked in, and met up with another college friend (who also wished to remain anonymous--let’s call her “N”--no Pokémon jokes, please) and her family.  After a quick dinner at N’s house, N and I went drinking at a nearby bar and grill, where I got more than I bargained for with a strongish sangria (Translation: I got buzzed.  Just a little.).  After that, we walked around the coastline of Lake Union, passing through the Gas Works Park (Get it?  Passing gas?…Please drive home safely.) and seeing a gorgeous view of downtown Seattle at twilight. 

After slumbering that night back at the hotel, N picked me up and took me to the University of Washington, a university that has a highly respected law school among lawyers in the Pacific Northwest.  As such, it is a place I am considering applying to in the near-future.  The.  Campus.  Was.  Gorgeous.  Seriously, I can’t describe it.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so here’s a few thousand words to express my appreciation for this gorgeous campus:

the law school

the quad

After stopping for lunch, where I got more than I bargained for with some pad thai (translation: I should not eat Thai food--at least for now), N and I traveled to the Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum at the Seattle Center.  The initial attraction there was a science fiction exhibit, showing all kinds of props from various TV shows and movies.  As at the BBC headquarters in London, I made friends with the local Dalek.

The sci-fi exhibit also contained such treasures as Darth Vader’s lightsaber and Captain Kirk’s chair: 

There was also an excellent fantasy, a great horror exhibit, and some awesome music exhibits here at the Seattle Center.  However, the most outstanding exhibit of all was a Lego architecture display, showing off several replicas of famous skyscrapers made by a talented Lego artist.  Let’s play a little game: I’ll show a photo of a Lego building, and you guess what it is!  To check your answers, I’m bringing back an old friend, white text (It’s been too long, mi amigo blanco!)!  Highlight to see the truth.  Good luck!

[Chrysler Building, located in New York City]

[Flatiron Building, also located in New York City] 

[Space Needle, located in Seattle (or “next door”, as the attached placard eloquently put it)]

[30 St Mary Axe, located in London (or as it was called by almost everyone when I was there, the Viagra Building)]

How did you do?  Like Whose Line is it Anyway, the points don’t matter!  Reward yourself however you feel!

After adventures in the Seattle Center, N and I stopped off at our last major destination for the weekend, a bar interestingly named The Unicorn.  Our reasons for stopping here included the usual reasons of dinner and libations, but this particular bar had a Harry Potter trivia night this particular Saturday night!  With two other companion, N and I, operating under the team name The Rogue Bludgers, contended with scores of twentysomething Potterheads boasting team names that included Hagrid Shot First, That’s So Ravenclaw, What The Hell Is A Hufflepuff, Hermione Gave Me Hogwarts, Krum On My Face, I’d Like To Slytherin Your Hufflepuff, Harry Potter And The University Of Phoenix, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Victoria’s Secret, The Wyrd Sisters Do It Onstage, and Can My Basilisk Slytherin Your Chamber Of Secrets (they also got increasingly drunk as the evening went on, so use your imagination to guess what directions this took).  It was a fun night out, and against all odds, The Rogue Bludgers came in fourth place!  We may not have won a prize of any sort, but any time you place fourth in a competition of 65 teams (not making that up), that’s certainly cause to celebrate!  Fortunately, we were already in a bar to do so.

After a night of drunken revelry (not really--The Rogue Bludgers all drank pretty responsibly), N and her family got me back to my hotel, where I said my goodbyes, then went out like a light.  The following morning, I packed everything up, checked out, maneuvered through the Seattle bus system and streets, and endured another five-hour train ride (of which I spent much time drafting the blog post you are currently reading, Dear Reader).  With that, my weekend in Seattle came to a satisfying close.

All in all, this trip to Seattle was exactly the breath of fresh air I needed away from Oregon!  However, the thing that struck me most about this little excursion wasn’t the drinking, the museums, or the Seattle.  Rather, it was the fact that I had made train ticket and hotel arrangements all by myself (or at least with minimal outside help).  I’m moving up in the world and closer to independence…which should be tested interestingly, as I now have a new housemate, who moved in during my absence!  Time for some new challenges/experiences on the home front!

(One final note: Along with being a parody of a famous movie I have not yet seen, the title for this entry refers to one unfortunate side result of leading a currently exciting life.  I really need to catch up on bedrest…)

Reflections:

A lot can change in eleven years, including friendships.  I am no longer in contact with N (long story, I'd rather not get into detail here), but I am still extremely close to Z.  As such, I have been in the Seattle area multiple times over the last decade to see them, and I still like it there (although in the end, I chose Willamette University in Salem, Oregon for law school).  Two things that haven't changed are (1) I'm still not fond of spicy food (though it has admittedly been a while since I tried Thai food) and (2) I still haven't seen Sleepless in Seattle.

