My business trip began quite reasonably, with the flight actually arriving in Los Angeles prior to its scheduled arrival. I finished the Mary Wesley book I was reading either on the flight or just before--not at all a bad read. I read something good on the flight, but its identity escapes me. I stayed with my friends kenmora and Heidi. They served me roast pork on one of those bakery breads our Texas bakeries never seem to sell, and we talked of Ken's newly-completed screenplay about Caravaggio, the various contrasting but not asymmetrical practice challenges Heidi and I face in law, and various and sundy non-journal-topical matters.
The dawn of the next morning, I found that I'd gotten a favorable Court of Appeal result from a California Court of Appeal. I always joke that I know when I have won something on appeal, because the Court of Appeal always annotates "Not to Be Published in the Official Reports" on the upper right hand margin. When I lose, the margin instead says "Released for Publication". I got to see young B., who is one of the cutest nearly 3 year olds going, and who calls me "Uncle Bob". She gets larger each time I see her.
I went to my 8:30 hearing, where, by coincidence, I ran into C., a woman who was a staff attorney for one of my clients ten years ago, and learned of the twins she recently had with the really nice fellow she married. Then I had my hearings, which ran for some time, two client meetings, one over a sinful slab of bread pudding in the courthouse cafeteria, and one conference call.
I got to LAX at 4:45 p.m., ready to catch my 5:30, but it turned out I had gotten mixed up, and was on a 4:30, so I had to re-do all my reservations. I had dawdled a bit on the way to the airport, which might have been avoided, but I'm just too tired tonight to beat myself up for spending time in the used paperback store near the aiport picking up two sci fis when I was missing my plane.
Post 9/11, evening flights back to Texas are no longer a snap, so I had to arrange a flight to Oklahoma City. I read a wonderful Greg Egan sci fi, Terenesia, strong on science, satire and also well-written, which is a nice combo.
I arrived in OKC at midnight, then rented a car to drive down to Dallas. I got to a small town called Paula Valley by 1:45 a.m., where I stayed at the Days Inn. They only had smoking rooms left, Paula Valley apparently experiencing a thrill of Summer visitors, but the nice woman behind the counter took some sort of can of room freshener to the room and made it quite presentable. I slept until 6 a.m., when I awoke, threw on clothes and hit the road again.
I loved driving through the Arbuckle Mountains. We must find a weekend to go up and swim in Turner Falls, hike the Chickasaw National Forest, and see the new botanical garden near Davis.
Once home, I slept again until 10:15 a.m., then I got up and went to Love Field to turn in my rental car and get my car. I then headed to my office, where I worked all afternoon, taking a break only for running to the Garland post office to mail copies of my poetry book to its latest two eBay purchasers, one of whom was in Italy and one of whom was in Germany. I think that bad literature travels much better than well-crafted stuff.
Now I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I will rest more, but work more as well. It's been a hard working month so far.