Hello, loyal blog readers! PS, tell your friends about my blog if you want, and I can invite them to read. We can start a whole grassroots movement for ME! It's brilliant.
Well, yesterday I was sworn in, and I am now a licensed attorney in the state of Missouri. It was a long day for me. The ceremony was in Jeff City, which is about 2 hours from downtown St. Louis, give or take depending on traffic. I, of course, got the very first registration time- at 7:45AM. If you're even minimally capable of doing math, you know that means I had to leave my house very early. I woke up around 4:30, a time of day that I'm not very familiar with and hope to never become familiar with. I left downtown around 5:15 and it immediately starting raining. I love rain, but not when I'm driving in it, because that means that the normally slow-moving drivers in St. Louis go even slower. It was all good though, because when I got about 50 miles from St. Louis, I was able to pick up the Kidd Kraddick feed from the station in Columbia. Victory!
I got to Jeff City around 7:20, checked in, and then had an hour to waste because my ceremony wasn't until 9:20. So I wandered the delightful streets of downtown Jeff. I'm of course being sarcastic, because Jeff has one cute street. The rest is just...there. FINALLY, my seating time came. I went through security, signed the Roll of Attorneys (this GIANT book everyone signs. I'm sure it dates back to the dawn of lawyer time in Missouri), and went to the courtroom. Apparently, even though I walked into the building when I was told to, I was late. When I walked upstairs a guy approached me and asked "are you Nicole?" I told him I was, to which he replied "oh, they're looking for you." What?! I wasn't even late. Whatever. So I had to make the walk of shame in front of everyone who was already seated. At least I got there before it actually started. Then the ceremony started. For all the hoopla with getting up early, driving two hours, and then waiting some more, the ceremony lasted about 20 minutes. The Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court made some remarks, and there was a motion for admission, which was seconded and then sustained. And then we all had to recite the oath together. There were written oaths on our seats, so we just had to read from it. As the Chief Justice started, we all joined in. We were reading along and got to the word artifice, and the guy next to me mispronounced it. And then stumbled trying to fix it while we all kept going, so for the rest of the oath he had no idea where we were and was just mumbling words like you do when you're trying to sing a song and don't know the lyrics. "Law...constitution...mahrumm....watermelon." It's pronounced "arti-fiss" but he said "artif-ICE" (like frozen water). And then he looked shocked that everyone else said it differently. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think if you're going to be an attorney, you should have a better than normal grip on the English language. I'll even go as far as to say superior. He tried to play it off afterwards by saying that he had looked up and lost his place. Whatever dude!
After the short-ceremony, I didn't stay for the reception. I was already tired and wanted home! I got back, went to lunch with Scott, and then I had to take Truman to the vet for his ear infection. Let me start by saying that I don't usually like taking animals to the vet, because I feel like the vet is looking down on me for anything that might be wrong with my pet. And they always make a million different suggestions about things I SHOULD do, or services I NEED. They make it sound so dreary.
So, after I waited for about 25 minutes past my appointment time in the stuffy, animal smelling exam room, the vet finally came in. I explained to her that we had tried cleaning his ears a few times and at first we thought it was just dirt from his new surroundings but we figured it was more so we brought him in. LIKE GOOD PET OWNERS. She looked into his ear and made a face that was a mix of shock and disgust and then she goes "Oh my." Well duh lady, that's why we're here. She then goes on to tell me how Truman is overweight, and that could lead to severe health problems later on. Basically telling me my dog was going to die a traumatic death. Again with the doom and gloom. For the record, Truman is 111 lbs. His ideal weight is about 105. So, yes I agree he needs to lose a few pounds, but he's a healthy boy. He's not a giant sausage with legs.
Then she starts running down the list of "recommended" vaccinations. Including the doggy flu shot. I shit you not. She starts talking about the effect of the weather on dog immune systems, and how just like humans they can be more susceptible during certain times of year. I'm sitting there thinking to myself "Bernese Mountain Dogs are bred to live in the SNOW OF SWITZERLAND." I think his immune system can handle the natural flu triggers. Then she suggested the doggy Lyme disease shot. This is apparently for dogs who go into the wild a lot- camping trips with their owners, hikes, etc. Truman doesn't even like to step on wet grass. I don't think we'll see him scaling a mountain anytime soon.
Then, to top it off, she says he has tartar, and recommends a full teeth cleaning and scaling. He's not even 3 and his teeth are fine. My family's 14-year-old Bichon JUST had her teeth fully cleaned last year. He could probably use a greenie or two, but everyone has tartar- get over it! I'm not going to spend 700+ dollars for you to sedate my dog and clean his teeth, when we can do at-home stuff to fix it. I know that's extremely disappointing to the money machine that is the vet's office, but she'll survive.
Anyway, $200 and a few vaccines and ear medicine later, he's as good as new. He did not enjoy the ear cleaning, and he hates the ear medicine dropper that gets stuck way down in his ears, so it's always a good time wrestling with him.
I think I'll go to Target now. Farewell for now.
if i was only 6 lbs from my ideal weight i'd die of happiness. go truman!
ReplyDelete