I originally had more photos, especially of the University of Washington and other Lego buildings, but I don't seem to have those photos anymore.

I'm proud of how I was able to handle all the logistics of this weekend outing, but my back and legs ache when I read about the train station being 45 minutes away.  I'm not sure I'd have the stamina or patience for that these days.  Then again, I also now own a car and have access to many more local resources, which has helped me greatly as I continue moving back to Salem.

Fischberg Flashback 41: Independence Day

Note: this was originally posted to Ben Around the Block on July 8, 2014.  I have made edits to preserve privacy. 

Hello, boys!  I’m back!

OK, mandatory movie reference fulfilled.  Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July!  Mine sure went well!

My Fourth of the July weekend got off to a magical start late Wednesday night.  Just as I was tucking in for the night (having just finished up the last blog post), I received a call from my friend S [actual name redacted], who lives in nearby Silverton with their fiancée, R [actual name redacted].  S invited me to spend the Fourth with them, an invitation that I found impossible to resist, regardless of how last-minute it was.  Hastily packing for the days to come, I went to bed with anticipation in my heart.  It’s amazing how quickly one’s plans can change in a heartbeat!

Thursday itself was an interesting one at work.  Usually, our Fridays are casual days, but this time, this Thursday was the day where I reported in draped in business casual garb.  This less-formal-than-usual wear turned out to be appropriate, as I was enlisted for some blue-collar labor for the day-namely, moving crate after crate of scanned files into the dark, creepy, oubliette-esque basement of the building.  It took all morning, but it was done without too much trouble.  The afternoon was spent scanning, having difficulties with, and re-scanning a ginormous case file concerning a violent and serious theft in Silverton, which fortunately did not diminish my excitement about going there.  After work, I quickly became acquainted to the buses of Marion County, and managed to successfully undergo the 30-minute ride from Salem to Silverton.  On the third stop, the driver asked if anyone needed to get off and waited for a bit.  Only when I looked outside and saw S and R frantically waving to me did I realize that I had been a little off with my calculations!

After catching up with S and R and settling down at R’s house, we headed off to the nearby state gardens for the fireworks show.  That’s right, Silverton has its Fourth of July fireworks on the night of July 3rd!  Why, I have no idea.  Regardless of logic, we three had a lot of fun camping out and watching the magical wonder of blowing s*** up, though there was some mild panic when one firework misfired and set a tree on fire.  Aside from that snafu, it was a safe and enjoyable night for all!

The rest of the night was fairly unremarkable except for one little detail: one of R’s cats had parked itself on my bed, preventing my sleep.  As such, I spent 5-10 minutes negotiating with it before gently easing it off the bed.  Let me reiterate: I spent at least 5 minutes talking with a cat, attempting to reason with it so that I could get to sleep.  Have I made it clear how bats*** crazy my life seems at times?  Good.

Friday, the actual Fourth of July, was simultaneously low-key and exciting.  The morning was spent at R’s house, playing Apples to Apples with her, S, R's mother, and R's brother (I actually won!!).  The early afternoon was spent wandering the mean streets of Silverton, where S, R, and I spoke of fears and hit up the local video game store, where I expanded my DVD library.  The late afternoon was spent at the Silverton Reservoir, where we swam around on boogie boards and I made a point of traversing the whole reservoir to a grassy bank opposite of the docks from where we dove off (metaphorically--we actually waded in slowly and painfully).  The water was quite freaky, having really cold and really warm spots splattered randomly around the reservoir.  We had a load of fun, and even more miraculously, I did not get any kind of sunburn!  To prove the fun we had, here is a picture of me at the reservoir…completely topless!  Bask in my raw sex appeal!

OK, imaginary reader.  I apologize for the mental and retinal trauma.  The evening was a nice cool-down after an afternoon of swimming, where we picked up a makeshift dinner at Safeway, watched an episode of Supernatural, and watched Spider-Man 2, where we concluded that it is actually a scary allegory of a homicidal junkie.  Let me explain: Peter Parker is obsessed with “Mary Jane,” (slang for marijuana) lives in a s****y apartment, dresses in a bright and almost hallucinatory costume, claims to be a “Spider-Man,” and has difficulty living a normal life.  Also, his best friend resents him for taking “Mary Jane” from him (clearly a dispute between junkies) and people who try to take away “Mary Jane” (e.g. “the Green Goblin” and “Doctor Octopus,” more hallucinatory figments of a stoner’s imagination) tend to wind up dead, most likely as a result of reefer madness directed towards narcs.  We went to bed, where I was able to sleep wonderfully, as my negotiations with R’s cats had not broken down completely.

