An update with no whining (I think)!
Hello, everyone. I do want to make sure that y'all know that my life isn't entirely sad and frustrating. I just haven't had time to write about the nonfrustrating parts, because of the stress and time devoted to the frustrating ones.

Last week, I got to go on my first business trip. When I heard, I felt entirely like a scared little kid getting in way over her head. (Incidentally, isn't that an interesting expression?) There were two depositions in Wilmington (the beach, about three hours away), one at 2:00 Wednesday afternoon and one at 9:00 Thursday morning. So that my boss wouldn't pay for my gas twice, I was to go up and stay at a hotel. The 9:00 deposition was in a Riverside Hilton that cost $160 a night. I didn't think the boss lady would be too happy to reimburse that, so I stayed at a Riverside Best Western for half that (with a AAA discount).

Sadly, no one was able, on twelve-hours notice, to get off work for two days and go to Wilmington with me. So it was kind of sad to be in a pretty place Wednesday afternoon/evening without someone to share it with me. I did, whatever the Hilton may say, have a better view than their guests. Between their windows and the river was a great expanse of parking lot. I was right on the river. It was very pretty from my window in the afternoon and moonlight. After the 2:00 deposition was over, I wondered around downtown a little by myself. I ate the best sandwitch wrap I've ever had, a tuna melt with jalapeno and avocado, a combination I would never have thought of myself. I explored a little independent book shop called the "Two Sisters Bookery" and purchased the third Jasper Fforde book.

The Thursday morning deposition lasted from 9:00 to 5:15. It was the single most massive deposition I have attended. It involved eight attorneys and the deponent, who was himself an attorney. There was 264 pages of exhibits marked.

I ate lunch in the Hilton's restaurant, a neat little buffet. I don't know whether or not it's my imagination, but it seemed as though I was being treated slightly more respectfully, that people were taking me a bit more seriously, because of my clothes. I was wearing a full-out business suit, clothing I have never worn before applying to and becoming a court reporter. I've always felt that my sixteen-year-old-looking face isn't good for being taken seriously, but I thought I sensed that people, attorneys and hotel employees, were treating me more like an adult, even a somewhat important adult. (I'll pretend that it had nothing to do with anyone's mistaking me for an attorney because of my being shut up in a room with the attorneys and being dressed as one.) I've noticed this phenomenon in other settings, too, especially in big, expensive, intimidating attorney's offices with 38 stories and waterfalls in the lobby. I am always glad that I dress up to go to these places. Maybe it's just that I feel more confident. But for whatever reason, I'm more comfortable being in the elevator with other well-dressed business people. They don't know that I probably don't make as much as they.

But I digress.

Yesterday, I had two depositions with one attorney in two different cities. After the first, we had some time to kill, so we went to lunch. He suggested Bill's in Wilson, a piece of local culture that serves traditional North Carolina barbeque and everything that goes with it. (That includes "sweet tea." Only Southeasterners really know what that means.) To my surprise, he paid for me. Then we met up with another attorney from his firm. So, as he told me, I had lunch with half of the firm. I told him it was "the highlight of my week." He seemed surprised that it wasn't the highlight of my life.

Well, I was going to share also about the crazy lady in the next deposition, but I see that I'm running out of time. I have a dinner date. And I have about four hours of deposition to proof, but I promised not to whine.