In love - for the moment
Monday, May 21, 2012
Justinian in Junior Junior

Wax and wane ... Junior Junior, quite suddenly, is flat out (like a lizard drinking) ... The work, the money, the intoxication ... Will it come to an end? ... Can peaks and troughs in work flow ever be eradicated? ... Learning to love them and leave them 

I forgot to eat breakfast yesterday.

That never happens. Missing meals is like forgetting to wear shoes to work.

The good thing about my new-found starvation is that it can only mean one thing: I'm busy! 

Busyness is the barrister's equivalent of infatuation. It is heaven. The hours of work pile-up and I imagine the beautiful things that can be done with that money.

Never again will I have to consider whether an eyebrow wax is essential or optional. I am so busy food simply isn't relevant. I could work for days, surviving on pure happiness. 

Surely, this time everything's going to be different. The work will never end. Importantly, I'll forgive the intrusion it makes on my personal life, because I would rather spend time with my gorgeous briefs than be home on the weekend.

Yet, I know myself. Eventually the fires of infatuation will dim and I'll wake-up to myself.  

What came as a sudden deluge of Local Court hearings, Supreme Court applications and a mediation, will disappear as suddenly as it came - leaving nothing but invoices to send and an empty space on the shelves.

For two days I'll be content - just long enough to catch-up on sleep, accounting and remind my friends I'm not dead.

Then the withdrawal symptoms will set in, as I pine for work to fill my empty life. 

Does life ever get to revolve around a steady flow of demand for my talents? Will peaks and troughs be eradicated? If so, will I miss the intense work affair I am now enjoying.

As I shovel down lunch while simultaneously putting the finishing touches to submissions for Wednesday, I feel as high as a kite, still in the throes of new love.

Come Wednesday, when these submissions have done their job, I'll be very happy to kick them to the curb in favour of a new sexy brief.

Maybe that's why I came to the bar. I can love them and leave them and nobody minds, least of all me.

Article originally appeared on Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law (https://justinian.com.au/).
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