Early on Saturday morning, I packed my things in preparation to leave and said my goodbyes.  R’s mother drove me back to Salem and I settled back into my usual weekend routine of shopping (I now have a fan, which should make basic existence easier in my room!), sleeping, and day-to day existence.  I have to go to work, so have a great week, everyone! 

Modern reflections:

For those born after the 1990s, the opening of this post is a quote from the movie Independence Day. 

I originally had photos of the fireworks in this blog post, but I haven't been able to find such photos anywhere in my files or social media accounts.  The shirtless photo of me (which got some compliments from friends) was one I fortunately still have access to.

For the record, the DVDs I picked up in Silverton was the extended edition of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  With this, I completed my extended edition LOTR collection, something I haven't properly broken out since college.  Note to self: arrange LOTR marathon when I'm finally finished moving. 

I haven't been to Silverton since the Fourth of July eleven years ago--I'm thinking I should check it out again through new eyes.

I haven't gotten that much better at negotiating with cats in the past eleven years, as Cthulhu can attest. 

Fischberg Flashback 40: Courtly Love

Note: this was originally posted on Ben Around the Block on July 3, 2014.  I have made minor edits to clean up grammar and preserve privacy.

It’s been ten days since my last blog post.  Life has been active yet uneventful…until today.

Here’s a few basic notes about recent life before the main event:

It has been really hot out here in Salem.  And by “hot,” I mean “almost impossible to sleep” hot.  I mean hotter than [insert movie star of choice here] doing [insert sex act of choice here] to a volcano on the surface of the sun.  Compounding the roasting sensation is my lack of A/C or any kind of electric fan, making Alpha House rather uncomfortable, especially my room.  In more comfortable news, I’ve settled into a nice little niche in regards to my lunch hours.  Because of its cheapness and access to sweet, sweet Wi-Fi, I have made it a habit to visit the Cat Cavern on Willamette’s campus.  In fact, I’ve now been there enough times that the kitchen staff starts making my usual (a cheese quesadilla) as soon as they see me enter.  It’s good to have this secure little certainty!  The last thing to note is that I recently attended the funeral of my landlord’s mother, which though somber, was a celebration of life and an opportunity to socialize with my neighbours, where I could inquire about neighbourhood events, possible dating opportunities, law school, and other such events.  All in all, I’m getting more and more integrated into this wee little community.  OK, main event time!

About a half-hour before lunch, the office receptionist told me that there was a trial at the circuit court that I was possibly invited to after the lunch break.  I ate my quesadilla that day with much anticipation.  Sure enough, when I came back, I was told it was a go.  Practically prancing, I headed over to court to rendezvous with L [actual name redacted], who was handling this case.  With that, the fun (or what fun there was left, as the trial was halfway over) began!

I won’t go too into detail regarding the case, but I will say it was another fourth-degree assault case (though not domestic violence--yay), this time featuring a quarrel between neighbours.  Like the previous case, it all boiled down to a self-defense argument (quick note: self-defense in simple assault and battery cases can be easy to prove for defense attorneys and hard for prosecutors to disprove).  There were only three witnesses: the defendant and two members of the local homeowners association.  None of the testimony was particularly strong, in my view, but L was able to milk them well to create reasonable doubt in the mind of the jury.  The prosecution was less than stellar, not questioning the latter two witnesses at all and not asking very hardball questions to the defendant.  After the closing arguments, where L trumped the prosecution, the six-person jury left to deliberate, leaving us with an hour to kill.

After an hour of deliberation, the jury finally arrived at a verdict.  Sidling back into the courtroom, they handed their verdict form to the clerk, who handed it to the judge  The judge read (note: I have shortened the actual wording so that you won’t fall asleep, dear reader), “We, the jury,…, find the defendant guilty,” then stopped, readjusted the paper while apologizing (while everyone else almost had a heart attack), and re-read, “We, the jury,…, find the defendant on the charge of assault in the fourth-degree, not guilty.”  Keep in mind that the defendant was standing right there and was facing the judge when she made this little snafu.  Possible pants-crapping aside, he was elated to be acquitted just in time for Independence Day and we the defense team was elated to have won at the end of the day.  Once again, the verdict in this case was:

NOT GUILTY

(cue confetti and applause)

Vastly pleased with yet another not guilty verdict that brought pride to our office, I returned with L to my workplace, so that I could resume my glorious duty of sorting and scanning closed case files.  All of a sudden, my boss, the Public Defender of Marion County, came up to my desk and chewed me out for not showing up at the trial sooner.  Apparently, word is spreading around that I’m something of a good-luck charm to have in court, and he was expecting me to give my luck to this trial from the beginning.  He then threatened to cut my salary in half…which given that my current hourly pay is $0.00, makes me think that the whole thing was a joke.  All in all, my office remains an awesome and exciting place to work!  To top it off, my computer at the mail station (which is where I spend 98% of my working time nowadays) is having a complete trial calendar installed, so I’ll be able to decide which trials to crash at my leisure.  All in all, I’m anticipating a jurisprudence-rich July and August!

