AAAARRRGGGHHHHHH ! ! ! !

Newsflash: I am not superwoman. Disappointing, I know, but clearly true.

A brief (very brief, for reasons that will become apparent) rundown:

1. Oral argument on Tuesday went really well. I felt crappy about it right afterward, as I had a very time answering the judges' questions at the beginning. But as soon as I conceded defeat on the facts, and started focusing on the "big" picture, urging them not to make a broad ruling over such crappy facts, they stopped peppering me with cranky questions and started listening and nodding. And they've already ruled--I won the "good" loss, if that makes any sense. Lost on the facts, but no big, long-ranging rule for the future. So they did exactly what I asked them to.

2. NY presentation went horribly. I had hit the end of the road, maxed out on my adrenaline reserves, and was prepared only for things to go smoothly. When my c0-presented hogged most of our time, leaving me with only 10 minutes to cover 30 minutes worth of material, I was just too damn tired to think quickly enough on my feet to cut down my presentation properly. So instead I raced through it--I doubt I made any sense, and I'm suspecting I made a bit of a fool out of myself. Making matters worse, my co-presenter was this skinny, makeup-less, hot NY lesbian chick who was witty and interesting, and the crowd loved her. I felt like an overly madeup hick with a negative cool factor.

3. NY was otherwise kind of fun, but I was too tired to really enjoy it. I ended up picking kind of a crappy restaurant by the theatre, and had ridiculously overpriced tiny salmon in a place that was too loud for us to talk. Annoying. The show was pretty damn cool, though. We saw Spring Awakening, which is a rock musical about the coming-of-age sexuality of teens, set in the 1890's. The ending kind of sucked, but overall the show was really great. Kick-ass design, especially. Mad props to both the set and lighting designers. Wow.

4. Came home to discover my motion for more time to file my brief is going to be DENIED, even though plaintiff consented to it. So I'm basically fucked. It's due Wednesday, and it's just so nowhere near being written. Looks like another weekend of working at home. Haven't had a weekend off since JUNE now.

5. Oh, and my poor kitties have fleas. No idea how that happened, as they don't go outside. I've never had it happen before. Maybe McNulty picked them up in all his time at the vet in June? Anyway, poor little Val is horribly infested. She's old, and has worse resistance, I guess. So on top of my exhaustion I have had to traumatize my little kitty with nasty chemical sprays, lotions, and a flea collar. And we've been washing almost everything in the house. I guess I'm pretty traumatized as well. (Jason's comment: Just think, if all goes well, in 10 years we'll be dealing with head lice.)

6. I feel horribly inadequate. I think it must be hormonal, because I was feeling all right about myself last month, before I started this cycle. But I just feel self-conscious and fat and humiliated and incapable of coping with the harsh realities of life. I'm trying to keep telling myself it's not real, it's just the drugs. (I thought that was only something you had to repeat to yourself when tripping, but I guess this isn't all that different.)

So now I have to write my brief. I'll be back in touch on the flip side of all this.