Well, I'll be.

I can write.

Stuff not involving third party beneficiaries.

Fiction, even.

And, even though there are lots of lawyers going to be running through this story, I don't think it sounds like a lawyer wrote it. (Let's hope.)

I say that because I've always been decent at writing fiction, especially through high school. Then I tapered off and only did some sporadic things through college.

Then, during my second year of law school, my friend Laura and I entered the 3 Day Novel competition.

I'd never thought of this before I started writing this post, but intellectually, I'd rank it in terms of challenging as close to getting ready for the bar exam. It's different because the bar exam is a protracted hell of two and a half months of studying, and the 3 Day Novel competition is basically three days of writing, straight through. (And note I said nothing about how it compares to actually taking the bar exam. The three days of taking the bar is far easier than writing an entire novel in three days. When taking the bar exam, you at least only work from 9-4:45 for two days and then till noon on the third. The 3 Day Novel competition, you work just as much as you can stand.) By Monday night, your brain is mush. Mushier than I think mine ever got through the bar exam. At least with bar exam, you could ration the hell.

Anyway, a few years ago, my friend Laura and I did this. (I'd done it two years before that.) Laura and her mother decided that a year of law school (at that point) had wrecked my writing ability.

Sad thing was, everyone seemed to agree. Even my mother liked the parts of the book Laura wrote better than I.

I put that down to 1/3 law school, and 2/3 Laura being a better writer on her worst day than I am on my best.

Anyway, I'm writing now. And I'm liking it.

Gee, I wonder if I'm able to read. Out on my porch. Sitting in a chair. A book for pleasure.

Gosh, I'm gonna have to try that out.

Oh, but sadly, I do have an obligation to fulfill; an onerous, difficult obligation.

I have to go all the way down the street to the lease office to turn in a lease for my apartment. (We're keeping it for another two months because my dad's got some business going on in Toledo where different people are going to have to stay here once I move out.)

So, I'm going to have to walk all the way down there.

Wait. What's right next to the office?

Oh, right. There's a pool.

hehehe.