Tomorrow, the Fourth of July will be upon us Americans.  As of now, I have no idea on how exactly to celebrate.  Will I get drunk, blow up my hand, and get arrested?  Or will I study for the LSAT, play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and buy a fan?  Or will I do something completely different?  Whatever the result, I’ll be sure to blog about it next week!

Modern reflections:

Salem still gets really hot during the summer, and Twilight Princess is still on my video game backlog.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I'm not quite as optimistic about trying assault cases with self-defense arguments as I used to, but it's still a useful strategy when the facts line up.

As I've mentioned in previous flashback posts, I picked up British spelling spellings while studying abroad and tended to use them in the following months.  This is especially noticeable with how I spell "neighbour" throughout this entry.  On further reflection, "neighbour" is one of a few words that I still spell in the British manner all the time; that "u" just feels natural to add while typing.

Everything Must Go

A new blog post that isn’t a throwback?  That’s right: there’s been a massive new development.  As of now, I have now closed shop in Tillamook and hung my shingle in Salem, Oregon!

As June was wearing down, I brainstormed the logistics of how I was going to move out.  I had located a new office and found a promising housing option in Salem, I’d been in touch with several attorneys in Marion County about how to get in the local defense consortium, and I had negotiated the end of my Tillamook County Defense Consortium contract.  I expected that moving my office was going to be a gradual process over the course of the entire summer.

That expectation lasted until Monday, June 23, when I was informed that I was expected to vacate my office by June 30.  I had to accelerate my plans quite suddenly!

What followed was one of the busiest weeks I’ve had in a while.  I had to move everything—supplies, case files, freaking giant pieces of electrical equipment—over the course of one week (while still attending a few court hearings and staying on top of my active cases).  It was go time; I pulled every string I had and called in some favors to evacuate Every. Single. Friggin’. Thing. in my office.  A lot of things, such as office supplies, were easy enough to move.  What was less easy was my work computer, my giant scanner/printer, and every f***ing case file from the last 6 years (have I made it clear how frustrating this got at times?).  I made the commute to and from Salem almost every day to transport whatever fit in my car (with occasional backup for the big ticket items).  The case files were arguably the most frustrating things to move; it turns out 6 years and over 1,000 cases generate a lot of paperwork to keep track of, and there’s only so much I could fit in my trunk at a time.  I couldn’t move everything to the new office by June 30, but I did manage to clear out the old office in time.  The first few days of July saw me returning to Salem daily to finish clearing out what I had to temporarily store in my rented bedroom.  It took time, sweat, and a whole lot of patience, but I finally got everything moved to the new office.  I’ll still need to furnish the office and sort out everything I brought, but it feels like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders (along with the literal weight of everything I had to move over the course of a week and a half).  My immediate future and new office may be cluttered, but my mind and old office are clear.

My glorious office, all cleared out.

As the transfer started winding down at the end of June, I had one more obligation in Tillamook.  On June 30, I had my last day as a full member of the Tillamook County Defense Consortium.  I went into court early to do the out-of-custody arraignments (of which there were virtually none), stayed in court all day between my morning and afternoon hearings (which was necessary due to my office internet being turned off), and handled my last in-custody arraignment (which had something memorably goofy happen, as mentioned below).  At 5pm, the day was done and so was I.

The end of an era.

Now that my office has changed and my Tillamook contract is over, I’m that much closer to starting a new chapter in my life.  Other changes, like a new business mailing address and a new work email address, have been coming up and down almost every day.  There’s still a lot of things to do: I’ve got Tillamook cases to finish negotiating/litigating, a residence to move to, all the red tape that comes with moving, getting my office properly organized, the red tape that comes with starting practice in Marion County, and a host of other things that likely haven’t occurred to me yet.  As this summer brings about a dramatic new change, I’ll keep documenting what I can on this blog, dear reader!

To cap off my active time in Tillamook, here’s the last foreseeable installment of…

 

GREAT MOMENTS IN TILLAMOOK JURISPRUDENCE

*insert sophisticated music*

Episode IX: Much Apoo About Nothing

[During in-custody arraignment, the judge and the parties are discussing a possible release agreement.]

Judge: The release assistance officer is recommending against conditional release because [Defendant] is now charged with failure to apoo-I mean failure to appear.

[Both attorneys chuckle.]

[Arraignment finishes and video link to jail is terminated.]

J: *chuckling* Failure to apoo; that’s certainly a new one.

[I finish my last Tillamook County Defense Consortium day with a smile on my face.]