I had been feeling rather rueful about my long silence on this blog (and on all my other social media networks, for that matter). That silence was finally broken this past week, when I recently had a chance to finish a post I’d started some time back.
It feels good to have posted something recent. I really miss it when I don’t get the time.
But ultimately, this latest milestones blog post is about the lacuna in my Kat Anthony self’s developments and adventures. Because as with most of us, my author self’s activities are very much subject to the demands of my day-to-day self.
And that other self, the lawyer-in-training, learned in late April that I would not be hired back at the firm where I did my articling (for those of you who don’t know the term, this refers to a required practicum in the licensing process, like a residency for medicine. In Canada, we write the bar exams, but then we also have to work for ten months under the supervision of an experienced lawyer).
Articling generally involves a short term, no obligation contract. Because of the general slowdown in the industry, alongside the fact that law schools have not slowed at all in accepting and graduating students, there are far fewer jobs than there are candidates for the jobs. Evidently, the firm where I articled just wasn’t busy enough to justify taking on a junior associate (we are high-maintenance, high-supervision creatures, alas).
And so, in the wake of that news, I went into a tailspin of IRL activity–updating my resume, enhancing my LinkedIn profile, going to networking events, speaking with others about jobs and availability (those student loans and monthly bills sure aren’t going to pay themselves). A difficult process, between the stress of not knowing what, if anything would turn up, and the fatigue of the introvert having to go out and be social (I suspect I’m actually probably more of an ambivert, but on the introverted end of that designation).
It took a lot out of me, to say the least. Continue reading