Due Drudgery

Won’t have time to post much until the weekend because I am involved in the tenth circle of legal work hell also known as due diligence. Essentially, I have to spend hours (as in, 14+ hours at a stretch) looking through reams of contracts and summarizing them, with only an iPod to keep me sane. Ellen Allien and Neutral Milk Hotel were good music to work to yesterday. Soundmurderer wasn’t.

This is a fucking far cry from The Practice, man.

12 Comments

  1. hey there! i was passing by and i must say, i really enjoy your blog, esp the london parts. i’ve always wanted to go there for my studies, but it’s too expensive and now i’m here in australia instead.

    so why didn’t you practise there? i plan to.

    oh, and i hope you wouldn’t mind me linking my blog to yours. =)

  2. Michelle,

    what you need is the soundtrack to “The life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” it alone possesses the active ingredients that will treat those “looking through reams of contracts and summarising them-blues”, ie David Bowie songs sung in Portugeuse. as recommended by the Soul Doctors of the International Bar Association. OH YEAH!

  3. Hi Michelle,

    It’s Gail … I stumbled across your blog like Gitta when I googled “carbolic smokeball” (which was in one of your blog pages thanks to Gitta who asked where she could find a poster). For good measure: ‘Donoghue v. Stevenson’, ‘Snail and ginger ale’, ‘Rylands v. Fletcher’. There. That will ensure that more law students find your blog.

    Anyway, hello! So sorry to hear about your drudgery … maybe you could try changing your music to ‘Ai Bia Jia Eh Yah’ – suitably angsty hokkien song (which means persevere or something like that). :) Take care!

  4. Blimey, I’m studying that carbolic smokeball and snail in ginger ale stuff as well. I didn’t imagine they’d have the same cases on every course all over the world.

  5. LMD: That actually means a lot to me, so thank you very much (again). I’ve always wondered if my writings about London were meaningful to people other than me, in that they always captured personal experiences with the city which not everyone (and indeed, not many Singaporeans who studied there with me) might identify with.

    So is London where you became littlemissdrinkalot then? I was littlemissdrinkquitealot in London, but since returning to Singapore I have become littlemisshardlydrinkatallbecauseit’stoofuckingexpensive. :(

    ci’en: I’d recommend either Whatever You Love You Are or Ocean Songs (think there are some songs from this available on Epitonic), but actually, if you want something REALLY REALLY lovely, try getting your hands on Low and Dirty Three’s In The Fishtank album. I’ve probably listened to that one more than all my Dirty Three and Low albums combined!

    Diyana: Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay on to practise in England because I had to come back to Singapore to serve a scholarship bond. Anyway, glad you like the blog, and would be flattered by a link!

    brian: Yes, have been trying to find that one for a while actually, but have just not had the time to keep up with music reading and acquisition lately. Sigh.

    tessa: Don’t have Handsome Boy Modelling School on my iPod because I lost my CD of So…How’s Your Girl. :( Didn’t bother listening to the new album because I heard it wasn’t very good. Should I?

    Gail: What a pleasant surprise! Hope you like it here, do check back every now and then when you have nothing better to do with your time! Can you teach me to sing Ai Bia Jia Eh Yah? I have long wanted to do it at karaoke but just don’t know it well enough.

    James: I hate to break the news to you, but English law is usually very influential in ex-colonies. You know, like Ireland? *runs away*

  6. I never knew you were on scholarship! (not making a judgement here, just an expression of surprise. After the whole Mr. Chua fiasco, I have become very very careful about what I post online.)

    Anyway, good luck with work, I hope it gets better. And yes, your posts on London really do make an impact. At least for me, it made me more receptive to certain sides of me, and kept me positive during times when I could really hate the place for certain flaws.

  7. Forgot I asked, I just realized you were referring to the racist scholar. Can’t believe he’s still getting defended by some Singaporeans because apparently “we’re all racist and it’s hypocritical to condemn him”.

    Yet strangely I have never had thoughts anywhere remotely NEAR his even in my grumpiest moments, even after a black man on a London street late at night hissed “CUNT!” at me for no reason at all. Guess I must be a hypocrite racist too “like everyone else” but I just don’t know it, huh?

    Oops, was that a rant?

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